Born in Scotland in 1908, James Malcolm Morris was a self made man who, while establishing himself in the business world, also excelled in athletics. Arriving in Canada with his parents at the age of four, the family endured considerable hardship during the first war and, after public school, Jim was soon in the workforce.

Initially, Jim worked for Proctor and Gamble and he also starred as a pitcher on their baseball team. Like so many other bowlers, the pitching technique is often translated to the lanes and Jim became an excellent bowler. The cornerstone of his bowling career was the Vitone Team which bowled in the premier major league at Central Alleys. Beginning in 1936, this team, which, at times, also included Hall of Famer, Myrt Rowell, won the league championship fifteen times in eighteen years.

Also, in this league, which undoubtedly was the top major league in the city, Jim bowled a world record three game score of 1108 which consisted of single games of 420, 405, and 283. This record, bowled in 1942, lasted for several years and, in 55 years since, the record score in Ontario has only reached 1189.

Furthermore, in team play, the Vitone team was outstanding. On one such evening during the 1950-51 season, the Vitone team, dressed in their gold coloured shirts, was near perfect. Powered by Jim’s score of 382, the team had only four open frames as they rolled a score of 1614.

While travelling was not a major component of the bowling scene in the late thirties and forties, Jim did come to Toronto for the annual year end tournament as conducted by the Canadian Bowling Association (CBA). Jim won the doubles event in both 1939, with Harold Cadman, and also in 1940. In the 1942 event, Jim was the aggregate champion and in addition, his league average of 256 in 1942 was the highest recorded in the province that year. Moreover, as more of a novelty, Jim, along with Tom Sutcliffe and several other top bowlers from across Ontario, traveled to Montreal in 1945 to bowl in the World Duckpin Championships.

Furthermore, in 1951, Jim along with Joe Baird and Dick Brett matched up against Tony Vidas, Bob Reilly and Bert Wright in a Hamilton-Toronto Challenge match. This project was promoted by former Toronto Argonaut star, Moe Charney, who ran Ace Bowl in Toronto. In the ten game event, the underdog Hamilton bowlers were victorious.

Finally, in 1954, Jim traveled to St. Catharines and, in a three game event for the CBA championship, Jim rolled 390, 280 and 310 and his 980 triple easily topped the field. With these credits to his name, Jim was a natural to work with Hamilton media legend Norm Marshall who produced a weekly fifteen minute bowling show out of radio station CHML.

While Jim dominated the lanes, he also won several battles in his personal life. Not only was he self educated, but he also struggled with alcoholism and was sober for the last 21 years of his life. To his credit, Jim founded an Alcoholics Anonymous group at his church and overall dedicated his later years to the recovery of alcoholics. In the business world, Jim owned and operated a store called Merchant Store Fixtures and while he was the proprietor for 32 years, from 1939 to his passing in 1971, a disastrous fire to his John St. location in 1956 was a financial setback from which he barely recovered.

Jim and his first wife, Lillian, had three children, Jim Jr. who now lives in Florida, Pearl, who resides in Lethbridge, Alberta and Joan, a resident of Burlington. Certainly, each of these individuals realize that this induction is suitable recognition for Jim Morris, a true legend of the game.