Written by Coronado Historical Association Volunteer Berie Grobe
This article was originally published in the July 2024 Issue of Coronado Magazine. To read this article and more from Coronado Magazine, the button below.
If asked who he is and what he does, William C. Hiscock would tell you that he is a problem solver. Then, after he says, “Just call me Bill,” he says that he is here on earth to solve problems and help others. And that is just what Bill has been doing for 99 of his very planned and productive years.
Bill was born in Detroit, Michigan on May 13, 1925 to Heber and Elsie Hiscock, a family of carpenters who emigrated from Newfoundland. Young Bill’s first immediate problem to solve was to find a way to make money during the Great Depression. In his teens, he sold newspapers on busy street corners both morning and night because he could not afford to purchase his own paper route. Attending the newest public high school in Detroit, he never had a lunch or study hour because, he used any free time to take another class. His savings eventually helped him purchase a small lot on a lake where he built a small cabin just before attending college. He sold that property to help pay for his tuition at the University of Michigan, where he earned his BA and JD degrees he in a short five-year span. Bill already knew as a teenager that he wanted to be a lawyer and practice in California in order to solve problems and help people.
Before attending college, however, at age 19, he served in the 20th Armored Division in Germany in 1945 and was awarded the Armored Infantry Badge and the Bronze Star. In 1950, Bill moved to Los Angeles where he was a trial lawyer for 23 years before being lured to Coronado. The move was inspired, in part, after meeting a water ski group at Mt. Shasta Lake and following them to participate in water skiing races on the Bay. Back then, he and his son camped on the shores near where the Coronado Community Center stands today. Father and son resoundingly won the water ski race. Bill’s small size and near-sightedness kept him from most mainstream major sports, but he was an avid swimmer, skater, water and snow skier and, ultimately, a Champion lawn bowler.
At age 47, Bill and his wife journeyed across the bridge to Balboa Park one weekend and a kindly gentleman wearing a white pith helmet, ushered them onto the San Diego Lawn Bowling Green. Bill joined the Club that day, purchased lawn bowls and for twelve consecutive years, bowled in four different U.S. Division Open Tournaments winning, individually or as a team captain, championships in Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours. Meanwhile, he served as President of San Diego Lawn Bowling Club in 1984 and President of Coronado Lawn Bowling Club (CLBC) from 2006 to 2010.
One day, while over at Balboa Park, a telephone call came in from CLBC because they had a problem to solve. Their Green was being shut down and they had equipment to be given away. It seems that a committee had formed while the bowling green was being used as a laydown construction yard for the library and the City had decided not to rebuild the Green that had been there since 1935. Bill said, “Hold on to the equipment, I’ll be right over.” He assessed that this green closure was in violation of a promise made by the City. By then, many of the CLBC members had vanished during the downtime. Relishing a problem needing a solution, Bill jumped feet first into the fray. He went to his exercise class of 30 people and got them all to sign a petition to restore the bowling green. One of these class member then had her entire garden club sign. After well-known Coronadan, Joe DelaSalas, went door to door, Bill ended up with over 200 signatures which convinced the City to change its mind. Before they put up the funds, however, they wanted to see if there would really be a Bowling Club and they said they needed proof of at least 50 members. Undaunted, Bill began signing up folks to pay the $150 annual membership fee.
“The most wonderful thing about Coronado is the people who live here,” Bill says, and it is those people who stepped up to pay dues. When Bill presented to the City Council, he said, “As of today, we have 64 members.” At that very moment, resident, Barbara Lolein, stepped behind him and handed him another check, and Bill said, “Excuse me, we now have 65 members.” Actually, Bill was a loyal Rotarian and after a memorable meeting in the Crown Ballroom of the Del where he and another national champion female bowler demonstrated the rolling of bowls down a 90-foot carpeted space between the chairs, is when some of those 65 checks were written. Rotarians today fondly remember and never tire of telling that story!
Bill received recognition from the City of Coronado on a permanent plaque by the Green for his role in its rescue and for working side by side with Parks and Recreation Director, Linda Rahn, to build a world-class championship quality artificial lawn bowling green. Bill has also received recognition from his peers in the Southwest Bowls Division as President of the Year in 2011, and recognition from Bowls U.S.A. being inducted into the Bowls U.S.A. Hall of Fame, one of only 95 such honored bowlers from across the United States since 1999.
When the new Green re-opened in 2010, Bill decided that the CLBC should make its first appearance in the Coronado 4th of July Parade. Every year since then, he has been featured in the club’s annual parade entry just as he is will be this year, the 75th anniversary celebration of this Coronado tradition.
Bill’s message to his sixteen-year-old self is what drove him to success, “Set goals for yourself; take action and work hard to accomplish those goals and never stop trying. Be a problem solver and help people.” While the Coronado of today is a bit more congested and noisier than upon his arrival, he still just loves the people here. He has been heard to say, “I only regret I did not start lawn bowling earlier.” Now he is the gentleman in the white pith helmet who says to everyone he meets, “You should try bowling on the Green.”
More photos of Bill Hiscock:
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