Mike Morin, of NH radio and print news, authors award-winning non-fiction book
Mike Morin can add award-winning author to his resumé. The Nashua Telegraph writer recently won the Biennial 2021 NH Literary Award for his non-fiction book, “Lunch with Tommy and Stasia – TV’s Golden Age of Candlepin Bowling.” The book provides the first deep dive into the Saturday noon-hour televised candlepin bowling craze that created a bevy of bowling pop stars. Each week from 1958 to 1996 at lunchtime, the world’s greatest candlepin bowlers competed on the lanes for over 200,000 weekly TV viewers. Morin, the host of nearly 300 candlepin episodes in Boston and New Hampshire, came to know many of the bowlers quite well.
Prior to coming from Michigan to New England in 1984, his only experience with bowling was the version known as ten pin, recognized for its larger bowling balls with holes and fatter pins. “I was astonished that I had never seen the candlepin variation, which dominated this region plus the Canadian Maritimes,” he said. “After joining a league, one thing led to another and in 1997, I found myself hosting a weekly candlepin TV bowling show.”
Over the years, Morin made many pro bowling friends and was fascinated by their stories in and out of the game. “Nobody had chronicled these people, so I appointed myself as a candlepin bowling historian and researched what made these superb athletes tick,” he said. Because of the immense TV ratings from the weekly Boston show on WCVB channel 5, the work-a-day bowlers became local celebrities. “Many of the bowlers were as famous as Larry Bird and Bobby Orr,” said Morin.
For the book, Morin wanted to uncover behind-the-scenes anecdotes to mix with stories of competition, that the average fan never knew and would enjoy experiencing. “My book is an all-access backstage pass to the world of uber-competitive TV shows plus informal money matches that involved more cash changing hands than a high stakes poker game,” the author said.
When asked about “Lunch with Tommy and Stasia” receiving the NH Literary Award, Morin said “What makes me happiest is that telling stories about a local sport (candlepin bowling) interested enough people to acknowledge how our New England culture still means something to those who grew up here. The niche topic is fresh subject matter as there has not been a major book about the sport and its colorful personalities for 40 years. The fans hungered for the stories. I am humbled to be the recipient of this literary milestone.”
And who better than this veteran newsman to tell the story? Morin broke into the news game as a bike-riding grade/high school hometown delivery boy in Michigan. “I used a big red bike with canvas saddlebags and collected 45-cents in coins weekly from each customer on my route.” Now semi-retired, Morin’s 50-year broadcasting career included serving as a weatherman in Toledo, OH to radio personality in Boston and points in between. He has written about 650 columns for the Nashua Telegraph as well as many humor pieces and feature stories for New Hampshire Magazine.
The news veteran’s writing style differs by type. “For newspaper columns, I write when I’m hit by a lightning bolt of inspiration,” he said. “For my books, I’m pretty streaky. I might write every day for a week, then take a month away since books don’t have a weekly deadline like newspaper work.” In 2013 Morin penned his career memoir, “Fifty Shades of Radio. True Stories of a Morning Radio Guy Being Wired, Tired and Fired.” He is currently working on the history of Manchester, NH’s fabled “Red Arrow Diner,” which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2022.
When not working, Morin enjoys canine relationships (although he is still grieving the recent loss of his first dog). “I realized that canine companionship is real and that we both taught each other a lot about life and its precious brevity,” he said. He also likes to cook — “especially baking, inspired by my late grandma Morin, whose homemade bread brings back my very best childhood memories,” he said. “I was given her recipe when my dad (her son) died and have been making it ever since. I thought the recipe had been lost, if there even was one. Getting it from my dad’s sister was one of the high spots of my life. I have made loaves and raised thousands of dollars at charity auctions with grandma’s bread.”
The news veteran lives with Barbara, his partner since 2006. They share eight grandchildren from their previous marriages. “We also adopted two bullfrogs that used our pool more than we did this summer,” he quipped. Morin is a longtime member of the New Hampshire Writers’ Project and hosts radio talk shows on AM 1370-WFEA in Manchester, NH.
“Lunch with Tommy and Stasia – TV’s Golden Age of Candlepin Bowling,” published by Hobblebush Books, is available in paperback format at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and Gibson’s Bookstore. Learn more about Mike Morin at www.mikemorinmedia.com.
