REMEMBERING MARION
LADEWIG (1914-2010)

Reflections from around the bowling community on the passing of Hall of Fame bowler Marion Ladewig on April 16, 2010.

PBA legendsDon CarterPBA & USBC Hall of Famer. She was a good friend of mine, one of the nicest people I ever met, and one of most accurate bowlers I ever met. With her accuracy, she rarely ever missed the pocket.
Hall of Fame bowling writersChuck PezzanoPBA & USBC Hall of FamerDomination to me is the key thing, and she was completely dominant, a nine-time bowler of the year. You can say ‘Well she didn’t have as much competition.’ Well, whatever competition she had, she beat. You can’t ask anymore of a bowler than to beat who is put against you.Marion would win the tournament and her averages most times would have been good enough to put her in the finals against the men. She was just fantastic.She probably was one of the first real women pros who took it seriously. As a pro, she trained for the tournaments and had the latest equipment. That cut down competition quite a bit. For many of them in those days bowling was a weekend thing; they didn’t have the time or the finances to put in the effort. But Marion was a fulltime bowler doing exhibitions and doing matches, so she was always in top shape.Dick EvansPBA & USBC Hall of FamerShe was all business, no emotion. She was like a robot, just hit the pocket almost every time. Don Carter was like that too; she and Don came along about the same time and neither of them ever let emotion get into their games.She was always a professional bowler and a professional woman. She was just straight laced and all business, and I admired her for that.Hall of Fame women bowlersSylvia Wene-MartinTwo-time winner, BPAA All-Star (1955, 1960); USBC Hall of FamerNote: Wene-Martin finished runner-up to Ladewig at the All-Star in each of the three years preceding her win in 1955.I had the greatest admiration for Marion. Winning over her at the All-Star was like the greatest thing that could happen to anybody at that time. I just admired her so much.Joy Abel1966 Bowler of the Year; USBC Hall of FamerShe could close herself away and not even know who was around her when she bowled. She had the ability to focus, and you can’t be a champion without that.I met Marion when I was about 18; she was about 42. I was very impressed with her, not only bowling-wise but as a person. I thought she was just a remarkable individual. She was always a very tremendous competitor.Dottie FothergillTwo-time winner, BPAA All-Star (1968, 1969); USBC Hall of FamerShe was the one who put women’s bowling on the map. She was the best, and that took a lot of work and practice.Historical quotesHenry Martin, Chicago Tribune, Jan. 9, 1955Back in 1937, a sturdy Dutch American girl in Grand Rapids, Mich. faced a momentous decision — whether to spend her last 20 cents for an ice cream soda or to bowl a game. She flipped a coin, it came up heads, which meant bowling, and the start of a spectacular career on the hardwood.Doc Hattstrom, Bowlers Journal, January 1953What can we do with ‘Mechanical’ Marion? For fear that the interest and luster of the women’s event might go a-glimmering because of the frustrations of her rivals in attempting to remove an immoveable object, it has been suggested that Marion be declared unconquerable and therefore be retired with pension with the title of Unbeaten Champion.Byron Schoeman, Bowlers Journal, January 1952Yessiree, dem frails are getting rougher each year. Better look to your laurels, men. Marion Ladewig proved herself to be one of the outstanding woman bowlers of all time by winning her third consecutive All-Star title, a feat that will stand for a long time. She averaged 211.15 for the 32 games in the finals as against 199.28 last year, truly a remarkable improvement and performance. The women’s scores were about 5% better than last year while the men deteriorated around 2 to 3%.Marion Ladewig“I thought if I couldn’t win the tournament it would kill me. I couldn’t take the strain. Well, I finally learned how to lose, but I never learned how to beat the strain.”“My rhythm was fairly good, I thought, but there was nothing outstanding about my style. More or less, I threw an angle ball with a slight hook. My biggest asset was my accuracy. If there was any other reason for the success I had, it was simply the fact that the game never became easy for me, and I always had to keep working at it.”“I made sure that I bowled every day from 1940 through 1962.