It is hard to imagine a more natural pairing than Norm Shanas and 5-pin bowling. “It’s been everything to me...I started bowling competitively, it was more important to me than working. I had to quit a couple of jobs because they wouldn’t give me time off,” he said, chuckling.

Shanas was one of the Canadian kingpins of 5-pin between 1955 and 1979. The Winnipegger collected seven Canadian titles during that stretch, including one singles (1956) and six team (1955,’61,’62,’64,’66,’67) titles.

Shanas came from pretty humble beginnings. He worked as a pin setter at Mosienko Lanes when it opened during the 1940’s. Soon he became a fixture on the Manitoba 5-pin team. The highlight of his competitive career came in 1956 when he won his only Canadian men’s singles title. Trailing by 211 pins after the opening day, he came back to win it on the final day. “It was special, especially the way it happened...I said ‘I’m going to try and close the gap’ ", Shanas recalled. “For the last five games I averaged just under 300. I caught the other guy and eventually beat him.”

While the singles title was special for Shanas, he still has fond memories of being a member of the provincial team. He was a member of five men’s and one mixed Canadian Championship teams. “We were very successful in those days. They were great teams, not just individuals,” he recalled.

Skills that took others a year to master seemed to come naturally to Shanas. “He was really a skilled professional. He was always more of a natural. He only bowled two or three times a week. He had a very smooth style,” said Norm Adelberg, who bowled on several Western Canadian teams with Shanas.

The game remained an integral part of his life. As proprietor of Windsor Bowling Lanes, Norm Shanas saw his son Robert develop into an elite bowler in his own right.