I returned home from Ferris State College, Associates and Bachelors of Science in Business Administration in hand. I had no intention of going in ot the bowling business then -- that was my parents thing. I was looking to get into the electrical power, transmission and distribution field - the basis of my degree. While I got several rep;ies to my resumes, what I ran in to was very low starting pay rates for what seemed to be a over supplied labor market at that time. I discussed this with my Dad, and we agreed I would stay at Airway until such time as I got an acceptable offer of employment. I have been here ever since.
Re-starting at Airway in 1973, I was given the task of increasing sales in the pro shop. I immediately instituted a policy of "pay now, get the ball drilled now". Before that time, you always had to come back a few days or even a week later to get your drilled ball -- even if it was in stock. We were almost always able to sell someone a ball when they learned that if would be drilled while they waited. I once sold five Brunswick 8.583" balls after moonlight doubles one night because of that policy. We were here almost to 5:30am. I let the guys bowl and had each guy come with me to the drilling area while I drilled their new ball. That ball was "Fair Trade" priced at $50.00. Black Beauty's were $24.95 and I remember being outraged that I would have to charge a customer $50 for a bowling ball. Then I was pleasantly surprised that people would pay $50 for a bowling ball.. By the way, "Fair Trade" was a price level set by the manufacturer, and was in wide spread use at the time. If you failed to sell a item at Fair Trade, and the manufacturer found out, you could be denied new products in the future. The practice was outlawed in the mid to late '70's.
From the time Airway was built, until I returned after college, all of the bars in the area would have live music for entertainemnt. The bars would raise their regular prices up $1, and maybe even have a cover charge. This worked if the band was liked and people would come to hear them play. I became frustrated with the fact that I could have a great band for a week, and at the end of the week I would contract them for another week in the future, only to have them come in with all new members because of chanegs - and they would sound totally different and not draw the crowds they did before. This was an expensive, losing proposition for any bar, and I was trying to figure a way around that. Drawing on my experience as a DJ at the Alibi Lounge in Big Rapids, I brought in my personal "quadriphonic" sound system to play in the lounge on Sunday nights. My "system" consisted of 28 seperate components. Also, I was an avid collector fo 45 vinyl records and had inexcess of 4000 of them at the time. Anyways, Sunday nights in the Lounge took off and was busy!. My next step was to get rid of live bands and wire the lounge, for real, with sound equipment and train my own DJ's. Dad was worried that it would never fly because of the past history with live music in the area. What I did was to keep the prices the same as they were before the music started, but offer a 2nd drink for $1.00. We were jammed. Live music in the bar didn't happen again several years ago.