As a 10 year old in 1929, Bert Adams moved with his parents from his birthplace in Owen Sound to settle in Hamilton. With the Depression in full swing, work was scarce and, at times, Bert, assisted his brother, Leonard, scrubbing the bowling lanes at such centres such as the Connaught, the Olympia and the YMCA.

A medical history of chronic asthma exempted Bert from the Second War and, by the early forties, Bert was employed by Firestone and he quickly became an expert on the pigment mixtures required to make rubber. His skills were so valuable that in 1961, Firestone sent Bert to Calgary to open a new plant in Alberta.

However, despite his asthma, Bert was an outstanding softball pitcher and played for the Firestone team for a decade. This skill also brought Bert to the industrial bowling leagues and, naturally, Bert bowled for Firestone as well. At the same time, Bert was getting lots of practice as he was also setting pins at several centres in the Steel City.

Backed by his softball prowess, Bert took to the bowling lanes quite easily, developing a very distinctive characteristic. He could throw the ball faster, harder and more accurately than anyone else in his era. In fact, in the early fifties, he was clocked at over one hundred miles per hour.

Armed with this talent, Bert looked for and found action wherever he went. He bowled in four or five leagues each winter and, with each one, dominated the sweeps that were usually held before and after. Mountain Lanes, under the proprietorship of Sam Shaw, was one of his favourite centres. In the early fifties, the gambling began at 10 p.m. and continued until 7:30 a.m. in the morning. Naturally, pinboys were in use and on one occasion, Bert began on lane seven with one of his speedy deliveries. When the pins stopped flying, Bert had a headpin on lane seven, lane six and lane five. On another occasion, he hit the pin so hard that it rebounded off the back cushion, rolled back down the lane and turned on the foul light.

Bert traveled to the all-events tournaments and won the aggregate at Waterloo in 1957 and 1958. His partner was Joe Baird and together they challenged all comers. In a memorable match in Toronto, Bert and Joe took on Bill Hoult and Joe D’Orazio in a five game match. Going into the last game and two hundred pins down, Bert bowled 386 and Joe added 368 and ultimately they won the match by two hundred pins. Joe and Bert also traveled to Toronto and, along with Hall of Famer, Jim Hoult, bowled in the Toronto City Major League for two years.

Bert won the Hamilton singles title in the Champion of Champions tournament in 1951 with a fifteen game total of 3938 as he defeated Sam Boles and Hall of Famer Stan Battersby. That same year Bert won the Ontario singles title with a 985 triple at the Canadian Bowling Association year-end tournament and won the aggregate title at the Toronto event in 1952.
Bert’s favourite centre was the Olympia which was located in the Lister Block in downtown Hamilton. In one season, during sweeps and open play Bert and Joe Baird recorded eighteen triples over 1000 and, in his career, Bert also notched a 446 single, 1580 triple and 2920 ten game score. Moreover, in the annual pin boy tournament, Bert rolled back-to-back 400’s at two different centres, finishing at one centre and starting at another.

While Bert did almost all of his bowling in the forties and fifties, he still managed to bowl for two years in the Masters and three years, 1964-66 in the Open. In addition, in 1964, Bert appeared on television on CHCH winning the Carling Cup. In fact, he continued his league play until 1985, for a career spanning fifty years.

Bert and his first wife, Eileen, had twelve children and today there are numerous grandchildren. Following Eileen’s passing, Bert re-married and with his wife, Patricia, moved to Shallow Lake, a small village just northwest of his Owen Sound birthplace.

Today, with failing health, Bert has found consolation in his faith and remembers a bowling career that has nearly covered the history of the game itself.