Tribute to Hall of Fame Dad

Date: Wed, Nov 25th, 2009 12:00:00 am

Son Pays Tribute to Hall of Fame Dad

The late Terry Touranjoe was inducted into the Syracuse USBC BA Hall of Fame on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Drumlin’s Restaurant.  Following is a speech written by his son, Michael, and presented at the Hall of Fame ceremony by his wife, Arlene.  We at the Empire State USBC BA are happy to share this with our members – and hope you are moved by reading it, just as we were when we were privileged to hear it.  Terry was inducted along with Sam Ventura, James Stark and the late Richard Gilbo.

Good Evening.

I remember sitting in the living room when Terry was still with us and he looked at me and said, “Arlene, I just don’t want people to forget me.”

Well, today, Terry would be so honored to be remembered in this way.  On behalf of myself and my two sons, David and Michael, who are away at college and in the Navy, I  want to thank that Hall of Fame committee as well as the election committee for memorializing Terry within the ranks of Syracuse’s best in bowling.

This was supposed to be the extent of my pmart of the speech, however last week, while I was having what we call  a “Terry moment,” my son Michael called in the middle of it and  realized I was struggling.  His way of helping me was to send me a speech for this evening.  I feel obligated and proud to share my son’s words with you this evening:

My father was an amazing man.  He, in my mind, was the definition of a gentleman.  He lived his life with integrity, honesty, professionalism, morality and love.  He knew how to love someone with his whole heart.  As I’m sure most of you here know, he was especially dedicated to his wife Arlene, and to his boys.

His dedication was evident through his actions that were seen by everyone.  When Dad came home from work, he would drop off his brief case in the garage and immediately come and play basketball with David and me.  Yes, in his suit!  My mother wouldn’t even know that he was home yet! He just wanted to spend whatever time he had with David and me.

One thing that my Dad stressed, besides being a gentleman, was the importance of … well … BOWLING!  Every Sunday at noon, bowling was on to watch Mike Scroggins, Norm Duke, Pete Weber, and all of our favorite pros.  He spent every Saturday morning, amounting to countless hours, watching us bowl.  He would be there when we turned around looking for help with the lane conditions.  I tell Ya’ EVERY time I left a split, he would be right there to tell me “3 and 1 Mike; 3 and 1 Mike”.  I never understood why he didn’t realize that by now…I knew it!  He taught me everything.

I remember the first time that I ever saw a 300 – bowled by my father of course.  I was around 9 years old and we were at Flamingo Bowl.  We went out for a day of practice and we were talking about bowling a perfect game.  I told him that “I have never seen a 300 before.”  He responded, “Well here Mike, I will throw one for you right now.”  Sure enough Dad threw a perfect game.  He was so good.

He always stressed how lane conditions were getting way too easy.  He would tell me, “When I was growing up bowling, we only had 3 boards to play with; one was the shot, and a board to the left and to the right for mistakes.”  His words always gave me that extra boost to do my best when dad was behind me watching.

To close in a Terry Touranjoe way: Here is to living in the moment and never regretting anything because you never know if the next day, you won’t be able to bowl anymore or speak to your loved ones.  As my Dad always said, “This is what life’s all about.  Mike if I was to die tomorrow, I would die happy.”