In the province of Ontario, no one has become more identified with running bowling tournaments than Henry Fehr. In fact, in a forty year span, he has directed more than 500 events in this province.

A native of Altona, Manitoba, a town just six miles from the United States border, Henry was the youngest of twelve children. In 1951, at the age of twenty, Henry and a second cousin sat in a local restaurant pondering their lack of employment and, on a coin flip, Toronto won out over Vancouver.

Arriving in Toronto, Henry originally joined Pilkington Glass, before beginning, in 1953, a nine year stint with the Metropolitan Toronto Policy Force As a policeman, Henry walked the beat, drove a cruiser and did plain-clothes work, before ending up as a dispatcher. This last position appealed to Henry as he enjoyed the coordination required in placing cars throughout the city.

Looking for new challenges, Henry hooked up with Cec Ferby and Al McKenzie Sr., two gentlemen that owned a busy Ace Bowl, situated on Danforth Ave., just east of Pape Ave. The 32-lane centre was a two floor operation and, for the first year, Henry had the top floor. Not only did the centre host the Crosstown Major League, one of the top major leagues of the day, but there were also 200 youth bowlers who originally bowled under the banner of the Canadian Junior Bowling Congress, a group that was the forerunner of the Youth Bowling Council.

Ace Bowl was extremely busy and Henry soon became the main floor manager. However, tragedy struck on December 7th, 1965 when, due to a fire in the restaurant below, the centre burned to the ground. Leagues were placed throughout Toronto in such centres as Karrys, Bayview Bowl, Thorncliffe Bowlerama, Danwood, Queen City and Tom O’Shanter. Henry’s job was to liaison with all the leagues and ensure that there was ongoing contact and communication with the league executives.

On the plus side, a new centre became available the next season as the 24 lanes at the Golden Mile had been placed in receivership in May, 1966. Cec Ferby opened Ace Bowl on the Golden Mile in August and Henry Fehr was the manager. Under his direction, buses were chartered to move bowlers, young and old alike, from the Pape and Danforth area to the new centre at Victoria Park and Eglinton Avenues in Scarborough. The travelling all stars, an extra bowling program for youth bowlers, was established throughout Scarborough and involved sixteen centres throughout the eastern borough.

In 1967, Henry began a series of tournaments, called the Ace Invitational; that would lay the groundwork for nearly forty years of tournament direction. Ace Invitationals were held every six weeks during the bowling season and, on many occasions, full fields of 120 bowlers competed. These events lasted until 1973 and, just prior to that, Henry caught the eye of the Master Bowlers’ Association who, in 1972, were looking for a new tournament director to replace Carl Malcolmson, who was fully involved with the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of Canada.

The Masters became an interesting challenge. Prior to 1974, most tournaments were a ten game event with no advancing match play. Only a double-knockout format existed and there was also a match play Petersen Point event at the end of the year. For the 1974-75 season and beyond, the MBAO executive introduced match play formats for each event of the season. Included were mixed triples, stepladders, bowler vs field, carry-over your scores and many more. At each event, Henry was ready with scoreboards prepared and bowlers were treated to a fast-paced, professional final to determine the ultimate tournament winner.

Ace Bowl closed in 1986 as the plaza was demolished to make way for the larger box store system of today. Henry continued to work with the Crosstown Major League as it moved to Aprile Lanes and then to Brimley Bowl in 1989, where it continues today, now in its fifty-sixth year. Henry also needed new employment and tried the investment business before joining an old friend, Bill Morton, in the paper business.

The bowling industry continued to use Henry’s expertise as he worked with the BPAO and BPAC to keep score on both the TSN and CBC television series at Stellar Lanes and Plantation Bowlerama respectively.

Henry’s efforts have been recognized along the way. In 1982, Scarborough, through their Parks and Recreation Department, acknowledged his twenty years as a volunteer with the Youth Bowling Council and, in 1987, the Master Bowlers’ Association awarded him an honorary membership.

Today, as he approaches his seventy-third birthday, Henry has fully retired but still volunteers with the Moose Lodge, an organization that he joined over fifty years ago. As well, with scoreboards a thing of the past, Henry is also learning more about computers and will continue to add his expertise as tournament director of the Master Bowlers’ Association and be that constant presence at tournaments for generations of bowlers across Ontario.