Born in Hamilton, Ab Collingwood honed his skills on the local lanes of the steel city before attempting the tournament trail. While Ab joined his first league at the Bar Don Lanes in Stoney Creek in 1947 at age 16, he also frequented such centres as Pla-Mor at Bardon and Sherman, the Ottawa Bowling Lanes at Ottawa and Cannon, the Co-op at Bardon and Walter, the Trioli and also the lanes located in the Connaught Hotel. The well known Central Lanes allowed Ab an opportunity to bowl with his father in the Harvester League and, at Central, Ab met Hall of Famer Myrt Rowell, an individual who would play a positive role in Ab’s bowling career.

While Ab excelled as both a singles bowler and team player, he preferred the team concept. In fact, from 1950-1960, Ab was a member of ten championship teams and, on two occasions, won national titles. In 1954, in only the second year of team play at the national level, Ab bowled on the Ottawa Furniture Team and this group not only won the Eastern Title but they also defeated Winnipeg by 140 pins over ten games to win the national crown.

Following their Canadian title in 1954, the Ottawa Furniture Team was selected to open the 1955 Sportsmen’s Show and, while defeating the Molson’s team from Toronto, rolled a 1638 team single. Ab returned to the national scene in 1956 with the Hamilton All Stars and, bowling in Toronto at O’Connor Bowl, overwhelmed the western representatives from Saskatoon by almost 800 pins. While these championships were at the national level, Ab also teamed with his Hamilton colleagues for several provincial and local victories.

Provincially, from his base at Bar Don Lanes, Ab won the Ontario team championships in both 1956 and 1960. In this competition, championship teams from the Niagara District, the Western Ontario Inter-city, the Toronto Major League and a team from the host city met to determine a provincial champion.

Locally, Ab also won titles in the Pla-Mor Major “A” League in 1952-53 and 1955-56, the Ottawa Commercial League in 1956, the Brant Open Team roll-off in 1951 and the Niagara Federation League from 1959 to 1961.

However, while Ab preferred team play, he also dominated in singles competition as well. In his most prestigious victory, Ab won the Canadian singles title in 1961. Enroute to the crown, Ab averaged 270 for the twenty-five game qualifying round and, in Kitchener, won the provincial title with a 2799 ten game score. The national finals were held in St. Catharines and Ab defeated Dick Law of British Columbia to win his third national title.

Also, during this extremely competitive ten year span, Ab also finished second in the Canadian Bowling Association Doubles Championship in 1954 and, two years later, dominated the CBC television doubles from April through July with his friend and colleague, Myrt Rowell.
While Ab was winning the Canadian title in 1961, he was also courting his wife, Margaret, and, from their 1962 marriage, produced two children, Scott and Elaine. With the arrival of the youngsters, Ab chose to back off the tournament trail and remained as a coach at Bar Don Lanes with the pee-wees through 1970, when work commitments limited his ability on Saturday mornings.

Currently, Ab retired from the construction business in 1992 and, as well as enjoying two grandchildren, both Ab and Marg enjoy crafts and gardening at their home in Stoney Creek.