In 1997, Tom Horton was inducted into the Builders division of the Ontario 5 Pin Bowlers’ Hall of Fame. It was only fitting that in 2001, when York Simcoe held their first Hall of Fame ceremonies; Tom would be included as a fellow inductee into their Builders division along with Tom Cowan, Sid Morris, Al Richardson and Lauretta Wright. Tonight we will again honour another milestone, as Tom becomes only the eleventh person in Ontario to be inducted as a dual inductee.
Tom was born in Arvida, Quebec and was originally introduced to both ten pin and duckpin bowling by his father, Charles, as both games were played in that area. While earning his degree in engineering at the University of New Brunswick, Tom became a candlepin bowler and carried an average as high as 113.
As an employee with IBM, Tom was transferred from New Brunswick to the Head Office in Toronto and Tom, Betty and three girls, Linda, Nancy and Debbie, settled in Newmarket. With Tom’s bowling background, he enrolled the girls at the local bowling centre, which, at the time, was run by Bill Ingram. In 1971, daughter Sandi was born and in the next year, Bill introduced Tom to organized bowling. While Bill ran the bowling centre, his wife Marg was Program Director for the Youth Bowling Council (YBC) and in 1972, had Tom join the Master Bowlers Association, along with another of tonight’s inductees Pauline McNaught.
Not only did Tom volunteer with the Youth Bowling Council, in Newmarket, as a statistician, coach and supervisor, he spent fifteen years as a member of our Association, mostly as Treasurer. In 1978 the Ontario 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association recognized Tom as Treasurer of the Year at their Annual Convention. As well, he was President of the Superbowl decentralized Association from 1981 to 1983. Similarly, with the Ontario 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association, Tom served on their board for four years.
Tom made his greatest contribution as a builder to 5 Pin Bowling, through the Master Bowlers Association. In 1976 he joined the Board of Directors and in 1980 became their President, a position he would hold until 1994. Not only an excellent administrator, Tom had what it took to be an outstanding bowler. In the 21 years that he bowled in the Masters, 13 in the Tournament division, his lifetime average is 250 for more than 1000 games. In his career, Tom won two Provincial tournaments and was Bowler of the Year, in the Teaching division, for the 1984-85 season and, in the National Championships, carried a 269 average. In 1991 Tom received Life Membership in the Master Bowlers Association and also received a Provincial Citation for volunteerism from the Provincial Government.
In Open play, Tom qualified a total of 16 times, all under the York Simcoe banner. That ranks in the top five qualifiers for the men behind Hall of Famers Geoff Stevens, Russ Hurcom, Shawn Morris and another of tonight’s inductees, Mike Rancourt. His first two Opens in 1973 and 1974 on the Mixed teams, were followed by a string of fourteen appearances on the Men’s teams. Tom qualified nine times as a singles competitor, of which three were as our Zone Champion. In 1992, Tom coached the York Simcoe Ladies team, consisting of Hall of Famer’s Diane Macleod, the late Thelma Stevens, Carolyn Fletcher, another of tonight’s inductees and an up and comer, daughter Sandi, who, at the age of twenty, had qualified for just the second time.
In recognition of his accomplishments, Tom was ranked seventy-eighth on the Top 90 list of bowlers, in Ontario.
Sadly, Tom passed away, way too soon, on June 2nd, 1996 and while 5 Pin Bowling lost a tireless worker and an avid bowler, we all lost a dear friend and committed family man. I’m sure that Tom’s looking down with great pride as he watches daughter Sandi continue her winning ways, in the organization that he helped grow. The Board of Directors are honoured to take part in this special induction as Tom now joins fellow York Simcoe and Ontario 5 Hall of Famer, Jim Hoult, as a Dual Inductee as both a Builder and a Player.