Thomas F. "Tommy" Ryan (1872 – November 19, 1961) was a Canadian sportsman and entrepreneur who created five-pin bowling. Born in Guelph, Ontario, Ryan moved to Toronto at age 18. For decades, he was a judge of the Miss Toronto pageant. He remained a bachelor until he was 82, when he married his secretary.Ryan died in Toronto at age 89. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1971. He is buried in the Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario.
It may not be an anniversary on the top of most people’s minds, but it’s definitely one that goes down in Toronto’s history books: the 100th anniversary of five-pin bowling, an amateur sport invented right here in our fair city.
The story of five-pin bowling goes as such: It was in 1909 that a local businessman by the name of Thomas Ryan, who owned a bowling alley near Yonge and Richmond streets, developed five-pin bowling after receiving complaints from patrons that the balls for ten-pin bowling – an amateur sport that was gaining popularity with North America’s elite class at the time – were too heavy and the game too slow. So Ryan devised a modified game with smaller balls, only five pins and a different scoring system. A short while later, he added rubber rings to the pins because they were bouncing out the window onto the street below. And the rest, as they say, is history. The game took off and five-pin bowling leagues formed. |
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