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Bryan Sargeant was born in Ottawa, but at a young age his family moved to Chilliwack, BC where in 1961 Bryan quickly got involved in bowling as a pinsetter. He found his passion for the sport and as a member of the 1965 Pepsi-Cola High School team won the Provincial Championship. Later as an adult Bryan became an active league & tournament participant bowling many 400+ games and as a Certified Master Bowler coached numerous Chilliwack & Abbotsford YBC & Adult city teams until 1981.
Bryan dove into the business of bowling with the same enthusiasm he applied to the sport and in 1982 purchased his first centre…Big Country Lanes, an 8 lane fivepin centre in 100 Mile House, BC. In a few years he would sell and move on to own the 20-lane Galaxy Bowl in Abbotsford and a year later picked up another 20 lane centre, Willowbrook Lanes in Langley, which he co-owned along with his good friend, and fellow Bowl Canada Past-President, Bob Randall. In 1991 he sold his position in both centres and moved inland to picturesque Kelowna, where he and Ruby settled in at Valley Lanes & the 160 seat Corner Pin Pub for 18 years. While they had Valley’s 20 lanes on the go, Bryan added a second 20 Lane centre in Westbank, co-owned with his sister Wendy who would look after the day to day. Meantime, Bryan took a 3 year position as General Manager of Kelowna’s 30 lane split-house McCurdy Bowl, while Ruby & Son Glenn held down the flagship at Valley. Busy days! In 2010 Bryan and Ruby sold Valley and purchased Capri Bowling Lanes, a 16 lane house in Kelowna they continue to operate to this day.
Bryan had been in the business only a few years when he decided to up his game and get involved beyond his four walls as a BPA-British Columbia Director. It was 1988 when he was elected to the position of YBC Chair, a position he held for three years until moving up to what is now Bowl BC’s Presidency for 2 years. These positions gave him a seat on the national Board as well, and with that exposure he caught people’s attention and was put to work as BPAC’s National Golden Age Chair from 1994 to 1996.
By this time Bryan was deeply involved at the National Board and it was a natural progression that saw him elected in 1997 to serve on the Executive Committee of Bowl Canada (then known as BPAC). He held all Officer’s positions at Bowl Canada from 1997 to 2008, and in fact was the first ever Bowl Canada President to serve more than a 2-year term, claiming the big Chair from 2002-2006.
As President Bryan was at ease building relationships with key players for the Business of Bowling. Whether it was meeting with TSN’s President of the day, or bringing a few laughs to the CBC or TSN crews after long days of shooting our TV series, or in meetings with players association reps who he had developed a solid rapport with over the years…Bryan had a way of putting people at ease and his political sense was always razor sharp. You’ll never see him back down from a fight, but he always had a way to smooth the waters enough to avoid one.
In his early days on the National Board Bryan was alongside Ed Whitehead and Claude Rheaume as they reached out to the players associations to bring the Bowling Federation of Canada back to life. There’s no doubt BFC would not exist today if not for this trio’s efforts.
His easy ways with people would make him a natural in political situations as he could find common ground with anyone whose intent was true. He would go on to represent Bowl Canada on the BFC Board for 13 years, an incredible 9 of which as BFC President. While at the head of BFC, he oversaw the development of bowling’s LTAD Plan and documents, the Heritage Fund sponsored “Bowling In The Schools” program as well as the follow-up “In School Bowling Carpet Lane” program for the school system, exemplifying leadership at BFC through its most productive period.
When his time on the Bowl Canada and BFC Boards came to a close, as is often the case for those who give by just giving more, Bryan took a seat on the Bowl BC Board and helped out on the Provincial level for another 8 years.
40 years after the purchase of his first centre, Bryan remains as active as ever in the business, as he and Ruby look forward to getting Capri lanes into the post pandemic world, and to looking after his recently acquired business Western Pinsetter, on the parts supply side of the industry.