As Ron Gifford ponders his retirement from bowling this year, he can look back on a memorable career.

Born in Port Hope, but raised in Toronto, Ron started his bowling career in the mixed leagues. Unfortunately, his Saturdays were tied up with his employer, Dominion Stores, and Ron was not able to display his talents in the men’s major league. However, he did polish his skills through sweeps and bowling at Danwood and Ace and several other centres, Ron earned the respect of his peers.

His first provincial championship was with the Scarborough men in 1966, but this talented group lost to Manitoba in the national finals. However, in 1977, the Scarborough mixed team won not only the provincial title, but also the national crown and the Ontario Winter Games. On this triple crown team along with Ron, were Neil Harrison, John Inglis, Gene Deschenes, Chuck Park, Doris Steward, Sandy Barrett Hines and Pat Lynch.

In the Masters, Ron won two events, winning the Holiday Sweepstakes in 1969, and defending his title in 1970.

However, it was the night of May 13, 1967 that Ron Gifford will never forget. Bowling in the all events tournament at Aprile Lanes, Ron entered the singles and rolled a phenomenal 299-450-329/1078 triple to lead that section. He came right back in the doubles, and bowling with the late Dave Homan, he duplicated the 1078 triple and the perfect game, rolling 315-450-313 to comfortably win the doubles. Carrying on his hot hand, Ron added another 929 three game score in the triples, again with Dave Homan and Ron’s wife, Bev. On this memorable evening, Ron’s nine games score was 3085, or a 342 average.

Ron has also excelled in open events, winning an Ace Invitational and several other events at Knob Hill Bowl.

Ron and his wife Bev live in Scarborough and, while not being as involved as in the past, they are well aware of the bowling scene through their children Rhonda, Lynn and Bob, who are all active bowlers.