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Gentlemen of the BTC

Februry 12, 2026

The due date for paying your annual dues has passed. If you haven’t already submitted your dues, please do so ASAP. You can mail your dues to Dave Jenner at the address listed on the attached dues information sheet. You can bring your dues to Dave at the bowling alley on Tuesday, or you can pay on our website builderstee.com (only the "Late" links work after January 31st)-click HERE.

Joe Eppolito's wife (Daisy) was released from the hospital after a quadruple bypass. Let's keep Daisy in our thoughts and prayers as we hope for a speedy recovery. Once again, The Kaz Man went to the pay window at bowling Tuesday. I hope our members who were in Vegas cashed in as well. The Tri star team grabbed some cabbage in Super bowl pools.

During this past summer Dave Jenner would post the ageless wonders section for golf. Gar Ward would often impress in that category. Now Gar (89 years young) is proving to be an ageless wonder on the lanes. Gar kicked the day off Tuesday with a 237 game and capped the night off with 202. Weather is warming up so all you golfers better start loosening up. 11 weeks will be here before us old dudes know it.

Signing off, see you Tuesday.

Tim Magee – BTC Secretary

February Birthdays:

Frank Carioti (5), Roger Byrnes (9), Rick Stradal (13), Ben Tutka (13), Marv Huddleston (16), Ed Kern (18), Terry Conway (21), Gar Ward (23), Steve Andersen (26), Don Franko (26)

From The BTC Historian:

Fellow Members,

Today I would like to tell you a little bit about one of our Longtime Members who not only is one of our best at many sports but also donated some of his time to help our Club moving forward. Bob Kennedy has had two stints in the BTC. First, he was a member from 1994-2009 and then again from 2013 until the present. In 1994 his Sponsors were Longtime Members Chuck Martino and Jim Fowler who knew Bob from golf and banking.

When Bob came back in 2013 his Sponsors were Rich Schroeder and Kevin Bewley. Bob just finished his term as President of the Club in 2025.
During his first term in the Club, he was a golfer and a racquetball player. I know that Bob was one of the better racquetball players, even though I did not play it, but by looking at the weekly scores. He was always near the top. When it came to golf Bob really excelled. It did not hurt that his Family have been Members at Olympia Fields C.C. since 1968. Last year Bob and Former BTC Member, John Warta, won the Member/Guest Tournament that Olympia Fields played.

When Bob came back to the Club he tried bowling, tennis and golf until his knee forced him to concentrate strictly on his golf game. That has not diminished as Bob has won the Division 1 BTC Championship on a couple of occasions. Before he stopped competing in the other Sports Bob also was Champion twice in racquetball and in tennis.

Besides being a BTC Officer the past four years Bob has helped with our Italian Day Event, dressing up as Elvis and giving every Member and Guest a chance to hit a Closest to the Pin at Glenwoodie C.C. I beat him for the first time last year. I also would like to mention one tennis match that Bob and I played against Gary Bybee and Todd Johnson that Bob and I came back from 0-5 to win 7-5 with us fighting off 9 set points. One match that I will never forget.

Way before Bob joined the Club, he was a 1985 Graduate of Indiana University. After Graduation Bob started in the Banking Industry as a Commercial Lender. First with Standard Bank. Then in 1995 with First United Bank of Frankfort. From 2000-2015 he did this for Heritage Bank which became Old Second. And from 2015-2017 with Marquette Bank. In 2018 he finally switched fields and became the Executive Director of the Lincoln Way High School Foundation. He held that position until last year when he finally retired. During this time Bob also worked for the Village of Frankfort. First as a Clerk for five years and then as a Trustee for the Town for eight years starting in 2008.

Now that he is “officially retired” he will have more time to spend with his Girlfriend of five years, Sue, as well as his grown Children. His Son is 30 and Daughter 32 as well as his 4-year-old Granddaughter who lives in Greenville Indiana. But I am sure that Bob will always want to be beating our scores with the BTC out on the golf course on a Tuesday Afternoon.

Thanks for listening,

Your Historian,

Bob Vizdal

(CLICK HERE for the Dues Notice) (Click Here for Online Payment Link).

TEXT and EMAIL updates of golf course cancellations, etc are available, but each member has to sign-up, and it only takes 2 minutes . Click on this link, http://builderstee.com/TextMessageSignup.html, and follow the instructions.

