Tonight we salute Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd. for its long and generous corporate sponsorship contribution to the 5 Pin Bowling sport and industry. We are honoured to see the company represented by its dynamic President and Chief Executive Officer, Clive Minto.

Born in Wales in 1945, and a 1966 graduate of University of Birmingham, England, the young Mr. Minto’s rapid rise through the corporate executive ranks, and the zest with which he and his company have waged “the Cola wars”, epitomize the youth and vitality of “the Pepsi Generation”.

Before emigrating to Canada to take up a position as an Account Executive with MacLaren Advertising in Toronto, Mr. Minto began his career as a Marketing Executive with Rank Xerox in England. From MacLaren, he moved to become Manager of the Personal Products Division of Lever Detergents, and after seven years, in 1977, joined Pepsi-Cola as its Marketing Director. He spent time with the company in South Africa and in London, and in 1983 was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd.

It is exciting, and augurs well for the company and for 5 Pin Bowling, to have so young and vigorous a personality at the helm of one of this country’s most aggressive merchandising enterprises. Mr. Minto and his wife, the former Frances Betty Lloyd, now make their home here in Toronto with daughters Anna and Emma.

Few realize that Pepsi-Cola’s involvement with 5 Pin Bowling in Ontario is as old as the current Sport Governing body here, and is even older in Western Canada!

In June of 1967, the former “Ontario Bowlers Council” and President Fred Halle convened the organization’s First Annual General Meeting and Convention in Haliburton ... and Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd. was there!

The firm was represented by A.J. “Al” MacDonald, Ontario Regional Manager, and he delighted Delegates by announcing that in the following 1967-68 season, the company planned to sponsor what was known initially as the “Eastern Canada High School 5 Pin Bowling Championship”. The company had already been sponsoring in Western Canada for nine years!

We’ve come a long way together, and in March, under the 19th straight year of Pepsi sponsorship, we’ll crown Ontario’s teenage champions in five different events - Men’s and Ladies’ Singles, and Men’s, Ladies’ and Mixed Teams.

In that 1967-68 season, Pepsi-Cola’s sponsorship contribution amounted to $2,000.00 from which about half was applied to travel and accommodation costs incurred by 120 young men and ladies who competed in the first Provincial Final hosted by Don Walker and Victoria Bowl in Kitchener.

In the 1984-85 season, Pepsi’s sponsorship contribution had climbed to more than $40,000.00, and fully 400 young bowlers and their coaches competed in Ontario alone.

In 1986, for the 14th consecutive year, 10 Provincial Championships across Canada will be staged concurrently, at the same time and on the same day in 10 different cities from coast to coast, and national Champions will be declared by telephone hook-up.

The Pepsi Challenge has become the most prestigious annual event on the 5 Pin Bowling calendar for athletes in its age group.

A variety of social events at all 19 Annual Conventions of the Ontario 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association held to date have been sponsored by Pepsi-Cola, and a company representative has always been on hand to play host or hostess, and to bring greetings from the company to the hundreds of volunteer bowling executives from across Ontario who attend each year.

Many attending this 1985 dinner have fond memories of Championships and Conventions attended with such Pepsi representatives as Yvon Comire, Director of Public and Government Relations; Al Goetz, Jr., Vice-President, Government and Public Relations; Gus Robillard, Vice-President, Government and Corporate Relations; Len Boyes, Ontario Region District Manager; Alan Standing, Ontario Regional Manager; Bud Leach, Manager, Government and Corporate Relations; and most recently, Madeleine Burns, Manager, Public Relations Services.

Many of us formed personal friendships with those Pepsi-Cola spokesmen down through the years, and it is in that same warm and sincere spirit of appreciation that tonight we salute Clive Minto, the President, and the people of Pepsi-Cola Canada Ltd., true Builders of the Bowling Industry.