A native of Kitchener, Norm Kraatz celebrated his 87th birthday on November 6th.

As an eighteen year old, in 1923, Norm frequented Strum Bowling in Kitchener and little did he know that in 1949, the Bowling Lanes, now called The Strand, would be his domain.

Norm initially worked at Greb’s, the shoe people, but his love of bowling gradually took him more and more to the bowling industry. Norm began part-time work at Strum’s working for Frank Laughlin who was the brother of George Laughlin, a sportswriter for the Telegram. Taking over in 1949, with his brother Vic, Norm had already become a dominant bowler in the Kitchener-Waterloo area and for the next thirty years, he notched tournament victories both locally & provincially.

Norm bowled in the Inter-City Major League for 32 years and, during that time, won the championship many times beginning in 1942-43. Norm capped over his Inter-City career with a perfect game on January 5, 1974 at Fleetway 40 in London. This effort atoned for a near perfect game a few years earlier when, on eleven in a row, a perfect twelfth strike was nullified when the reset button was pushed accidentally.

All events tournaments began in the late forties & Waterloo Lanes hosted one of the first. Norm’s nine games total of 2635 in 1952 won aggregate honours and that score was the second highest nine game score bowled at the time. That same year, Norm made one of several trips to the Canadian Bowlers Association annual tournament and he won aggregate honours with a nine game score of 2503.

Norm bowled in numerous all-events tournaments with partners such as Whipper Erb and Rudy "Casey" Strengal and his teammates included Hal Reibel, Don Reesor, Marty Hrivnak, Hal Selfried and Chris Paul. This group, under the Swan Cleaners banner, bowled a five game team score of 1749 in 1950 at The Strand, one of the highest team marks ever accomplished. The current five game record of 1798 was bowled at The Strand by Les Francics.

Norm was not adverse to trying ten pin bowling, as, with pin boys, the conversion was easy at The Strand. In 1953, Norm and Whipper Erb competed in the ABC championships in Chicago and Norm, averaging 175, won several local invitationals in the Kitchener/Hamilton area.

Still living in Kitchener, Norm is in constant contact with his wife, Catherine, who has been hospitalized for several years. He is also an avid sports fan following his favourite teams on television and with a vivid recollection of his Hall of Fame accomplishments on the lanes.