Marge Bentley was born in 1908 in Rye Sussex, England just as five pin bowling was being invented by Tommy Ryan here in Canada.

In a lifetime full of activity, Marge and her late husband Sid, worked together to build the game of five pin bowling from its formative early years to a solid sport and recreation and also a viable business opportunity.

Following their marriage in 1928, Sid was involved in bowling centre management and Marge used this time to practice and raise her average so that her first bowling experience was at the major league level. Bowling in the ladies league in the late thirties and early forties, her contemporaries were Hall of Famers such as Flo Cutting, Mabel Mc McDowell, Doris Luke and Marion Dibble.

As early as 1946, Marge was secretary of the Ladies Major League and the president at the time was Isabelle Adams. She continued this secretarial role for several years before assuming the presidency in 1956 and 1957. At this time, Marge was also selected to the Double Diamond Advisory Council along with more Hall of Famers such as Bert Garside, Helen Richards, Don Walker, Rusty Starr, Jim Hoult and Dot Peppin.

This group conducted learn-to-bowl clinics in every area of the province and also attended to the official opening of many bowling centres, a common occurrence at the time with the invention of the automatic pinsetter in 1957.

The most famous bowling centre opening may have taken place in 1960, as Double Diamond attempted to take five pin bowling international. Along with her husband, Sid and Don Walker, Marge travelled to East Kilbride, Scotland, a city near Glasgow. Sid, who, by this time, was operating his own centre in Willowdale, coordinated the building of the Olympia Centre, which was owned by Lord Thompson of Fleet. Ultimately, Don and Marge spent six months, almost the entire bowling season, running the centre and promoting our five pin game to the Scots. However, five pin bowling was destined to remain a Canadian game as the experiment folded in a couple of years due to lack of both qualified individuals to run the centre and also a commitment from the local clientele.

Back in Canada, Sid and Marge were continuing to build five pin bowling through league administration and bowling centre management. Under the coordination of Mabel McDowell, Marge conducted clinics on behalf of the Toronto Star and was instrumental in the beginning of the Canadian Junior Bowling Council, the organization of the youth bowlers which preceded the YBC.

Sid, on the other hand, managed Ace Bowl on Danforth Avenue before opening his centre which was named Acorn Willowdale. Starting in 1950,the centre was one of the most modern of the day and also one of the first to have automatic pinsetters. Following the sale of their centre to non-bowling interests, Sid finished his managerial career with a two year stint at the Granite Club.

While Marge’s son Bob is at tonight’s dinner, the bowling industry also remembers another son, Doug. An outstanding bowler, Doug rolled a perfect game in 1950 before losing his life in an industrial accident at the young age of seventeen. A plaque has been established in his honour and is presented to each winner to the YBC Senior Mixed Event by the Bowling Proprietor’s Association of Ontario. As a builder of our industry, Marge Bentley was one of the early building blocks and her efforts created the foundation for the five pin bowling to become one of Canada’s largest participant sports.