Five-Pin Bowling, a delightful Canadian Sport

Thomas F. Ryan (1872-1961) changed the bowling world. Shrinking the tenpin ball and pins, Ryan invented rules for 5-Pin Bowling. A favourite, it’s only in Canada, eh!

Comparing the sizes of bowling balls, with five-pin in the centre. The ball is much smaller than the ten-pin bowling ball. Wikimedia Commons

“These are just too heavy,” customers grumbled to bowling club owner Thomas F. Ryan, no doubt hefting the weighty game spheres in their hands as they spoke. “The 10-pin bowling balls are too big and awkward. They’re making our arms sore, and it’s taking the fun out of the game.” The co-founder of the Toronto Bowling Club listened to his clients. Tenpin bowling balls were large, with a diameter of 8.5 inches (21.59 cms) weighing between 6 and 16 lbs (2.72 kg and 7.3 kg). Ryan devised a plan. The striking invention would vastly expand the newly formed foundations of Canadian bowling.

5-Pin Bowling, a New Game Debuted in 1909

Restructuring the pin settings, Ryan “spaced five of these pins equally on the 36” (91 cm) tenpin

Five-pin bowling alley, a Canadian favourite

triangle,” according to Ronald Wolf in The Algoma News article, “Thomas F. (Tommy) Ryan,” (October 27, 2010.) The first smaller ball tossed down the wood bowling lane was a “hand-sized hard rubber ball.” The balls flying toward the pins now come in a dazzling rainbow of attractive colours and designs. Later, Ryan added a blue rubber ring around the lower wide section of the bowling pin to add an interesting spin to the game. Two other bowling developments also use the smaller ball and different pins – Candlepin Bowling and Duckpin Bowling.

Orchestra at Bowling Club

The Toronto Bowling Club was no ordinary bowling alley, mesmerizing with noise, flashing lights and smelly bowling shoes. It was an elegant, sophisticated place for the cultured residents of the early 20th century. The interior “resembled a southern plantation with potted palm trees, ceiling fans, string orchestra, piano and a huge lunch counter,” said Wolf. “Ryan insisted that his establishment was a very elite and private club, catering only to the well-to-do, carriage trade of Toronto society.”

Five-pin bowling became a Canadian standard in no time. By 1910, the first 5-Pin Bowling League opened at the Toronto Bowling Club, and the first Ladies 5-Pin Bowling League was established in 1921. The uncomplicated sport spread quickly with the launching of alleys across Canada; the Canadian Bowling Association representing 5-pin bowling opened in 1935. In the same year, a Blind Bowlers League was initiated in the western provinces. By 1959, national standards were in place, using the “2-3-5-3-2” pin set-up.

Inventor Thomas F. Ryan

Thomas F. Ryan – also known as Tommy – was born in Guelph, Ontario in 1872. Moving to Toronto when he was 18, Ryan originally aimed for a future in baseball; he instead ran a billiard parlour. Ryan bought the Toronto Bowling Club in 1905 and “opened the city’s first regulation tenpin bowling alley above a store at Yonge and Temperance Street,” noted the Ottawa Youth Bowling Club. A businessman at heart, in 1914 Ryan purchased the Turtle Hall Hotel for $45,000; he later bought a house from the renowned Massey family “which he converted into an antique gallery and auction house.”

Five-pin bowling inventor, Tommy Ryan. He was posthumously inducted into Bowl Canada”s Hall of Fame in 2019. BowlCanada.ca

Apart from the success at his own bowling alley, the inventor of 5-pin bowling did not profit from devising his brilliant sport. Regrettably, he did not apply for a patent. Ryan was a bachelor until very late in life – he married his secretary when he was 82 years of age. Living to the ripe old age of 89, Thomas Ryan died in Toronto on November 19, 1961.

“Number One Participant Sport”

Five-pin bowling is a Canadian phenomenon, enjoyed by bowlers of all ages in alleys from coast to

Five-Pin Bowling celebrated on 54-cent stamp.

coast. In 1971, Ryan was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of fame. The made-in-Canada sport of 5-pin bowling was recognized on its 100th anniversary by Canada Post. Pictured on a 54-cent stamp, the century-old game was featured along with the Canadian-invented sports of basketball, ringette and lacrosse. Five-pin bowling was rated as “the number one participant sport in the country, played by more than two million Canadians each year,” according to Canada Post’s release statement for the stamp series “Canadian Inventions: Sports” on August 19, 2009.

Thanks to Thomas Ryan, bowlers everywhere can enjoy the sport of 5-pin bowling without strain or complaint. Except for those smelly rental shoes, that is.

Sources:

• “Canadian Inventions: Sports,” Canada Post Corporation Accessed October 13, 2011
• Wolf, Ronald, “Thomas F. (Tommy) Ryan – 1915-1961,” The Algoma News, October 27, 2010 Accessed October 13, 2011
• “About Tommy Ryan,” Ottawa Youth Bowling Club Accessed October 13, 2011
• “Chronological History of 5-Pin Bowling,” Bowl Canada Accessed October 13, 2011

This article first appeared on Suite101.com in October 2011. (C) Susanna McLeod