Thomas F. Ryan (1872 – November 19, 1961) was a Canadian sportsman and entrepreneur who created
five-pin bowling
Five-pin bowling is a bowling variant which is played in Canada, where many bowling alleys offer it, either alone or in combination with ten-pin bowling. It was devised around 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Cl ...
.
Born in
Guelph
Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Ryan moved to Toronto at age 18. He is said to have been a baseball pitcher good enough for a professional offer, although the details are sketchy.
Ryan had been running a pool hall on
Yonge Street
Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes.
Once the southernmost leg of provincial H ...
and in November 1905 co-founded the Toronto Bowling Club above a store at Yonge and Temperance Street. Ten-pin bowling had been growing in popularity, but some of Ryan's customers complained that the ball was too heavy. Around 1909 he devised a new game with a smaller ball and only five pins, with a new scoring system. After receiving complaints about the pins bouncing out the window to the street, he added a rubber ring around the pins.
Ryan purchased the Turtle Hall Hotel in Toronto in April 1914 for $45,000. He later bought the former home of the
Massey
Massey may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Massey, Ontario
* Massey Island, Nunavut
New Zealand
* Massey, New Zealand, an Auckland suburb
United States
* Massey, Alabama
* Massey, Iowa
* Massey, Maryland
People
* Massey (surname)
Educati ...
family, which he converted into an antique gallery and auction house. For decades, he was a judge of the Miss Toronto pageant. He remained a bachelor until he was 82, when he married his secretary.
Ryan died in Toronto at age 89. He was inducted into
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1971. He is buried in the Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario.
Sources
* "Tommy Ryan made millions for others," ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
'', November 20, 1961, p. 12.
*
History of 5 Pin Bowling" Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers Association, retrieved November 11, 2006.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Thomas
1872 births
1961 deaths
Five-pin bowling
Canadian bowling players
Sportspeople from Guelph