Soft spoken and mild mannered, Art Higgins was the perfect choice to lead the York Simcoe Association in the beginning.
Allencourt Lanes, with sixteen lanes opened on September 10, 1960 by Tommy Ryan, the inventor of 5-pin bowling. One of the most modern centres, it was there where many of our Hall of Famers got their start. Jim Hoult, already an accomplished bowler, was the chief instructor with the youth league. Next there was Al Richardson, who bowled on the Friday Night Men’s Majors league. The list goes on to include Lauretta Wright, Jack and Betty Hill, Owen Moreau, one of tonight’s inductees and a bowler who was labeled a champion from the first game he bowled at the age of ten, Ian Cameron.
When Bert Garside, who was the Executive Director of the Ontario Bowlers’ Congress, started to organize local Associations, he looked to a group of interested bowlers, all who bowled at Allencourt Lanes. A meeting took place and when it was all said and done, the York Simcoe Bowlers’ Association was formed, with Art Higgins as the founding President. The executive consisted of, President Art, Al Richardson and Stan Shadoff as Vice-Presidents, John Cruse as Secretary, Bill Jackson as Treasurer, Bill Jones as Membership chair and Jim Hoult as the Tournament Director.
With an executive in place and the wheels in motion, it was time to come up with something that the Association could offer to their members. The first item on the agenda was to come up with the Association colours. After some discussion, it was decided that the York Simcoe colours would be mint green and black. Association benefits included a Membership card for each bowler, each executive would receive a maximum of three Rule Books and each league would receive bronze medallions, which would be awarded to the team champions. Upon request, each league would also receive one gold merit pin to be presented to a bowler in their league, who the Executive felt to be most deserving.
In September 1968, Al Richardson accepted the office of President. Ellen Parrett took over the duties as Secretary while Bill Jones, Bill Jackson and Jim Hoult continued in their positions. After a membership blitz by the Executive, membership quickly rose to 995 by the end of the season. The first annual meeting was held on Sunday January 19, 1969 at Allencourt Lanes with 25 members attending.
At the start of the 70/71 season, Tom Cowan took over as President and by the end of his tenure, York Simcoe’s membership had grown to nearly 1600.
The North/South tournament became a popular event for 30 years, that brought the North and South of the large zone together in a social environment. The first bowling tournament, dinner and dance was held on January 22, 1972 at Allencourt Lanes.
In 1968, Al came up with the idea for a high average bowler to be paired up with a low average bowler, forming a team. This was the birth of the High-Low Doubles tournament. In 1972, the O.B.C. adopted the High-Low Doubles across the province and it continues to be the most popular event on the calendar. The “300 Club” tournament was also an idea of this Executive.
In 1976 with membership of over 3000 members, it became apparent that, due to the size of the Zone, it was time for the zone to split. After receiving approval from the O.B.C., the Huronia Association was born. Tom Cowan was the unanimous choice as their founding President with membership in their first year, over 1,700.
Art bowled in the Friday Majors league at Allencourt Lanes and the very competitive Crosstown Majors league in the Golden Mile Plaza with many of the top bowlers of the day. In the Open he qualified a total of three times between 1967 and 1973, twice on the Men’s team, once on the Mixed team and coached the Ladies team once. In other tournament play, Art was a member of the Legion team that represented Richmond Hill.
While Art is no longer with us, he will always be remembered. In 1997, the 300 Classic tournament was re-named the Art Higgins Memorial 300 Classic tournament in his honour. Tonight, we will add Art’s name to the list of Builders who have contributed so much over the years, for the betterment of five pin bowling in York Simcoe.