As a young twenty year old, Audrey McClelland joined the workforce and was introduced to 5 pin bowling through her mother, Doris Kennedy, who already bowled in the Ladies’ Major League. This Saturday afternoon competition was the dominant ladies’ league of the day and paralleled the men’s league which bowled in the same time slot.

In 1949, Audrey married Bill Young and following the birth of her daughter, Sandy in 1957, Audrey ascended the bowling ranks quite rapidly. In 1961, she qualified for the Ontario Championship through York West and bowled for the provincial title in St. Catharines, Audrey was victorious and joined by Hall of Famers, Helen MacCallum and Vera Ward, and coached by Bob Totzke, the ladies won the Canadian title. Audrey won a second national gold medal in 1968 in Niagara Falls and won another Ontario title with the York West ladies in 1972 at O’Connor Bowl.

Audrey’s highest lifetime league average was 276 which she recorded in the prestigious Tuesday Mixed Major League at Olympia Edward, a 128 lane centre in downtown Toronto. Overall, Audrey won the high average title five times in the Tuesday league and also won the annual singles title twice in the Toronto City Major League. Audrey bowled with Hall of Famers Millie Evans and Theda Procher in the Ladies’ Major League and their Cardinal Containers team were champions on several occasions. In 1961-62 Audrey was a member of the Echos and this team set a record score of a 1715 single game and 4684 triple and that mark still stands today.

Audrey appeared on the CBC television series from O’Connor Bowl in 1962 and won several open tournaments including the popular Albion Bowl event and the “Best Seven Out of Ten” tournament in Cobourg, an event where Hall of Famer Tom McBurnie bowled a perfect game.

While a single mother in the late sixties, Audrey met another top bowler, Paul Shanahan and they were married in 1975. They have continued to bowl together over the years and, for the past two years, Audrey has qualified for the Master Bowlers’ Senior Team and also been victorious on the MBAO Seniors Tour. In addition, three grandchildren Jason, Jeff and Tori add to the family activity and Jason is attending university in Michigan on a baseball scholarship while Jeff and Tori bowl in the YBC program today.
To this day, Audrey continues to bowl in league play, continuing a legacy that began fifty years ago.