Island bowler to be inducted into Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers’ Hall of Fame

John Walsh has been bowling since he was four years old, went to his first nationals at the age of nine, and now, at the age of 42, he is about to be inducted into the Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers’ Hall of Fame. 

He will be the first Prince Edward Island bowler to be inducted, he said.

“It’s just an incredible honour — a little surprising, but amazing,” Walsh said.

“So many great memories, so many great people. So much support that I had through bowling. And in the bowling community, the support I had was just unreal.”

Walsh said youth bowling was in its heyday in Charlottetown when he first started to compete. 

“There [were] years that we needed to do two shifts because the 14 lanes wouldn’t fit the full junior and senior youth bowling,” he said. “We probably had over 200 kids in the program through some of those years.

“I enjoyed the game, and I enjoyed the social aspect of being down here,” he said, referring to The Alley lanes at Murphy’s Community Centre in Charlottetown, which used to be the Basilica Recreation Centre.

“It’s just where you went on Saturday mornings.”

One highlight: Walsh bowled a perfect game at the age of 16, which means 12 strikes in a row without fouling for a score of 450. “Pretty neat” is how he describes that.

‘Extra pride’

Walsh has attended 14 national championships, winning two national gold medals (2005 and 2009), a silver in 2002 and a bronze in 2004.

“I think there’s a little extra pride representing P.E.I.,” he said.

“It was certainly, and still is, special for me to to go out and be able to represent P.E.I. at the nationals.”

Walsh competed until he was 30, then stepped back when his son Noah was born. 

He returned to the nationals in 2019, finishing fourth in singles.

“I missed it. There’s always been so many great memories, and it’s always been a big part of my life,” Walsh said.

“[Noah] is a little older now, and and it would be nice for him to see me compete as well.”

“I would certainly like to win a gold medal again. That would be an ultimate goal.” 

Winning coach

Noah, along with Walsh’s fiancee, will be at the nationals in Edmonton when Walsh is inducted into the Hall of Fame, as will his long-time coach, Rickey Burns.

A couple of years ago, Burns was also honoured nationally, as the grassroots coach of the year. Burns has been involved with youth bowling since 1981, as well as coaching with the Special Olympics bowling program.

“Rickey’s been everything to me. He was running the youth bowling program when I started,” Walsh said. “He’s been a big part of my bowling career.”

Burns said he was worried when Walsh was making a comeback after being away from the sport. 

“He loved the bowling, and then when I seen him coming back and heard about it, I come down and watched a bit and he never lost a thing,” Burns said.

“It’s going to be great to see one of our bowlers out of our youth program on P.E.I. going into the Hall of Fame, the first one for P.E.I.

“He’s just like his mother. His mother is a competitive bowler in the CNIB and she’s a competitive goalball team member. So it just rolled off of the mother onto the son, as being competitive.”

The president of the P.E.I. 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association said two national honours for P.E.I. are a boost for the sport. 

“It’s an amazing accomplishment for John, and hopefully this national honour brings 5 pin bowling back into the spotlight on Prince Edward Island,” said Allan Clark.

“Rickey has been the face of 5 pin bowling in Charlottetown for 30-plus years, and without his dedication and love of the sport, I’m not sure where we’d be.”