From a humble beginning in the Italian village of Monteleone, Nick Pagniello rose to become the predominant bowler in the history of the Master Bowler’s Association. His fourteen tournament victories are unchallenged in the twenty nine year history of the association.

In that first year, Nick won the Master Bantam event, the first of his many victories. However, it was during a near fifteen year stretch from 1971 through 1985 that Nick thoroughly dominated the Master Bowlers’ Association tour. He won the closest of three aggregate titles in 1971 at Peterborough edging Hall of Famer Ron Gilford by only a few pins.

Of his many MBA tournament wins, his 1979 Double Knockout victory was his first since 1971 and broke a string of several second place finishers. However, the win was his fifteenth overall tournament victory which included two victories in the Twin City Shootout, two at the Rotary 50 and one in a 40 game two ball event at O’Connor Bowl.

In all, Nick won three MBA aggregate crowns in 1971, 1979 and 1983. However, the national singles gold medal eluded him. Despite rolling back-to-back 300 games in 1983, he lost both games to Roy Cunningham of Alberta. Nick qualified for the national MBA national team finals eight times and won five gold medals with victories, in 1973, 1974, 1977, 1982 and 1985.

The 1977 team of Nick, Chuck Park, Jim Elliot, Gord Hobson and Dave Cattanach may have bowled the greatest team score in the history of bowling. In the sixteen game national finals, the Ontario team was undefeated and average 1392 per game at the King George Bowl in Saskatoon.

While starring in the Master Bowler’s Association, Nick was also a leader in league play winning high average titles in several leagues including a last night victory over Hall of Famer Billy Hoult in the Scarborough Majors.

After an initial beginning in the landscape business, and an eight year stint as manager of Brimley Bowl, Nick joined his brother Angelo in the pinsetter service business and specialized in maintaining Brunswick punsters across Ontario.

Today, Nick continues in this line of work with his headquarters at North End Bowl in Oshawa, on eof Canada’s largest and most modern centres. While he retired from competitive bowling in 1989, Nick has continued to dabble in league and tournament play. He surprised everyone, including himself, by winning the 1992 3-6-9 at North End Bowl during the Christmas season beating a top field of 100 bowlers which included another Hall of Famer, Fraser Hambly. This win has encouraged Nick to return to league play and with the beginning of the Masters Seniors Tour, a new avenue of domination may await Hall of Famer, Nick Pagniello.