1980 Girls Varsity Bowling Team

The 1980 Girls’ Varsity Bowling Team The core members of this unforgettable team began bowling together as 7-to-9-year olds at the Patchogue Bowling Lanes in a youth league sponsored by the B.P.O.E. Elks Lodge No. 1323. When they aged out of that league they continued to get together at the Lanes to compete against one another and ramp up their games. The girls stayed friends and bowling buddies as they grew, and when they reached Patchogue-Medford High School they became the unbeatable Girls’ Varsity Bowling Team that reached a level no other Patchogue-Medford athletic team has ever topped — and only one, the 1977 Girls’ Bowling Team, has matched.

These young women won League and County titles, and finally took the biggest prize that any Pat-Med can win: the 1980 New York State Championship. Cathy Roy (now Cathy Rogers) led the way in the final match with a performance that soared way beyond her norm during Pat-Med’s outstanding regular season. Over the six games of the championship, Cathy averaged a spectacular 188.667 pins per game, more than 20 pins better than her average over the five-month season. Cathy was followed closely by more superb performances from teammates: 
  • Peggy Darling, 169.167
  • Sandy Johnson (Suchocki), 158.6
  • Kim Botts (Miolla), 155.33
  • Linda Frabizio (Farrell), 153.33
 Those five excelled in the finals but the team never would have made it that far without their coach, Irma Lorenz, and the other dedicated and determined members: Colleen Browning (Telford), Nance Coccia (Ray), Debbie Knoth (Inzalaco), Beth Newham (Farrauto), Dolores Tanner, Robin Wood, and the late Paula Kipp (Waszmer).
 

Team members: Nance Coccia, Cathy Roy, Colleen Browning, Linda Frabizio, Irma Lorenze (Coach), Paula Kipp, Kim Botts, Beth Newham, Peggy Darling, Sandra Johnson, Dolores Tanner, Debbie Knoth and Robin Wood.