In a bowling career that has spanned over forty years, you could say that Arlene McIntyre has enjoyed success both in her early twenties and again as a more mature forty year old.
Arlene who became a welcome addition to the Whelan family on November 6, 1943 in Toronto to parents Don and May and big brother Dave, spent most of her time either playing softball or bowling. As a teenager growing up in Scarborough you would find Arlene playing softball at Monarch Park in the East Toronto Ladies Softball league with the Hiscock Comets and the Raybestos teams, just to name a few.
Prior to the Canadian Junior Bowling Congress (CJBC), which is the forerunner to today’s Y.B.C. Arlene, started bowling at Aprile Lanes in her dad’s league. As a softball pitcher, it didn’t take long for her to adapt to the mechanics of bowling and soon found herself bowling in one of the top ladies leagues of the day, the Toronto Ladies City Majors. At only 22 she was bowling on the New Shamrock Bowl team with Doris Luke, Ollie Miller, Millie Evans and Lori Bates, every one of them future Hall of Fame members. Arlene also bowled in the Olympia Mixed Majors and later the Scarborough Ladies Majors at Aprile Lanes.
Being a top bowler, Arlene joined the Master Bowlers’ Association in 1965 at the age of 22 and as well qualified for her first Open. In her first year in the Masters she represented Queen City Bowl in Toronto. In the Open she qualified on the Scarborough Mixed team with Doris Stewart, mother of tonight’s inductee Russ Stewart.
Arlene eventually married her high school sweetheart in 1969, and in 1972, had their first of two children. Krista came along in April and Debra was born in 1976. Being a stay at home mother, Arlene put her bowling career on hold. Tragedy would hit the McIntyre family, for in 1980 as her husband of only eleven years, Douglas died of cancer.
It took some time, but after Doug’s passing, her good friends in bowling convinced her to join the Scarborough Majors league at Aprile Lanes. In no time Arlene was back at the top of her game, as if she never left. In the Open she started qualifying with the York Simcoe zone, where, for the next nine years was part of the ladies teams, eight times in singles for a total of fourteen appearances. Arlene also joined the Masters again out of Aprile Lanes and from 1981 to 1989 captured three tournament wins. Her first win came in 1985 in the televised Brunswick Rose Festival from Welland. The very next year she would capture the Oktoberfest Classic and in 1988 won the Mixed Doubles tournament with Hall of Famer Terry Noon. In total she bowled thirteen years in the Masters, twelve in the Tournament division and one in the Teaching division and has a lifetime average of 238. As well, both Krista and Debra bowled in the YBC. In 1988 Arlene coached the Junior Girls team from Aprile Lanes to a National Championship in Calgary, with her daughter Debra as part of the team.
In 1990, in celebration of the ninetieth year of 5 pin bowling, Arlene was selected eighty-first overall in the list of the Top 90 female bowlers of all time in Ontario.
Raising two teenage daughters by yourself might seem like a full time job, but once they left the YBC, Arlene went back to working full time and would once again, put her bowling career on hold.
Today, Arlene enjoys full time retirement in Markham, living with her daughter Krista and her husband George. She also has more time to spend with her grandchildren, Thomas, who is 10 and Ava, who is 7. Once again, Arlene has started bowling again and with daughter Debra, bowl in Markham on Thursday nights. As well, she has started taking Ava out bowling in the YBC.
As we welcome Arlene into the Players division of the Hall of Fame, one can only wonder what the future holds for our newest member. We are all looking forward to the Ontario Open this year, as Arlene, once again, will represent York Simcoe as a member of our Seniors team.