While not into a variety of sports, Greg Peteraitis began to bowl at the age of four and 5 pin bowling became his passion.

While Greg’s mother, Marlene, passed away before he was twenty, his father, Walter, was not only supportive but also instilled in Greg a need for perfection. While Greg knew that this level of performance was not fully attainable, he began to bowl a minimum of one hundred games a week and to visit as many bowling centres as possible. Currently, he has bowled in over 700 centres in Canada and the United States. Greg developed an ability to “read“ lanes, to understand “pinfall“ in regard to wood or synthetic lanes and also the necessity to adjust when on “freefall“ or “string“ pinsetters.

Born in 1961, Greg bowled in the Youth Bowling Council (YBC) and the majority of his league play was at Queensway Bowl. Greg bowled just two years in the YBC and enjoyed some success in both the Senior Mixed and the Pepsi High School events.

In the 1979-1980 season, Greg qualified for his first team in the provincial Open as he began his journey to the unattainable level of perfection. Overall, from 1980 to 2007, Greg qualified 24 times and thirteen of those years included the singles. As well, Greg was a provincial champion six times on men’s teams covering zones from York West to Toronto to Ontario Durham.

Joining the Master Bowlers’ Association in 1980, Greg proceeded to win eight provincial tournaments and qualified for twelve Ontario teams in the Master Bowlers’ Association of Canada (MBAC) national championships. This included a streak of eight consecutive appearances, a record to this day. This provincial success translated into four MBAC national gold medals. In addition, Greg was the provincial singles representative in both 1991 and 1994 and Greg was victorious in 1994 in Oshawa. Overall, his provincial MBAO average was 263.79, the highest of any bowler with over 1000 games bowled.

In the midst of this success, Greg traveled across Canada and he proceeded to win two Manitoba Opens and two open events at the KG Bowl in Saskatoon. His overall tournament winnings exceed $135,000. There were also two perfect games, one in 1993 and a second in 1999, two TSN championships in 1993-94 and 1994-95, two high average titles in 1984 and 1992 in the prestigious Toronto City Major League, five tournaments wins in the Dick Adams Memorial tournament and in just nine years, four wins in Oshawa in the 3-6-9 Winter Classic. This domination led to Greg being chosen as the third ranked bowler, behind Hall of Famers, Fraser Hambly and Ian Cameron, on the Top 90 list that was published by the Ontario 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association in 2000.

Greg was also the pioneer as the first Canadian bowler to bowl on the duckpin bowling tour in the United States. This new venture began in 2005, and while his success was limited, he was followed by fellow Hall of Famer, Connie Ward and several other Ontario bowlers.

Now living in Calgary, Greg continues a thirty-seven year career with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as an Investigations Officer. His life partner, Mike Wood was also a champion on the lanes. While Mike does not bowl anymore, Greg bowls fifty games a week and coaches several youth bowlers as he continues his lifelong aim to understand our sport.

While his so-called “perfection“ has not been attainable, Greg’s twenty-five year career in the adult ranks certainly gave his personal goal a strong challenge.