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Arnie Rollins was born an avid sports fan. His favourite sports, the ones he loved, were hockey, baseball and bowling, and he was always busy playing one of these or another. His mother was his inspiration and he picked up her love of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who he still cheers for today.

Arnie got his start in bowling in his home town of Garson, Ontario, just outside of Sudbury. It was at the Inco Club, which included 4 lanes of fivepin along with a host of other activities like billiards, etc. He fell in love with our game then, and pronounced that one day he’d have a bowling centre that participated in all the programs that the Inco Club, sadly, did not.

Sure enough, in 1973 he took his love of the sport, merged it with his desire to own his own business, and created Garson Bowl, an 8-lane fivepin centre. By 1986 he was looking for more and purchased Timber Lanes in Dryden, a 14 lane house which he owns to this day. He had both centres running for a few years but by 1989 decided to sell Garson Bowl and concentrate on Timber exclusively. At least for a while. In 2002 he purchased another centre, 10-lane Plaza Bowl in Fort Frances, a couple of hours away from Dryden. Fast forward to 2014 and Arnie took over Whitewater Lanes in Azilda. His third centre was a 12-lane house which brought him back to his roots in the Greater Sudbury Area, and that’s where he and Lynn call home today. With the other 2 centres an 18 hour drive away, Arnie’s glad to have son Daryl involved to look after the Western division of the enterprise.

Arnie got involved volunteering in bowling shortly after building his first centre. In 1974 he became a Zone Rep for the Master Bowlers Association of Ontario. By 1979, and having been in business for only a few years, Arnie was keenly looking forward to the future, and recognized the benefit for his business of getting more involved in his industry. He decided to contribute to its success by volunteering with Bowl Northern Ontario, or Bowling Proprietors Association of Northern Ontario (BPA-NO) as it was known then.

He was elected to serve as the YBC Chair for N.Ont in 1979 and held the position for 4 seasons. As YBC Chair he worked with Mauno Taus to create an independent association for proprietors in the northern part of the province. A big success which the members in Northern Ontario had been asking for. In 1981 he was instrumental in putting together the Bowling Federation of Northern Ontario, along with players reps Pat MacNamara and Al Telfer.

In 1983 he moved into the Provincial President’s seat which he would hold for the next 12 years. That’s 16 years at the helm of N. Ont, which in those days also meant membership in the National Board of Directors. It was during this period as BPA-NO President that Arnie worked alongside players rep and friend Al Telfer to create the Master Bowlers Association of Northern Ontario, which was launched in 1986.

In 2000, with the respect of all his colleagues on the national Board, Arnie took the logical next step of running for the Executive Committee of Bowl Canada, the equivalent of today’s Board, and began the path which would eventually lead him through all the Executive Officer’s positions. While a member of the National Board Arnie took the role of Club 55 National Chair for a couple of years, and also sat as a Bowl Canada rep on the Board of the Bowling Federation of Canada for 3 years (2005-2008).

In 2006 he reached the summit and was elected President of Bowl Canada, and for 2 years led the industry by representing the association with a fair and open mind to TV networks, agencies, industry partners, etc. and continued to provide his leadership and experience to the Board as Past-President thereafter until 2010.

Many would think at this point…what a contributor! But, if you know Arnie…having come off the National Board he found a void at the provincial level and jumped right back into it, assuming the Provincial President’s seat, and thereby a seat on the National Delegate’s Council, which he has continued to hold to this very day.

In the nearly 50 years since he bought his first centre, Arnie has given over 4 decades of dedication the Ontario and Canadian bowling communities… and still counting!