Tedisco Celebrates 103rd Birthday of Joseph Gentiluomo, World War II Veteran Who Invented Modern Bowling Ball

Senator Jim Tedisco joined the family of Joseph Gentiluomo of Schenectady, a World War II veteran who holds the patent on the modern bowling ball, to celebrate his milestone 103rd birthday.

Mr. Joseph Gentiluomo is a World War II U.S. Army veteran who served in Okinawa and in Korea.  An RPI graduate, Mr. Gentiluomo worked for GE and IBM and holds 28 patents including for different golf balls and a mechanical hand that was used by NASA.

Gentiluomo’s bowling ball patent puts all the weight on the inside of the bowling ball, giving bowlers more power to knock the pins down.

Senator Tedisco inducted him into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame in 2023 and presented him with the Liberty Medal, the Senate’s highest honor.

“Happy 103rd Birthday to the Capital Region’s very own American hero and modern bowling ball inventor Joseph Gentiluomo, a member of the ‘Greatest Generation’ of Americans who defeated tyranny in World War II and set the course for decades of prosperity for our country,” said Senator Jim Tedisco.

Gentiluomo served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1946 under the 59th Service Group. After basic training, Gentiluomo attended the National School of Aeronautics in Kansas City and later was assigned to the machine shop at various airfields in Santa Maria, Sacramento, San Bernadino, and in the Mojave Desert in California.

While stationed in the Pacific, Gentiluomo serviced B-24 Liberator bombers on Angaur Island in the Palau Islands and later Okinawa. Gentiluomo’s technical expertise to repair and maintain American aircraft kept his fellow service members safe during military campaigns in the Philippines, Ryukyus, and the Western Pacific, and was a critical part of the overall war effort that contributed to victory in the Pacific against Imperial Japan. Gentiluomo’s unit was later sent to Seoul, South Korea for post-war occupation duty.

He received numerous commendations and awards for his service including the American Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal, and War II Victory Medal.

Joseph was married to the late Orega Gentiluomo for 67 years. They have two children, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.