At the age of 41, Shawn Morris becomes the first person to be inducted to our Bowlers Division in his first year of eligibility.
Born in North York, February 28, 1965, oldest child of Hall of Fame member Sid Morris, it was obvious that Shawn would be a natural in the sport. At the age of five, Shawn started bowling in the Youth Bowling Council at Parkway Bowl in Scarborough and won a team trophy. Throughout his YBC career, Shawn was a dominant force. In the Seniors Division, he had four consecutive Zone titles at Ace Bowl and anchored the Victoria Park High School team to Ontario Champions in the Ontario 5 Pin High School Championships for two consecutive years. In the Pepsi Mailographic tournament, as a member of the Toronto Senior Boys Contingent, Shawn anchored the team to a second place finish in Canada. As a member of the Canadian contingent for the World Small Ball tournament in 1983, along with teammates, Billy Lyon, Jordan Craner, Kim Moncton, Sharon Partridge and Karen Smith, defeated teams from U.S.A. and the Philippines to win the Youth Title. In preparation for bowling in the major leagues, Shawn bowled in Don Gorman’s Y.B.C. High Average Only Tournaments and averaged 280 per tournament, which was the highest average in Ontario, over a three-year period. He closed out his YBC career in record style by bowling a 435 single in his last game on the way to 1000 plus triple.
In other sports, Shawn participated in competitive swimming in public school and was ranked in the top four for the province. In high school, he was a member of the Victoria Park football and rugby teams that won local and provincial championships. As well, Shawn played as an outfielder for the Don Mills softball team and goal for the local soccer team, making the finals in both sports.
Shawn was also a star in the Master Bowlers’ Association. Overall he has won three tournaments. At the age of nineteen, Shawn became the youngest bowler to win a Masters ring by winning the Mixed Doubles tournament. Along with his twenty year old partner, Elaine Freiday, they also became the youngest couple to win a Masters tournament. In 1995, Shawn won the Elimination Knockout beating Jordan Craner in the finals while continuing to average over 280 for the final six games. His third win, again in the Mixed Doubles tournament, came with the help of Michelle Canham from Uxbridge. Finally, in the Mark 10, Shawn needed sixteen extra shots against Mike Bates to win the crown as the most accurate bowler in Ontario in 1994.
Shawn also excelled at the major league level. At the age of fifteen, Walter Heeney introduced Shawn to the Metro Majors league as a spare, where he averaged around 250. Shawn would eventually go on to win the league championships at Ace Bowl, Aprile Lanes, Brimley Bowl and Stellar Lanes as well as capturing high average titles in the Y.A.B.A. league at O’Connor Bowl, the Crosstown league at Aprile Lanes and the Men’s Majors league at Stellar Lanes, all with averages over 260.
As a result of a rotator cuff injury, Shawn switched to coaching and has coached five Ontario Open teams consisting of four ladies teams and one mixed team, all with York Simcoe. As well, Shawn has given his time and effort coaching the Youth Bowling Council, first at Superbowl and then at Stellar, for twenty-one years. This also includes coaching at Regional rounds of Ontario 5 Pin tournaments. For his efforts, the York Simcoe Youth Mixed Team captured the Gold Medal at the Ontario Winter Games, in February 2006.
Overall, in outstanding Open participation, Shawn has qualified a total of sixteen times, all but one with the York Simcoe Men’s teams. This also includes eight times as a singles representative, with three of those appearances as our Singles Zone Champion.
In other events, Shawn has qualified for the televised TSN Pins Game, the Grape and Wine Festival and the Rose Festival.
Like another of tonight’s inductees Jim Glandfield, Shawn also has two perfect games to his credit. The first one came during the Open qualifying round in Markham in 1995 as part of his ten game Zone Record Score of 3132, while his second one was during the Master Bantam Zone round at Stellar Lanes, in 1997. This made Shawn the only bowler in history to bowl a perfect game in both organizations.
Living in Newmarket, Shawn and his wife Sydella have been married fifteen years and have two sons, Tyler (14) and Connor (12). Both boys are avid bowlers and karate enthusiasts, like their dad. Shawn works in the family financial services business with Sydella and his sister Katrina and tonight, joins his father as a member of the Hall of Fame.