Chairmen, Greg Lewis & Rich Schroeder, can issue the notices, so contact one of us, when needed. If it's a general notice, it will also appear on our website, near the top of the current newsletter page. On occasion, a notice may need to refer you to the website, for more information, as the text notice is limited to 100 characters. Let Rich know if additional information needs to be posted to the website. Currently there are 139 members signed up for Golf notices thru this service.

SOMETHING NEW FOR OUR MEMBERS - We are going to put a video, etc. on the web site, that's "in the news" or good for your tennis game (Click Here) or for the bowlers (Click Here). Here's also the bonus link, to help get your golf game in shape for next season. If anyone has photos or videos to share, of our Club in action, please email them to Webmaster@builderstee.com. If your screen ever displays out-dated information, try to Refresh your PC first (F5 key). The website has recently been updated to be more "mobile-device friendly". Try visiting us from your tablet or smart phone, and send us your feedback.

Also, remember to check the "Other/Fleamarket" page for golf-related equipment for sale & upcoming golf events from our members. Advertising here is FREE, for members only. Click HERE for bowling scores & stats. Click HERE for current golf handicaps & Full Season Golf Schedule. Last year's financial report as presented by our Treasurer (click here). Click Here to sign up for Rained-Out text messages (click here for instructions).

(CLICK for the 2023-2024 Bowling season rules)

The 2025 ITALIAN DAY PHOTOS have been published to BuildersTee.com. To see them CLICK HERE or go toEvents, Event Pictures, from the website menu at the top of this page.

Smokeys Bandits took over First place this week as a result of sweeping away all 7 points from Burr Oak Bowl on lanes 7 & 8. The Traitors, who posted the highest team handicap series of the week with 3462, also stormed up the standings by virtue of their 7 points to none victory over Ascend Wealth Planning on lanes 5 & 6. Lanes 3 & 4 saw our other clean sweep of points with Oak Forest Bowl defeating the BYE team 7 to 0. Bright Metals took it to Tri-Star on lanes 1 & 2, winning their match by a margin of 5 points to 2. Finally, down on lanes 9 & 10, Arena Lanes bested Beggars pizza by a 5 to 2 point margin. (full standings in newsletter)

Did you Know? The oldest continuously operating bowling alley in Chicago is located in the basement of Immaculate Conception School, which was built in 1924 for priests and seminarians.

Some of our top Individual handicap series this week were: Willie Janda 784, John Roberts 737, Mike Loye 732, John Delano 716, Gar Ward 714, Terry Conway 713, Dennis Samoska Jr. 711, Tony Alexander 706, Jeff Quilici 703, Jim Eppolito 700, Dennis Samoska Sr. 692, Paul Kleinpaste 688, Pete Lambros 688, Jeff Dinga 684, Ken Pancak 684, John Guarnieri 683, and Chuck Cahill 676. Our top scratch performers this week were: Tony Alexander 233, 279, and a 703 series, Dennis Samoska Jr. 246, 247, and a 696 series, John Roberts 235, 245, and a 692 series, Willie Janda 225, 247, and a 682 series, Keith Tadevich 222, and a 627 series, Jeff Dinga 269, and a 624 series, Chuck Cahill 245 game, Greg Lewis 245 game, Gar Ward 237 game, Paul Kleinpaste 233 game, Matt Janda 226 game, John Guarnieri 225 game, Jeff Quilici 222, and Pete Lambros 220.

I would like to make a special mention of Gar Ward who will be turning 90 years old on February 23^rd and bowled scratch games of 237, 167, 202 for a 606-scratch series this past week – Amazing! Way to go Gar, and Happy Birthday!

This coming Tuesday February 17th all bowlers will be entered into the Coors Light Pins Over Average Tournament. The entry fee is paid by the league, and since our league will have 100% participation this will guarantee our top bowler will advance to the next round of this statewide tournament, just like the Beat the Champs.

Joe Rymsza who qualified out of our league for the next round of the Beat the Champs Tournament. He will be bowling at Bill Slusarczyk’s Castaway Bowl on Saturday February 21^st at noon. I myself will be out of town, but it would be nice if some of our fellow league members headed up there to cheer Joe on!

