Introduction

The 1.3 million member Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) had been losing over five percent of its membership each year for five consecutive years. During this period, the organization had lost over 500,000 members. People just were not joining bowling leagues in the same numbers they had been in the past.

The organization's leadership concluded that merging with other major national bowling organizations, including the men's American Bowling Congress, would be the best way to ensure the future strength and viability of women's organized bowling in the United States.

WIBC's leaders had presented the idea of merging to delegates at the organization's annual meeting the previous year. However, the delegates had not passed the measure with the required two-thirds vote. The decision by WIBC's board to merge with other organizations was highly controversial and unpopular in some quarters.

WIBC had a proud tradition going back over 80 years. Many of WIBC's members, including many delegates, had belonged to the WIBC for decades and felt great pride in their organization. Many of WIBC's delegates were reluctant to support a change, which would amount to voting their own organization out of existence.

I studied the situation after being asked to write a speech for WIBC's president for the upcoming annual meeting, where delegates would again vote on whether to merge with other national bowling organizations. It seemed that the best communication strategy was one that would appeal to the desire among WIBC's delegates to both preserve WIBC's traditions and to extend its achievements into the future. I met with WIBC's president, exchanged ideas with her, and then wrote the speech.

The president later delivered the speech at WIBC's annual meeting, and this time WIBC's delegates cast the required two-thirds vote to merge with other bowling groups. The speech had helped lead to a "Yes" vote on the part of delegates to unify with other national bowling organizations and to form the United States Bowling Congress.

Back to top

Text of Speech

Good afternoon. I'm glad to have the privilege and opportunity to address you once again at this most important time in WIBC's history.

And thank you for the warm welcome you gave me last year in my first year as president. As you can imagine, it was a challenging time to be at the podium. There were vital issues for us to address and resolve. But I felt your respect and support, even from those of you who did not always agree with my positions.

When our annual meeting adjourned, the WIBC board continued to address with you and with the other major bowling organizations the most important and defining issue of our time:

and that is reaching an intelligent and productive unity within the sport of bowling. We continued to work long and hard to reach a compromise that would be acceptable to us all. Respect for each other—and respect for each other's highest sense of what is right—drove this compromise. Respect, as you know, is what enables families, groups, organizations, governments, to achieve progress and successful compromise.

Some of you remember the day in 1999 that the U.S. women's soccer team won the World Cup. Many consider it the greatest day in the history of women's sports. That was a remarkable group of athletes. And if you asked one of them—Mia Hamm—what was most important, she said it was respect.

She said, quote: "I think sportsmanship is just having respect for your game…having respect for your opponent and yourself and the players around you. You go out there and keep that in perspective, I think you'll…play the game the way it's supposed to be played."

And so, how is the game supposed to be played? What are our roles as players in what—I've got to tell you, without any exaggeration—is the second most important meeting in the history of the Women's International Bowling Congress, surpassed in importance only by the meeting of the pioneers who established our organization in 1916.

The real questions we have to ask ourselves here today are, What do we think is important enough to preserve? How do we respect something greater than ourselves?

And—probably most important—How can we best dedicate our efforts to the success of those who will come after us?

It's not always easy to realize when you're sitting right smack in the middle of history. We may not be playing in front of 90,000 roaring fans like that championship U.S. women's soccer team in 1999. But we are making history here at this annual meeting. Don't doubt it for a second.

Some of the women at the first organizational meeting of the Women's International Bowling Congress in 1916 did not have a real sense that their actions would plant the seed for what has since grown into a great commanding tree. A tree that has provided shade, sustenance, and meaning for so many of us over the last eighty-some years.

One of WIBC's founding members said that the first meeting in 1916 was, quote, "more of a social gathering, and we gave little thought that it would develop into such a big organization." Now there's nothing wrong with enjoying the social aspects of being here. But, please, think of the true importance of our time together here in Wichita. Think deeply about the historical significance and consequences of our actions at this annual meeting. This will be our last opportunity to achieve unity with the rest of the bowling community.

Let’s think together about our heritage. I believe that we, at this annual meeting, will determine whether everything we have achieved, whether the great work we have done, will have been done in vain. Whether WIBC's heritage will be communicated in a living way to generations of future women.

This is our heritage. [picture shown]

And so is this. [picture shown]

And so is this. [picture shown]

Look at what we've created together. [picture shown]

And this is our heritage. [picture shown]

Our heritage will be preserved, if we approve the United States Bowling Congress proposal. Our heritage will not go away. It will live on. WIBC's legacy will live on, because you and I—every one of us—will make sure that it lives on within the unified organization—the United States Bowling Congress. Our heritage will live on within the unified organization.

