Keeping the bowling balls rolling for 40 years

Once Bob Nisleit found his calling, he stayed in his lane.

The owner of Harbor Hills Recreation Center in Port Washington bought the bowling alley with his mother in 1984 and never left.

“I enjoyed bowling and, like my mother, I enjoyed being around people,” Nisleit said. “I guess in life you choose a profession. I’m one to stick with it.”

Nisleit’s career was sparked while growing up in Cedarburg. He became a junior league bowler and worked at Circle B Recreation Center in the Town of Cedarburg as a pin chaser and later a mechanic.

At 19, Nisleit worked for Hadler Lanes in Thiensville, attended college for two years and worked for Miller Brewery for four.

But his bowling connection came back to him when he got a call from Harbor Hills.

“Somehow they got ahold of my name,” Nisleit said.

He did repair work for the center, and the owners were looking to move on. That’s when Nisleit’s mother Rosemary stepped in. The pair  owned and operated the center until she died in 2001. Nisleit, 66, has done it himself since.

He said his 40-year career won’t eclipse that of his late father Carlton, who worked at Bolens Corp. in Port for 52 years.

In Nisleit’s shorter stint at Harbor Hills, he has seen bowling technology boom but has largely kept a classic atmosphere.

Harbor Hills switched out its wooden lanes to synthetic versions in 2013, which allow for more consistent rolls and make it easier on the staff. Wooden lanes had to be taken apart and sanded every year, causing the alley to close for a week.

“That was a mess,” Nisleit said.

The synthetic lanes can last for decades without any maintenance.

“You never have to sand ’em,” Harbor Hills manager Tyler Mueller said.

Nisleit isn’t as quick to replace a couple of other systems. His Brunswick pinsetter has worked well for years.

“They could go another 40 years,” he said, adding most centers don’t change those often.

Some have upgraded scoring systems to new versions that allow people to log in and see scores and have interactive games.

Nisleit said new systems are subscription services that would cost $50,000 up front plus $100 per lane per month, meaning $1,600 a month at Harbor Hills.

Replacement parts are difficult to obtain for the current scoring system, however. Nisleit said he may upgrade this summer.

“We’re more of a traditional center where people are coming to bowl,” Nisleit said. “We haven’t gotten too far off base.”

Regardless of system, Nisleit said, bowlers look for their scores in Ozaukee Press each week.

Bowling ball technology has “gotten crazy,” Nisleit said, from the materials used to the configuration of their weight blocks.

Balls made of rubber and plastic years ago graduated to urethane, then reactive resin.

Inside, weights are designed to set a ball’s level of hook.

“Usually, guys who throw little hook are looking for more hook. At the end of the day, it comes down to practice,” Nisleit said.

He has done plenty and still bowls twice a week in leagues. Nisleit has seven 300 games in his career, including one last November.

Sometimes, Nisleit has top-notch bowlers visit. A.J. Johnson, who won a Professional Bowlers Association title in 2023 and has been a member of Team USA, recently conducted a clinic.

Harbor Hills has hosted multiple regular and senior state tournaments. It has had the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ozaukee County fundraising events for years, with the next one on Saturday, March 1.

Port Washington High School used to have a bowling team under coach Jim Hafeman and qualified for state multiple times. A team hasn’t been formed since the pandemic, Nisleit said.

Harbor Hills closed for a couple of months during the pandemic but survived. Bowlers returned to their regular league schedules after the 2020 presidential election, Nisleit said.

He has seen the sport at its height in southeastern Wisconsin, one of the country’s bowling hotspots. Ozaukee County used to have eight centers but is now down to three with Harbor Hills, Circle B and Cedars III in Cedarburg. Harbor Hills, Nisleit said, was the last one to be built in the late 1970s.

“It’s leveled off and it’s actually coming back,” Nisleit said of the sport.

He and his mother’s commitment to the sport have been recognized. Rosemary was inducted into the Ozaukee Bowling Association Hall of Fame in 1990 and Nisleit within the last year.

Bowling isn’t Harbor Hills’ only draw. Pool and dart leagues fill the area behind the lanes multiple times a week and outdoor summer volleyball leagues are popular.

Nisleit has embraced darts technology. Some leagues travel from place to place while others have teams face off at different locations miles from each other.

Dart boards are set up to allow for competition on boards in different places in real time. That allows teams to shoot at an establishment closer to their home but still compete in a league.

“That’s a big difference,” Nisleit said. “When we got here it was just bowling.”

Other events such as birthday parties, baby and bridal showers and even weddings bring people to Harbor Hills. Nisleit said at least 10 couples have been married there in the last four decades.

Nisleit runs the center with a lean crew. Mueller is the only full-time employee, and there are about 15 part-time employees.

One of the center’s favorite attractions is Winston. Nisleit’s 13-year-old black Lab comes with him to work and mostly stays in his office. Salespeople have gotten to know him and bring him treats.

“It’s food first, then it’s people,” Nisleit said of Winston’s priorities.

For years, Harbor Hills has worked with Grafton’s Portal Inc., which connects teenagers and adults with disabilities to jobs and social opportunities. Harbor Hills has had the same employee found through the program who has dusted the lanes and gutters and has done general cleaning for the last decade.

It’s not a job for people who like weekends off. Last Sunday, bowlers began arriving at 7:30 a.m. and were rolling by 9 a.m.

“I have no complaints,” Nisleit said. “I’ve had a lot of loyal customers and people who have supported me.”

That loyalty, like Nisleit’s to Harbor Hills, has lasted for generations.

“I’ve known their parents and now their kids bowl here through the junior program,” Nisleit said.