Our Annual Brosius Doubles Tournament will be held in two weeks on Tuesday February 24^th and March 3^rd. This is a great 2-Week Handicapped Doubles Tournament, where both bowlers count all 6 games, they bowl over those 2 weeks. The tournament takes place during the regular league bowling. You must bowl both weeks to be eligible to participate! You can enter with as many different partners as you wish. Let me know if you have any questions about this fun and competitive tournament.

If you have any questions or comments regarding the Builders Tee Club Bowling League, please call or text me at 708-912-8831.

		LANE ASSIGNMENTS
Date	1-2	3-4	5-6	7-8	9-10
2/17/2026	7 vs. 10	9 vs. 5	7 vs. 10	3 vs. 8	1 vs. 4
2/24/2026	10 vs. 4	3 vs. 1	8 vs. 5	2 vs. 7	9 vs. 6

	Standings
#	Builders Tee Club	W	L	Y-T-D
7	Smokey's Bandits	16	5	58
9	Traitors	14	7	62
3	Bright Metals	13	8	61
2	Oak Forest Bowl	13	8	57
5	Tri-Star	12	9	69
8	Beggar's Pizza	12	9	64
1	Ascend Wealth	12	9	49
6	Arena Lanes	7	14	56
4	Burr Oak Bowl	4	17	43

	Handicap				Doubles
Game 1	Gar Ward	273			Game 1
	Willie Janda	259		1st Place	Gar Ward &	524
					Dennis Samoska Jr.
Game 2	Greg Lewis	269		2nd Place	Gar ward &	523
	Jeff Quilici	267			John Roberts

Game 3	Jeff Dinga	289			Game 2
	Willie Janda	281		1st Place	John Delano &	516
					Greg Lewis
	Mystery Pot			2nd Place	Paul Kleinpaste &	511
1st Game	No Winner				Tony Alexander
2nd Game	No Winner
					Game 3
	Clean Frames			1st Place	Jeff Dinga &	541
Forward	Randy Giovannetti	15			Dennis Samoska Jr.
Reverse	Tony Alexander	22		2nd Place (tie)	John Roberts &	540
30	No Winner				Tony Alexander
				2nd Place (tie)	john Guarnieri &	540
	Last Game Handicap				Lee Kaz
1st Place	Jeff Dinga	289
2nd Place	Willie Janda	281			Blind Doubles
3rd Place	Lee Kaz	273		1st Place	John Delano &	514
					Jeff Quilici
	Handicap Survivor
1st Place	Willie Janda	281		2nd Place	Chuck Cahill &	498
2nd Place	John Roberts	260			Dan Woodward Jr.
3rd Place	Dennis Samoska Sr.	250
				3rd Place	Greg Lewis &	505
					Mike Christophersen

		Corner Pin
		Dave Jenner		Roll Over

After tennis, 9 of us went to the Fifth Quarter for dinner. We were joined by Bob Kennedy, Chuck DiNolfo and Steve Anderson. Late night.

One for the road: A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says, “Ugh, that’s the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen!” The woman walks to the rear of the bus and sits down fuming. She says to a man next to her, “The driver just insulted me!” The man says, “You go up there and tell him off. Go on, I’ll hold your monkey for you.

Cleary, Tom	76	120	63%
Rodriguez,Mickey	14	24	58%
Rollins, Rob	196	344	57%
Clark, Bruce	112	203	55%
Schiera, John	111	212	52%
Darabaris, Mike	165	317	52%
Lillwitz, Bill	131	252	52%
Heraty, Dan	167	323	52%
Bewley, Kevin	124	240	52%
Johnson, Todd	170	330	52%
Vizdal, Bob	172	335	51%
Kahlhammer,Pete	110	221	50%
Reschke, Jim	121	244	50%
Kosek, Lee	62	128	48%
Schroeder, Rich	154	320	48%
Schaefer, Bob	39	84	46%
Kees, Roosevelt	133	287	46%
Cesak, Chris	22	50	44%
Anderson, Steve	48	110	44%
Ganz, Mike	104	240	43%
Abramowicz, Ron	115	267	43%
Butter, Nick	71	171	42%
Baldermann, Al	120	307	39%


Asked Bob Vizdal to snap a couple tennis pics for the newsletter. I just didn’t expect it to be a satellite image.		At least Bob took this picture from inside the building. This of course is another one our ageless wonders Ron Abramowicz. Ron (83 years young) is still getting it done on the courts as he enters his 24^th year in the Builders Tee Club.