McCutcheon, Floretta (1888–1967)

American bowler who is considered one of the greatest woman bowlers of all time . Name variations: Mrs. Mac. Born Floretta Doty in Ottumwa, Iowa, on July 22, 1888; died in Pasadena, California, on February 2, 1967; married Robert J. McCutcheon; children: Barbara McCutcheon.

Challenged Jimmy Smith, world champion bowler, to a three-game set and defeated him 704 to 697 (1927); with the exception of Marion Ladewig , was perhaps the greatest woman bowler of all time.

As a pivotal figure in the history of women's athletics, Floretta McCutcheon was an unprepossessing figure. In her prime, she was once described as "a quiet, studious, smiling, [prematurely] gray-haired little woman who might have just dropped her knitting." In the bowling alley, however, she was unbeatable.

Born in Iowa in 1888, Floretta McCutcheon moved with her parents to Denver, Colorado, when she was 13. After finishing public school in Denver, she married Robert J. McCutcheon, a bowling enthusiast. McCutcheon was also physically active, playing on a women's volleyball team at the local YWCA. Though her husband and friends encouraged her to bowl, McCutcheon begged off, claiming too many family and church obligations. As well, at the turn of the century, bowling was considered a masculine sport with a rather coarse reputation. In 1923, when her husband formed a new league, he added Floretta to the team without asking her. She was 35 when she bowled her first game.

"I often wonder why I didn't break my neck running the way I did," said McCutcheon, describing those early efforts. "I stood as far back as I could, ran to the foul line, swinging the 16-pound ball. My impression of the way to bowl was to throw as hard as possible." At the end of that first season, she dropped out for three years because of ill health. Returning to bowling in 1926, McCutcheon worked on controlling her delivery, which dramatically improved her score. By 1927, she had rolled her first perfect game and several three-game series of 700 or more. She began doing exhibitions and bowled three 800 three-game series with an average of more than 266 per game. That same year, she challenged world champion Jimmy Smith to a three-game set, beating him 704 to 697 to the delight of sports-page headline writers nationwide and Ripley's "Believe It or Not." "She is simply the greatest bowler I have ever seen," said Smith after the match. Suddenly Floretta McCutcheon found herself sharing the spotlight with the famous swimmer Gertrude Ederle .

A year later, in 1928, the Brunswick Corporation employed McCutcheon as an instructor. With her daughter Barbara McCutcheon attending college, Floretta had decided the money would come in handy for tuition. Exhibition matches initially took precedence over bowling instruction, with McCutcheon bowling 788 games in 66 cities. Then someone had the idea of patterning bowling schools after the popular cooking schools of the era. In 1931, the first Mrs. McCutcheon School of Bowling was announced in the Peoria Star. When the Chicago Herald Examiner sponsored a similar school, over 3,500 women attended. Suddenly local bowling alleys and corporate entities like Brunswick saw the opportunity to double the number of participants in the sport by appealing to women.

From 1930 to 1938, McCutcheon set up schools and organized leagues; she was the only bowling instructor in the country who taught women specifically. Her classes varied widely, from high school girls to blind bowlers to female students at Vassar College and New York University. "Bowling is one of the few sports at which women and men can have such hilarious fun while participating as equals," noted McCutcheon. "Since bowling depends on rhythm and timing rather than on strength, women often make more rapid progress than men."

After ten years on the road, McCutcheon retired from touring, first moving to New York, then to Chicago, then to Pasadena. She continued to compete and averaged 201 for 8,067 games. In her 26 years as an instructor, McCutcheon taught almost 300,000 women how to

bowl. In 1956, she was inducted into the Women's International Bowling Congress Hall of Fame and in 1973 into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. "Mrs. Mac," as everyone fondly called Floretta McCutcheon, probably did more for bowling in America than any other individual. She had 10 games of 300, nine more of 299, and, all told, 85 games of 279 or better. She once rolled an 832 three-game series.

sources:

Hollander, Phyllis. 100 Greatest Women in Sports. NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 1976.

Woolum, Janet. Outstanding Women Athletes: Who They Are and How They Influenced Sports in America. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1992.

Karin L. Haag , freelance writer, Athens, Georgia