CATHY DAVIDSON

Born in Sudbury in 1969 Cathy, the youngest of five sisters, Debbie, Cindy, Peggy, and Patti, would start bowling at an early age.  Both parents, Gord and Pat were avid bowlers and since her sisters were already enrolled in the Youth Bowling Council, it was given that Cathy would follow suit.  At the age of three, Cathy started in the YBC at Notre Dame Bowl in Sudbury.  With the guidance of her parents, especially her mom, Cathy quickly rose through the ranks.  While both Debbie and Peggy were National medalists in the YBC, Cathy continued the family tradition by capturing the Bantam Girls Singles Provincial Championships title in 1978 and 1980.  In 1980, Cathy won her first National Championship Bantam Girls Singles title with an impressive record of 17 wins and only 3 losses.

After winning this title, Cathy was given free range when it came to practice.  Her mom was Manager and Program Director at St. Anne’s Lanes, and Cathy would get all the practice she could have for free.  After school, she would arrive at the centre and bowl from 4 until 6 and then get everything ready for the night leagues.  All this practice paid off, as the following year, she returned to the Nationals as the Junior Girls Singles Champion.  For the next six years, Cathy continued her dominance in the Pepsi Challenge tournament, which was the forerunner to today’s Youth Challenge, as she would capture six Ladies Team Championships and three Singles Championships.

Not only was Cathy an avid bowler, but she also excelled in softball in high school and competitive diving, until the age of seventeen.  As fate would have it, a softball injury ended her softball career, which allowed her to concentrate on her bowling career.

Following a successful YBC career, Cathy moved to the adult ranks and continued her dominance in the sport.  In the Open, Cathy captured fourteen Provincial titles for Northern Ontario, five as the Provincial Singles champion and nine on the Provincial Ladies team. On the National scene, her team won Gold in 2000 in Hamilton, Silver in 1999 in Regina and 1991 in Moose Jaw and was the Ladies Silver Single Medalist in 1990 at the Nationals, in Hamilton.

Cathy left Sudbury in 2001 and took up residence in Newmarket. Cathy immediately continued her winning ways in the Open, qualifying thirteen times for York Simcoe.  In her first year she was our Ladies Singles Champion and followed that up with another four appearances as a singles representative, with four spots on the Ladies team and four more spots on the Mixed team.  As well, Cathy has coached three times at the Provincials. 

In the Master Bowlers’ Association (MBAO), Cathy has enjoyed moderate success.  In her two-year stint in the tournament division from 2002 to 2004, Cathy won her Masters ring by winning the Invitational Doubles tournament with her partner, York Simcoe and Ontario 5 Pin Hall of Famer, Sid Morris.  The following year she was a member of the Ladies team that won the National Championships. In those years, Cathy bowled 124 games and averaged 237.  She continued to bowl in the Teaching division for an additional sixteen years.  While the perfect game has eluded Cathy, missing by a dreaded two pin, she has some very impressive numbers in other areas.  Her highest league average was 270, along with a 1088 triple, 1290 for four games, 1603 for five and a ten-game total of 3115. 

As well, through the Bowling Proprietors, she has appeared in both the CBC 5 Pin Championships and the Hiram Walker Special Old TSN Pins Game.  From 1992 to 2000 Cathy has won over $15,000.00. 

In 2013, Cathy took over as Coaching Coordinator for York Simcoe, a position she still holds today.  In this capacity, not only has she run various coaching courses, she has also coached a variety of teams at all levels, for the YBC and Youth Challenge at their Zone, Provincial or National events.  For her effort, Cathy received the Dave Post Elite Coach of the Year award in 2013 for Ontario, the Ernie Roggie Grass Roots Coach of the Year award in 2019 for Ontario and the Ernie Roggie Grass Roots Coach of the Year for Canada in 2020. As Coaching Coordinator, Cathy has received top honours at the O5PBA Annual General Meeting, winning the Coaching Coordinator of the Year award in 2020 and this past year.

Cathy is currently the Program Director for the YBC at Stellar Lanes and runs a very successful Invitational tournament every year, which attracts bowlers from all parts of the province. 

In her personal life, Cathy met Dan Lamontagne in 1996 while attending school and they were wed in 2007.  She is a very proud mom of her three children, twin sons, Jason and Josh and daughter Patricia.  In July they welcomed Nathan Allen as their son in law.  I’m sure Cathy and Dan can’t wait to have grandchildren.  Cathy works for the York Region District School Board as an Educational Assistant to students with developmental, physical, and academic exceptionalities and Dan works for WasteCo as a loader operator.Looking back on a very successful bowling career in both Northern and Southern Ontario, Cathy can be proud that, not only was she honoured in Northern Ontario with induction into their inaugural Hall of Fame ceremonies in 2022, but she now takes her place tonight, in the Bowlers Division of the York Simcoe Hall of Fame.

York Simcoe 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association