Fracaro's a Waukesha sports landmark

There are a lot of landmarks in the City of Waukesha. The public library, Waukesha Hospital, Waukesha Motor Company and Carroll University are just a few.

One sports landmark has been visited by thousands of city residents for the last 70 years. Fracaro's Lanes on White Rock Avenue just east of the Fox River has been a popular staple on the city's sports scene seemingly forever.

What started as a neighborhood tavern in 1933 turned into an 8-lane bowling alley in 1940. In 1957, the Fracaro brothers, Vic Sr. and Al, added 8 more lanes, completing the most popular bowling center in Waukesha history.

"We were always a bowling alley first, but we also had a big bar business where people came to enjoy a beer, watch some bowling and just have a good time with their friends," said Vic Fracaro Jr. "It was a lot of fun running the business all those years. We made a lot of friends, friends I still see all the time. Bowling was my family's life back then."

The bowling center remains in the Fracaro family today. Mike and Jason Hansen are now the owners and operators. The two brothers are the sons of Linda Hansen (Fracaro), the lone daughter of Vic Sr. and his wife, Marie. Linda's brothers include Vic Jr., Dave and Ron. Al and his wife Phyllis also played a major role in running the business over the years.

Vic Sr. and Al opened the bar in 1933 at its present location. Vic Sr. bowled at the Elks Club on Wisconsin Avenue, across from the library, and enjoyed the sport. In 1939, construction began on Fracaro's, and bowling began in 1940.

With bowling gaining popularity by leaps and bounds in those days, the two brothers bought out the business to their north, obtaining the space for 8 more lanes. The 16-lane center was the biggest bowling alley in the city at the time.

Once they had the extra lanes, Fracaro's became one of the busiest bowling centers in Wisconsin. At one time in the 1960s, Fracaro's had the most lineage of any AMF 16-lane center in the entire country.

"Business was outstanding for a long time," Vic Jr. said. "Our AMF salesman told us a couple of times that we were the busiest 16-lane center in the country. We had leagues or open bowling all the time. Leagues began in the morning and lasted all day. Heck, we were full all the time until closing. We had full second shifts every night."

As time passed on, the Vic Sr. family bought out Al, and Vic's children started running the operation.

"It's been in the family ever since my dad and Al opened the business in 1940," Dave said. "I started out setting pins because there were no automatic machines back then. I played baseball during the day and worked at the alley the other times. I cleaned up, shined bowling balls, did whatever my mom and dad wanted me to do."

Vic Jr. and Dave learned the business from the bottom up, from setting pins, to cleaning, drilling balls, tending bar, fixing and oiling the lanes and doing whatever it took to make the business a success.

"It was a different business back then than it is now," Vic Jr. said. "We had people begging to bowl. All of our second shifts were full. We even had a book behind the bowling desk that had a list of substitutes that could fill in at short notice. People would call needing a bowler, and we'd just go to the book and find them whatever average bowler they needed. Now places have a hard time filling up their first shifts."

Fracaro's always provided the bowlers with good scoring conditions. Dave fired an 808 series in the 1971-72 season, and that was the first 800 total ever bowled in the Waukesha Bowling Association. His games that night were 257, 254 and 297. At the time, it was the eighth highest score in the country. By the time that season was completed in May, the 808 was the 25th highest series.

For many years, Bill Lundy was the highest average bowler at Fracaro's, always tops in his league no matter what night it happened to be. Dave Fracaro was always right behind him along with other bowlers like Joe Rozek, Joe Vetta and Doug Blankenheim. Linda Fracaro Hansen was always one of the top female bowlers in the house.

Even though the bowling business is nowhere near as busy as it was years ago, Fracaro's is still a hot spot in Waukesha. Whether you bowl, enjoy a beer and a sandwich, talk NASCAR or football or Waukesha high school sports, you'll always find some conversation at the bar.

There's a good chance you'll run into somebody you know.