By Tess Kenny
Naperville Sun
NAPERVILLE, Ill. — All’s fair in strikes and splits.
The Naperville Fire Department and Naperville Police Department left it all in the alley Thursday night. The bowling alley, that is.
In a contest of public safety primacy, the two departments went head to head in a “Battle of the Badges” bowling competition at Bowlero Naperville.
Frame after frame, police and fire personnel duked it out, each vying for the high-stakes prize: a sense of pride. Oh, and a slightly larger plastic trophy than their competitor.
In the end, the honor went to the fire department. But it was a hard-fought battle. And really, it was cross-department camaraderie that prevailed when all the games were played and put to rest.
“Naperville won tonight!” a member of the police department’s team shouted after final scores were tallied.
“Spoken like the losing team,” a fire department team member answered back.
In the works for the past few months, Battle of the Badges was devised out of Bowlero wanting to give back to Naperville’s first responders, said Terry Washington, Bowlero’s general manager.
“We know they work hard in the streets and that they risk their lives every day to keep safe,” he said. “We wanted to bring something together so they could have a great time … to let loose, let their hair down and just relax.”
That they did.
Wearing a T-shirt that boasted the words “Stop Drop and Bowl” on his back, Naperville Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis came to play Thursday.
“(My bowling) is kind of like a pyramid, where I try to hone in on the strike zone as the games progress,” he said in between frames. “So I’m usually best by my third game.”
Puknaitis used to bowl in high school, he said. Since then, he’s played on and off but never too seriously. But he has managed to hold on to the same bowling ball for nearly 40 years and ahead of Thursday’s big battle, had it re-drilled so it was in prime condition for game day.
For most of the night, Puknaitis played against his police counterpart, Chief Jason Arres.
Through early rounds of play, Arres had his sights set on a police win — even if he doesn’t characterize himself as a bowler.
“My game is terrible,” he laughed, adding that he hadn’t bowled in years. “But that’s OK because it’s fun.”
Still, by his second game, Arres landed a strike. Team members and competitors alike cheered, giving credit where credit was due.
“Even a blind squirrel can find a nut,” Arres said after hitting his mark.
The competition was divided into a total of three games. Through the first two rounds, teams from each department squared off against each other. The third game was for all the marbles. A one-game championship bowl-off, both departments tapped their four best players to compete. Both all-star teams had big hitters.
For the fire department, probationary firefighter/paramedic Matthew Lynch brought a bonafide bowling background to his side. Originally from Rockford, Lynch bowled in college. The sport took him to tournaments across the state. For Thursday’s games, he brought his own customized bowling balls and a towel to wipe off equipment between frames.
The police, meanwhile, had public safety IT manager Lawrence Algee. Though he works with both departments, Algee was recruited to play for the police. He’s been bowling since he was a pre-teen, he said, and plays in adult leagues in the Naperville area once or twice a week.
Bowl for bowl, the final match-up was a nail-biter. Aptly, as the teams descended into their last 10 frames, Europe’s “The Final Countdown” played over Bowlero’s loudspeakers.
Through the championship’s first half, the police seemed to have the edge. But by frame six, fire was, decidedly, on a hot streak. Police stayed the course (Algee scored six strikes through the game) but when the final pin had fallen, fire led 602 to 542, with all players’ scores compiled.
Battle of the Badges finished with a trophy ceremony, with Washington doling out laurels specially engraved for the event. Police accepted the loss with grace — and just a tinge of lighthearted defeat.
“As much as this pains me to say, congratulations to the fire department,” police Cmdr. Rick Krakow said to colleagues.
Afterwards, loss aside, Krakow added, “What an unbelievable event.”
“The camaraderie between the fire and police departments has been around for decades, especially in Naperville,” he said. “We really love the relationship that we have with the fire department, and we’re going to keep this going and build on it and hopefully make it an even bigger event next year.”
Krakow assured that the police “are gonna come back strong” for the next Battle of the Badges. The departments may even expand their competitive repertoire to other venues, maybe a softball field or a basketball court.
“The whole gamut. But you know, we’re getting older and we’re going to start pulling hamstrings,” Krakow quipped, “so we’ve got to be careful about what we play.”
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