NAGY, Steve

(b. 10 April 1913 in Shoaf, Pennsylvania; d. 10 November 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio), professional bowler who rolled the first televised perfect game in history.

Nagy was one of the three sons of Hungarian immigrant parents. Always interested in athletics, Nagy had no opportunities to play sports professionally until after he became established as a cabinetmaker. Golf would remain a hobby throughout his life, but bowling would become his second career.

Nagy began bowling seriously at age twenty-six, starting in 1939 on a Booster division team in a league reserved for lower-level players. He quickly dominated his competition, however, and by 1941 he was bowling on the American Bowling Congress (ABC) professional circuit. He was competitive throughout the 1940s but stardom eluded him, and he never placed higher than third in the annual ABC All-Star competition.

Nagy became more well known during the 1950s, as bowling reached its zenith of popularity in North America. In 1951 Nagy posted an average of 208 for 10 consecutive tournaments. Then, in the ABC tournament on 8 April 1952, Nagy rolled a 698 series and his partner Johnny Klares scored 755 for a new record doubles total of 1,453 pins, beating the old record of 1,415 that had been set in 1933. Aided by a 705 series in the singles event, Nagy won the tournament's all-events category with a score of 2,065—only 5 pins short of the all-time record. Nagy was a prominent member of the Cleveland Radiarts team, which won the 1952 ABC all-events team championship. Also that year, he bowled a 299 during the ABC Masters tournament, missing a perfect game by one pin in the last frame. He was chosen ABC Bowler of the Year for 1952.

After getting to the final field of sixteen bowlers seven times in thirteen seasons, Nagy finally won the ABC All-Star event in 1954. In 1955 Nagy again was chosen ABC Bowler of the Year after winning the Lakewood Holiday Classic tournament in Long Beach, California; the Struthers, Ohio, singles tournament, and the West Coast doubles crown at Los Angeles with Buzz Fazio.

A square-jawed, broad-shouldered man weighing 220 pounds, Nagy, always smiling and exuberant, with dark, slicked-back hair and thin mustache, resembled comedian Ernie Kovacs. He became known for his emotional displays during matches. With his huge arms, he would fling the ball down the lane, then run sideways until the ball hit the pins. Often he would run as far as three lanes to the side. If his ball did not do what he wanted it to do, he would sometimes take off his belt and whip the ball before rolling it again.

When the network television series Championship Bowling began filming in 1954, the producers offered $1,000 to anyone who could bowl a perfect game during its telecast. In 1955 Nagy came to Chicago's Faetz-Niesen Recreation Center, where he had never bowled, to face the reigning champion of the series, Chicago bowler Eddie Kawolics, who was a regular at Faetz. Nagy rolled a few practice games, smiled, and said to announcer Joe Wilson, "This place gives you your confidence back."

Nagy got off to a slow start, losing the first game of the match to Kowalics. In the second game, Nagy rolled nothing but strikes. In the ninth frame, he left a ten-pin, but it fell over just in time. Nagy's last roll was a strike, and he became the first player ever to roll a perfect game on television.

Also in 1955 Nagy moved from Cleveland to Detroit to join that city's Pfeiffers team. In 1956 and 1958 Nagy was named to Bowling magazine's All-America team. In 1957 Nagy moved to St. Louis to join Fazio on the Falstaffs team, which in 1958 won the ABC championship and the all-events team championship.

In 1959 Nagy became captain of the Falstaffs for two years. He next was named captain and general manager for the Los Angeles Toros in the short-lived National Bowling League. In 1960 Nagy finished second to Billy Golembiewski in the ABC Masters tournament, the closest he would ever come to winning bowling's most prestigious tournament. Nagy returned to Cleveland in 1961.

Throughout his career the good-natured Nagy was known for his approachability. He was outgoing with fans and competing players. For many years he was part of the promotional staff of Brunswick, a bowling manufacturer, and conducted hundreds of clinics and exhibitions across the United States and Canada.

In 1963 Nagy was elected to the ABC Hall of Fame. Though he was only in his early fifties, his health was failing. In 1964 he had a stroke and was hospitalized for six weeks. In the spring of 1965, although wheelchair-bound, he traveled to Brooklyn to see his friend Buddy Bomar inducted into the ABC Hall of Fame. Later that year he returned to bowling. In August, Nagy was getting ready to compete in a PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) tournament in Brockton, Massachusetts, when he suffered another stroke. He returned to Cleveland, where he lost more than half his weight while battling his ailments for more than a year, but this time he would not recover. After his death, his fellow bowlers held fund-raising benefits in Cleveland and Detroit, raising more than $18,000 for the Steve Nagy Trust Fund to aid his wife Helen and their daughter.

Nagy was a consistent high scorer and one of bowling's most visible and personable stars. He averaged 197 for 24 seasons in the ABC, and was credited with 6 sanctioned perfect games and 4 other games of 299. The demonstrative Nagy was a fan favorite who helped make the game popular. His televised perfect game drew national attention to professional bowling as a spectator sport.

The best place to find material on Nagy is in Bowling magazine, notably the May 1952 and December 1955 issues, and in the archives of the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri. Obituaries are in the National Bowlers Journal and Billiards Revue and Bowling Magazine (both Dec. 1966).

Michael Betzold