Our tournament will live on. Our hall of fame will live on. Our involvement in important causes like BVL and Bowl for the Cure will live on. And, most important, our attention to the needs of women will live on. We will make sure of it.

Let me say this: the majority of us—in fact, nearly two-thirds of us—voted for the United States Bowling Congress last year. To those of you who voted for the USBC last year, I say, cast a yes vote again this year. The reasons for creating a unified organization are just as compelling as they ever were. The WIBC board's continuing support of the United States Bowling Congress reflects the will of a majority of our delegates. For those of you who did not vote for the proposal a year ago, I say, reconsider your actions. Vote yes this year.

The USBC proposal has changed in significant ways since last year. Now, USBC delegates will vote on bylaws, and set adult dues, at the local, state, and national levels. Mergers at the local and state levels will be optional. The USBC proposal you will vote on has addressed the most important concerns of ABC and WIBC delegates.

The new organization, USBC, is the bridge that will ensure that our heritage makes its way from the past into the future. What I am saying is this: Keeping things as they are—not changing—will not preserve WIBC's heritage and organization, as some might think. In fact, I think just the opposite is true: By keeping things the way they are, WIBC could become a footnote of history.

Right now, we have an equal and important voice within the bowling industry. Our voice is heard and respected. We sit on important bowling-industry councils that set the direction of our sport. We have worked hard over the years to earn this respect and to gain the influence that we now have.

But if WIBC does not unify with other bowlers—regardless of their gender or age—if we do not form a common bond with all bowlers and form a single organization to protect and represent all of our interests—WIBC will become less and less of a force in the bowling community. If we do not preserve our legacy by unifying with the rest of the bowling community, we will cease to be the vital force of leadership that we now are. Why do I say this? Really it comes down to two things: numerical trends and social change.

First, let me speak about numerical trends. Since the 1996-1997 bowling season, WIBC has lost over one-half million members. Each year, we have lost over five percent of our membership. And we have lost nearly twenty-five thousand leagues.

The fact is, and I know that you have heard this before, society has changed dramatically since many of us came up. And women who are experiencing a more level playing field—socially and in terms of their employment—just are not joining the same kinds of women's-only organizations that you and I joined.

This is clear, when you look at the choices that our own members are making. In the 2002-2003 season, more than seventy-two percent of WIBC leagues were mixed leagues—women and men bowling together. During the same period, nearly seventy percent of all ABC and WIBC leagues were mixed leagues.

In dollars-and-cents terms, WIBC simply cannot continue to be a viable organization and support itself, as revenues keep declining along with a falling membership.

Let's not discard our legacy, because we want to live in the past. Let us continue to be a vital force and to make vital contributions to the sport of bowling. Do not let us become an historical footnote.

The creation of WIBC in 1916 reflected those times. Women bowlers had been excluded from the men's organization. They formed a women's-only organization out of necessity—because they had to. That first organizational meeting in St. Louis in November of 1916 was brave and forward thinking. But it was a response to being excluded.

And the creation of the United States Bowling Congress in 2004 reflects these times. It reflects the great opportunities we have earned over the last eighty-some years: To be included and not excluded; to work shoulder to shoulder with men as equal and respected partners; to be judged on the basis of our characters, talents, and achievements.

I like to think of these two meetings—WIBC's first organizational meeting, in 1916; and this vote to create the United States Bowling Congress, in 2004—as a pair of bookends.

In between these bookends are WIBC's heritage, our promise, our accomplishments. Vote for the United States Bowling Congress, so that our volumes of accomplishment can become more numerous. So that our contributions can continue to expand and to be suited to the times in which we live.

We now have the privilege, the honor, to set the other bookend—the United States Bowling Congress—on the shelf. With this bookend we will hold in place what has come before, and the opportunities that lie ahead.

We do not preserve our legacy by ceasing to be a force for good. We do not honor ourselves and all of those who have come before us, by getting out of the game. We can serve those who come after us only by remaining relevant.

It is a rewarding experience to be part of history, as we are here today, and as we will be tomorrow, when we vote on the United States Bowling Congress proposal.

Unify our past, our present, our future.

Unify with other bowlers whose interests are like our own.

Vote yes for the United States Bowling Congress. Thank you.

Back to top