Phyllis was born September 1, 1954 in Annapolis, Maryland. As a young teenager her school friends did a lot of different activities that she couldn’t afford to do and the one thing she really wanted to do was bowl. Due to financial problems, her brothers worked and got little money, but were able to purchase used skates, so they took up skating.
One winter her brother Fred took her to the Potomac River and Phyllis had to be rescued from the frozen ice. Needless to say, she never learned to skate!
She met a young man, Charles (A.K.A. Bubba) when she was only fourteen and fell in love. He went to Maryland for a vacation and stayed 3 years. They married on March 21, 1972, and moved to Tampa, where his parents lived. They have 3 daughters, Teresa, Ruth and Kimberly and 5 ½ grandchildren. When Phyllis first came to Florida, she started playing softball on a mixed league until she was knocked down and her jaw shifted to the left a little.
That’s when she decided it was now time to bowl and at the age of 21 went open bowling for the first time in her life, and she loved it. As a sanctioned league bowler, she has bowled in several leagues and has been the league secretary/treasurer on the Crown Ladies Classic League for over 7 years. She started her two older daughters bowling at ages 5 and 7. She doesn’t claim fame with her bowling abilities, but she is proud of the friendships she has made through the game.
She volunteered for two years on the Tampa Women’s Bowling Association before Ruby Johns nominated her to run for the board as a director. On that day she pledged her commitment to serve to the best of her abilities and she enjoyed doing so.
Phyllis served the TWBA board and the members well. She was usually the first to volunteer to help out on any project. She served on many committees as chairperson and committee member during her 9 year tenure on the board.
Phyllis was selected for the TWBA 2006 “Secretary of the Year Award.”
She always attended workshops for local, state and national and kept her league members informed on what was happening in the bowling industry as well as upcoming meetings and tournaments.
Phyllis served as Chair of the tellers committee at the first annual Greater Tampa USBC meeting and did a fantastic job especially with the 24 positions that were up for election.
Please join me in congratulating Phyllis as she is inducted into the Greater Tampa Bowling Association Hall of Fame for Meritorious Service.