THUNDER BAY – Having bowled for the last 29 years, there’s not much that surprises Greg DeGrazia.
However, the Thunder Bay product admitted that he was rather shocked when he found out that he was part of the 2024 Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association Hall of Fame induction class.
“It was a total surprise to me,” DeGrazia said.
“I didn’t expect it at all and to be younger than any of the other bowlers that have been inducted so far was pretty cool.”
DeGrazia, who started bowling when he was five years old, learned that he was going to be going into the Hall of Fame during the Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association annual general meeting in August 2023.
The ceremony was held in Ottawa back in June as part of the association’s Open Nationals tournament.
“Everyone was congratulating me on Facebook when the initial announcement was made last year and it ended up being kind of an ongoing thing until June when I would go to different tournaments and run into people there,” DeGrazia said.
“I think that kind of prepared me for the actual induction.”
DeGrazia followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather when he started bowling at a young age, though it took him a couple of years before he realized how much he enjoyed it.
“When I was 10 or 11 years old, I started going to the youth nationals and everything really picked up from there,” DeGrazia said.
“A couple of years later, my dad took me to some tournaments where I was competing with the best adult bowlers in the country. Being so young and competing against people way older than me really helped develop my game.
“I wasn’t nervous because I was just a young kid and if I lost it was not a big deal. However, if an adult lost to me, it was more stressful for them. I had more confidence as it felt like people were scared to play me because of that.”
DeGrazia’s list of accolades over the last two decades can fill up multiple trophy cabinets.
They include three gold medals at the Youth Bowling Canada Nationals, a pair of singles triumphs at the Canadian 5 Pin Bowler's Association Open Nationals and major tournament wins in Surrey, B.C., Red Deer, Alta., Dryden, Timmins and Edmonton.
He also qualified for the TSN Pins Game in 2007 but was unable to participate in the made-for-tv event because he was underage at the time.
“My first open singles win in 2010 was huge,” DeGrazia said. “It was the first year that I was eligible to compete and to be able to win that in my first try was pretty special.
“The other win that stands out to me happened back in July. I was able to win the Masters of Bowling Canada singles event in Winnipeg and it’s special to be one of 20 bowlers who have won a national singles title at both the big national events.”
DeGrazia has no plans to slow down any time soon.
He’s going to be travelling around western Canada over the next few months as part of the Western Canadian Bowling Tour, which started in Calgary on Thanksgiving weekend and continues early next month in Edmonton.
“I think the thing that I love the most about bowling is all of the friendships that I’ve made across the country,” DeGrazia said.
“I can call up pretty much anyone wherever I’m travelling and either be able to stay at their house during a tournament or go out for dinner with them. That’s pretty special.”