Justin, John “Cy”

John “Cy” Justin – (1985)

 

JOHN “CY” JUSTIN

John (Cy) Justin came a long way from his native Chester, Pa., where he was born in 1903, to Lorain, the steel town on Lake Erie’s shore, where he has spent most of his life.

Justin is best remembered for his 832 bowling series, a record that was tops in the nation at the time and which stood for 46 years locally until Jim Ragnoni rolled an 855 series on April 22, 1980. Still, Justin’s 832 is the second best set ever rolled in Lorain during a span of more than five decades.

As a bowler, Justin made an indelible mark on Lorain sports when he rolled games of 279, 264 and 289 for an 832 series at Cook’s Recreation (now Broadway Lanes) on February 7, 1934. In setting the then-record mark, Justin also led the Cook’s Recreation team to a 3,469 series, still the standard for a five-man team in Lorain.

In Justin’s record-breaking score, he had one miss and only two spares; everything else came up strike. He spared in the first game, then added 10 strikes for the 279. In his second-game 264, Justin started with four strikes, blew the fifth, then added six straight strikes and finished with a nine-pin count. In game three, Justin rolled 10 straight strikes, before sparing in the 10th for a 289.

During the 1933-1934 season, Justin recorded his high season average, a remarkable 218 in 90 games. His high single game was a 299, although he rolled several unsanctioned 300 games.

Justin, a charter member of the Lorain Bowling Association Hall of Fame, participated in 24 ABC tournaments in a decade-long career of competitive kegling.

Although Justin participated in and scored well in many top tournaments, one of his greatest performances came in the Vallos Classic in Youngstown, Ohio, a competition that still ranks as one of the nation’s toughest. Early in the tournament, Justin rolled a six-game total of 1,332, an average of 222 per game. The score held up as the top singles score until the tournament’s last day and Justin wound up in second.

On the baseball diamond, Justin was a 145-pound fastballer for the Bluebells, a Class B team organized in 1925. In his first three appearances, Justin hurled 27 innings, struck out 42 batters and surrendered only two earned runs. One of his first mound appearances was a no-hitter. He struck out 20 in a game against SS. Cyril and Methodius. Probably his top performance also came against SS. Cyril and Methodius when he fanned 19 in a no-hitter. Justin was captain of the Bluebells when they took the Lorain Class B title with a 13-1 record.