Al Gard was born in Toronto in 1904; just five years before five pin bowling was officially invented. As well, in 1929, just three years after bowling was organized through the Canadian Bowling Association, Al was a member of the most powerful team of the day, Karry’s Dundas.

Teammates included several Hall of Famers including Charlie Demelis, Brock Bailey, George Weale, Eddie Hawkes and this team also had it’s own personal secretary, Al Gore. Al’s notes recorded the spring of 1929, as this team hit the tournament trail. At the CBA annual event, the team won top honours in the team event with a 3898 score and the five players split $100. At the Riverdale Club Tournament, Al and Harold McIveen won doubles honours with a 1610 score. At the Athenaeum Club event, the team rolled a world record of 4055. Once again, Al and Harold won the doubles with 1696, this time pocketing $18.00 - $9.00 each. At Karry’s they rolled 4039 to win top honours and another $85.00. At Olympia Gerard, Al’s 811 triple was the top score as the five players managed only a 3459 team total. In all, the team bowled at Lucky Strike, Acorn, Lakeside, and Rosedale and even participated in the Guelph Club Tournament.

Overall, Al bowled eighty four tournament games and averaged 227 and this was at a time when a 250 average was virtually impossible, due to difficulty of the conditions. Hall of Famers and teammates Charlie Demelis averaged 242, Brock Bailey hit 239 and Eddie Hawkes 238. In twelve events, the team won $605.25 or just over one hundred dollars for each team member, a considerable sum in this early depression era.

Al was a pressman by trade and was employed by Saturday Night Press. Through this company, he joined the Telegram league in 1929 which was one of Toronto’s most prestigious leagues and raised his average to 240, just behind another Hall of Famer, Jake Smith’s high average mark of 247.

In that same year, Al was also a member of Jim Beeforth’s Riverdale Bowling Club team along with his brothers, Bill and Norm, Tom Malton, Ab Miller, John Seller and Jim Beeforth. This team averaged 244 per member.

Al continued to improve his game and through the next thirty years, Al bowled with teams such as Syd Silver’s and King Edward Hotel which was the top team in the CBA league and in centres such as Karry’s, Olympia Edward and Riverdale.

In 1948, at the twenty second annual CBA tournament, still being held at Karry’s, Al’s Syd Silver team was victorious and Al led with an 823 triple, followed by Manny Swartz, a well known Oshawa lawyer at 810, Daws Exley 786, Harry Messenger 784 and 748 bowled by Ab Miller, who married Al’s sister Ollie.

Overall, the Gard family consisted of Ollie and six boys, namely, Al, Norm, Bill, Gord, Ron and Doug. Ollie is also a Hall of Fame member as she was a dominant bowler in the first thirty years of our sport. Al and his wife, Edna, also had two children, Barry and Glenn. Sadly, Al passed away on May 8, 1958 at the young age of fifty four.