The Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) was an organization for women
bowlers who played
ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll ...
and was formed in 1916 as a counterpart to the
American Bowling Congress
The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling stand ...
(ABC). The WIBC was initially called the "
Woman's National Bowling Association" (WNBA), before the Women's International Bowling Congress was formed.
In 2005, the WIBC merged with three other bowling organizations to form the
United States Bowling Congress
The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling stand ...
(USBC): the American Bowling Congress, the
Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA), and
USA Bowling
The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling stand ...
.
History
![Womens International Bowling Congress 1965-1966 Congratulations note](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Womens_International_Bowling_Congress_1965-1966_Congratulations_note.png)
Founding of the WIBC
Originally called the Woman's National Bowling Association (WNBA), the Women's International Bowling Congress was formed in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, Missouri, in late November 1916. It was the first widely recognized women's association for the sport of
ten-pin bowling
Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll ...
. The founding women were aided by male bowling alley proprietor (Washington Bowling Alleys in St. Louis)
Dennis J. Sweeney, who obtained permission from the
American Bowling Congress
The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling stand ...
(ABC) in 1907 to hold a national women's tournament on their lanes, and held one in 1916, providing the inspiration.
The founding members of the WIBC were:
*Catherine Menne, first WIBC president
*Ellen Kelly, first WIBC secretary
*Mrs. L.W. Waldecker, first WIBC treasurer (quickly succeeded in 1917 by Cornelia Berghaus, who was elected after Waldecker resigned)
The first official meeting of the WNBA was held on October 26, 1917, in St. Louis. Forty women from 11 cities attended the meeting and voted on the organization's constitution, bylaws, and first 16-member executive committee. The purpose of the organization was agreed to be:
To provide, adopt and enforce uniform rules and regulations governing the play of American tenpins; to provide and enforce uniform qualifications for tournaments and their participants; to hold a national tournament, and to encourage good feeling and create interest in the bowling game.
The WNBA held its first national tournament—today's
USBC Queens The USBC Queens is an annual ten-pin bowling event for amateur and professional female bowlers, sanctioned by the United States Bowling Congress. The event is one of four women's professional majors since the PWBA tour returned in 2015 and the femal ...
event—in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio, on March 11 – 12, 1918.
Past Presidents
1916 - Catherine Menne was a bowling pioneer. She was among the founders and served as the first president of the Women's National Bowling Association (later renamed the Women's International Bowling Congress or WIBC) in 1916.
WIBC Hall of Fame Inductees
1974 - Georgia Veatch served for more than 25 years on the Women's International Bowling Congress's board of directors. She also served as president of the Windy City Women's Bowling Association and president and secretary of the Chicago Bowling Council. Veatch was inducted into the Women's International Bowling Congress's Hall of Fame in 1974 for "meritorious service to bowling".
Membership
When it became a part of USBC in 2005, there were over 1.2 million WIBC members playing in 67,000 sanctioned leagues in over 2,700 local associations. Local associations exist in every state as well some foreign countries. The national tournament held by the WIBC, now called the USBC Women's Championships, is the largest women's sporting event in the world. The 1997 tournament in
Reno
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...
, Nevada, attracted 14,872 five-woman teams (for a total of 88,279 participants), the largest entry for any team tournament in history and a women's world record.
See also
*
2005 in sports
2005 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
Alpine skiing
* Alpine Skiing World Cup
** Men's overall season champion: Bode Miller (US)
** Women's overall season champion: Anja Pärson (Sweden)
American football
* Super Bowl XXXI ...
References
{{Reflist
Bowling organizations
Sports organizations established in 1917
Women's sports organizations
Organizations disestablished in 2005
1917 establishments in Missouri