Wednesday night seemed normal. Nothing exciting. Nothing special. Then I got the message from my friend, Scott Marshall (yeah, that guy from CWD!). Bob had a heart attack on the way to a ball game. He didn't come back. Bob Barlow had died at the age of 47.
Bob and I go a long way. From the moment I met him, I saw his calling in life. It was bowling. We bowled together and in a sense, we grew up together. We bowled and we even worked together. He was a remarkable coach and a talented 5-pin bowler. He had the skill and the ability to make us better bowlers. He was among many coaches that taught me the art. He organized many tournaments which became successes in both bowling and baseball.
His most notable achievement was the tournament no one dares speak of, which I will, the Ontario YBC Invitational, a tournament featuring graduating junior bowlers. It was a major success for the six years it was held at Bar-Don Lanes in Stoney Creek, a bowling alley owned by his grandfather, Wilf Barlow. The final game had television coverage featuring the kegler-reporter, Bob Coulter. Then all that changed.
It began with a fallout between Bob and his uncle, Jim. Wilf retired in 1986, leaving the bowling alley with Jim. A few months later, Wilf passed on. Disagreements in the way the place was run resulted in Bob picking up his stakes, to take his tournament to a new venue. That venue was University Lanes in Dundas. I'm not sure on why Bob Coulter didn't do the play-by-play as Bob did colour commentary. That's the way it was done at Bar-Don. All that know was that Bob Coulter wasn't going to do the tournament final. But I have to say that Bob Coulter not doing the show was not a big deal. After all, we had a mutual friend who would step up.
That spring in 1988, a star was born and his name was Scott Marshall. But I digress...
It was that year that everything began to unravel. Money went missing and Bob couldn't satisfactorily explain where it went. The treasurer at the time, Paul MacDonald, was struggling for an answer from Bob on where the money went. It was a quarrel that took place in the parking lot of Taco Bell on Queenston Road. Eventually it went to court and he began getting garnished. But that was only the beginning. It was for the misappropriation of those funds that Bob was suspended for life from 5-pin bowling. He was not to bowl in any tournament and association members were forbidden from participating in anything involving him and 5-pin bowling. By that time, Bob burned so many bridges that his tournament and everything he touched having to do with bowling went down in flames. It was a tragic end to one of his lives.
For all his frailties, Bob was always trying to contribute to society in some way and he eventually found that way after leaving Taco Bell and bowling behind. He organized the Canadian Big League baseball tournament with then Stoney Creek cable sports guru, Glenn Allan in 1994. The tournament went fine, but a lightning strike which killed teenaged baseball player Matt Krol in Ancaster, was a major factor that did in the possibilty of a 1995 tournament.
I always knew him to be a passionate Dipper and eventually he would figure it out and begin his foray into politics. After losing his first run in the civic election in 1997, he ran for School Trustee three years later. And yes, I voted for him. From that point, he became a school trustee.
When Hamilton amalgamated, he ran for city councillor for ward 10 in 2003 and lost. Eventually, he would be asked to return to the school board to help out before being elected back as a trustee in the 2006 election for wards 9 and 10. And he was school trustee ever since.
He moved up the ranks and his leadership skills were eventually recognized to the effect that he became vice chair of the Board of Education.
Thankfully, Bob's fall from grace didn't stop him from making a difference in our city, in public education and in the progressive movement, of which we stood on different sides. There remain many challenges to public education. South of the border, public education is under siege by market interests worshipping mammon over mankind.
We are not just bystanders in this war either. We all have a duty to ensure that our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters and even cousins are getting the best education we can give them through our tax dollars. We do that every four years by simply voting. For Bob, it was a job he was asked to do for us.
Rest in peace, Bob.
