Orrie Lauretti
When Brunswick employee Michael Lauretti got his son Orrie a bowling ball for Christmas one year, little did he realize that he would start Orrie on a brilliant career in the sport. Orrie didn't start bowling until his early 20's. If he would have started earlier there is no telling what this man would have accomplished.
Orrie was quite an athlete in his time. He was the All-Star pitcher for the Polish Falcon softball team, one of the best teams in the Muskegon area for a long while. Orrie liked to golf but it was bowling he fell in love with. It's been said that bowling was Orrie's life, he just loved to bowl. He was bowling in four leagues when he married his lovely wife, Rita, but that certainly didn't slow him down.
Orrie had many accomplishments in bowling in his short lifetime. His first milestone was in 1955 when he teamed with Larry Kowalski to win the Michigan State Bowling Association Handicap Doubles title. In 1961, Orrie fired 709 to win the Muskegon Chronicle Award for the highest series in the association. It was one of five 700's he rolled during his career. Orrie's high career game of 277 came at a real nice time, in 1954 he teamed with fellow Hall of Famer and close friend Vern Plichta to win their second consecutive actual doubles title in the GMBA Tournament; that 277 along with Vern's 265 in the same game gave them a 542 total for one game, the highest in the association to that date. Orrie's career high average of 199 was high average in the association for 1961.
All the individual awards that Orrie accomplished were nice but it was in team bowling that he sparkled. Orrie was on teams that won the GMBA Tournament four times in his career. Orrie was an original member of the Lockage Store for Men team that was formed in 1954 by captain Mike Sarade. That team, led by Orrie and Hall of Famer Vern Plictha won eighteen league titles, six Elks titles and in 1960, winning the National Elk's title was quite impressive. Orrie also was on two ABC teams that were on the big board top ten at the time they bowled. One of those teams ended in 25th place in the country.
Orrie Lauretti was a gentleman on and off the playing fields, and was a friend to many, and a truly unique individual when he passed away in 1976. He is missed, but never forgotten, and is certainly welcomed into the Grater Muskegon Bowling Hall of Fame.