Ernie Hughes, an all round Willowdale athlete, as capable in softball and hockey as on the 5 Pin lanes has the distinct honour of being the first bowler to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for the York Simcoe 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association.
Ernie was born in Toronto on May 15, 1917, the youngest of five. Sister’s Florence and Elsie and one brother Al, who he use to bowl with in the Crosstown Majors league, have all passed away. His older brother Hughie, who celebrated his 100th birthday this year, passed away last month. While living in Willowdale, for 57 years, Ernie met Helen Thompson and they were married in 1941. Ernie spent 30 years employed as a clerk for the City of North York.
His bowling career started in 1937 at Pears Bowl in Toronto, under the management of Ed Moody. Along with brother Al, they bowled on the Ostranders Jewellers team. After a three year stint in the second war and 5 Pin Bowling booming, Ernie increased his bowling activity dramatically. He bowled in all the big leagues of the day, the Toronto City Majors, the Crosstown Majors, as well as the North York Industrial league, the Willowdale Mens Majors league, the Mens Majors leagues at both Allencourt Lanes and ABC Bowl in Richmond Hill and Odeon Bowl in Newmarket, which was run by the Ingram family.
In the Toronto City Majors league, he bowled on the Seagrams team for two years, with such greats as Hall of Famers Percy Cutting and Fred Pechaluk, as well as Earl Fordham, Bob Reilly and his old friend from Pears Bowl, Ed Moody.
In tournament play, Ernie was on top of his game in the early sixties. In 1963 alone, he was the Ontario Match Play Singles champion, bowling a 1375 for five games, beating Vic Marco of Brantford, winning $1,000.00 in March and in April went on to win the first Annual 5 Pin “Timmy’s” Easter Classic, taking home another $1,000.00 first place prize. Again, in 1964, Ernie defended his title by winning the second Annual 5 Pin “Timmy’s” Easter Classic, taking home another $1,000.00. There were many more tournaments and much more money won during his career.
In the Eastern Canadian Championships, which is today’s “Open”, Ernie Hughes can boast about being on the only York Simcoe Men’s team, ever to make it to the National Championships. In 1964, in North Bay, Ernie, along with Al Richardson, another of tonight’s inductees, Peter Senchuk, Ren Malcolm, Roy Whiteside, Mario Mainelli and coach Tony Den Bok beat the strong Hamilton team consisting of Doug Whitfield, George Tratch, and Hall of Famer’s Ernie Roggie, Lloyd Ormerod, Stan Battersby and Bert Adams, by a score of 12,331 to 12,235 to advance to the Nationals. In order to accommodate the spectators who planned on attending the Canadian championships, Brunswick of Canada installed four bowling lanes and automatic pinsetters in the Regina Armories. The installation required 400 man-hours and was completed in five days. The tournament was a tremendous success as Ontario (Toronto) won the Ladies Team title and Billy Hoult, from Scarborough won the Mens Single title. However, our Mens team were defeated by a power-house Winnipeg team by a score of 11,824 to 11,594. In all, Ernie has qualified nine times in the Open, five times on the Men’s team, which included three Singles, and four times on Mixed teams. Ernie has also coached two ladies teams.
In a bowling career that spans over 60 years, Ernie has bowled with the best, including many of today’s Hall of Famers, Billy Hoult, Rusty Starr, Fraser Hambly and “Red” McQuaker and won several tournaments. Ernie had the honour and unique distinction of being voted most valuable player when with Mahar’s baseball team in 1939 and winning the same award 19 years later in the strong North York Senior “B” softball league. He covered bowling for the Willowdale Enterprize for ten years, was a member of the East-Toronto All-Stars at the Sportsman’s Show classic in 1957, has bowled triples of 1040, which included a 444 single, with the Coffee Cup team, in the North York Industrial league at Sid Bentley’s Acorn Willowdale Alleys and 1044 (391, 358, 295) along with a 440 single game in the Willowdale Mens Majors league at Willow Bowl and won the North York singles crown in 1952 & 1957, along with the league championships in 1954, Richmond Hill singles and doubles (with Art Briggs Jr.) in 1958. Ernie’s lifetime average is estimated at 250, not bad for someone who was self taught.
Ernie and his first wife, Helen, had two children, Allan and Linda and today there are 5 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. Following Helen’s passing in 1997, Ernie remarried and, with his wife, Patricia, lives in Thornhill and enjoys golf and skating in his leisure time. While a shoulder injury has kept Ernie off the lanes for the past two years, he is looking forward to returning to the lanes at Bowlerama Newtonbrook this season.
These accomplishments undoubtedly place Ernie Hughes firmly in our Bowlers division.