Pauline Matovic
Pauline was an 18 year old girl fresh out of high school when she picked up her first bowling ball at Strike and Spare Bowling Lanes in Muskegon Heights. That was 59 years ago. She had been bowling on leagues for 12 years when she received a call in 1956 from friend, Elsie Matel. She saw how much Pauline enjoyed bowling and asked her if she was interested in joining the Greater Muskegon Women's Bowling Association and serving as one of their directors. Pauline said yes and her career in bowling service began.
Pauline served nine years as a director in the GMWBA and was named president in 1965. A position she would hold for six years. Following her stint as president, she was the treasurer for 17 more years, giving her a grand total of 32 years on the GMWBA. For these three plus decades of serving, she was named a life member of the GMWBA.
Pauline did much more than just serve on the GMWBA. She was on the ground floor in helping start the Captain-Sponsor Tournament. A tournament that began as an in-house tournament at Michigan Bowling Center in 1954, but eventually went association wide. Pauline was instrumental along with Jim Pugh in starting the Monsignor Kehren's Mixed Doubles Tournament at Eagles Recreation, a tournament that is still running today after forty plus years. She served as secretary of the 600 club for many years and was also a league officer for many different leagues over the years. In addition to all this, Pauline found time to work with the youngsters at the Eagles Recreation for quite some time.
It wasn't all service for Pauline. She was quite the bowler as well. Her highest game was a 286 and her highest series was a 650. What is special about that is that she bowled both scores as part of the same series at the State Tournament in Port Huron. The 286 game being the high for the tournament that year. She had the high average for the city in 1961-62 with a 179, her highest average. She has been to 52 Women's State Tournaments and 43 National Tournaments to date. Her proudest moment in bowling was winning the actual and handicap All-Events at the 1960 Women's City Tournament with a 1675.
The many years Pauline spent dedicating her time to bowling has definitely earned her a spot in the Greater Muskegon Bowling Hall of Fame. She is a welcome addition to this fine group.