The name “Hoult” has always been synonymous with excellence in 5 Pin Bowling. Jimmy Hoult’s brother Billy, a two-time Canadian Singles Champion, was inducted to the Ontario 5 Hall of Fame in 1986 as a player and Jimmy’s induction followed in 1991.
Born in 1930, Jim was originally a pinsetter at the Olympia Lanes at Logan and Queen Streets before moving to Acorn Central, where he learned the fundamentals of the game from George Corbridge, one of the top bowlers and teaches of the game in his day. As pinboys, both Jim and Billy were in the pinboys league and, by 1947-48, they renewed a childhood acquaintance with Bert Garside, and this threesome would become lifelong friends.
Jim also joined MacLean Hunter in 1946 and immediately was a member of the company team in the Printers League, a league so large it bowled for two nights each week at Spadina Bowl. In 1950, Jim married Jean Stark, another MacLean employee and, last year, they celebrated their 50th anniversary. That same year, Jim joined the City Major League, and over the years bowled on teams sponsored by Towne Tavern, Gross Machinery, Molson’s, Pasquales, Peoples Credit Jewelers and Hellewell’s All Starts.
In 1957, Jim became a bowling celebrity as he won the first O’Connor Open and the first prize of $1, 000 an unheard of sum of prize money in those days. Prior to the Open, tournaments were of the “All-Events” variety, and the open was the first tournament that offered a first prize of over $200 for a singles event. With the introduction of the automatic pinsetter in that same year, the bowling industry needed stars for promotion and the handsome Jim Hoult was a natural.
Jim was named the chief instructor for Double Diamond, a manufacturer of automatic pinsetters, and along with Bert Garside, Volda Heffner, Lea McBeigh, Don Walker, Dot Peppin and Rusty Starr, opened all their new centres as members of the Double Diamond Advisory Staff. As instructors, Jimmy and his staff conducted clinics for more than 10,000 bowlers, and one of today’s top bowlers, Ian Cameron of London, is a Jim Hoult protégée. More notoriety followed as Jim, along with Bert Garside syndicated a 30-week instruction column throughout Canada in 192 newspapers, including the Richmond Hill Liberal. These columns were the basis of the original Master Bowlers Instruction Book.
In fact, Jim became so popular that, the official “Jimmy Hoult Fan Club” was started and a Jim Hoult bowling game “All Star Bowling” was distributed throughout the retail market.
With the beginning of the Master Bowlers Association in 1964, Jimmy was a charter member and he won two events, the Holiday Sweepstakes, in 1966 and the Northern Classics in 1967. The Masters National Championship introduced team competition in 1973 and Jim won a gold medal on the 1974 team that bowled in St. Catharines.
Jim qualified for the Open ten times as a bowler and also coached twice. The 1969 Mixed team from York Simcoe won the Provincial Championship but missed participation at the National level as the East-West split cancelled the National Championships due to the differences over the counter pin. However, Jim was on the winning Mixed Team in 1976 but lost out to Saskatchewan.
On the administrative level, Jim served on the York Simcoe executive for 10 years and was one of the original executive members when the zone was formed. Jim was the Tournament chairman for the zone as well as for the OBC for five years and as such was in charge of tournament sanctioning and coordination of OBC Provincial events. In addition, he was responsible for introducing Al Richardson to organized bowling, and Al ultimately became the treasurer of the Ontario Bowlers Congress.
In 1991, Jim was also awarded with a life membership in York Simcoe, which was a tribute to his contribution to bowling at the local level. Jim and his wife, Jean are both enjoying their retirement with their children Bob, Steve and Sandy, and their four grandchildren.