Floretta McCutcheon


Born: Ottumwa, Iowa

July 22, 1888  - Feb. 2, 1967


"Mrs. Mac" didn't begin bowling until she was thirty-five and her competitive career lasted little more than a decade, yet she had a profound impact on the sport. It's been estimated that she introduced more than 250,000 people, most of them women and children, to bowling through her clinics, exhibitions, and lessons.

Floretta McCutcheon

She rolled a 69 in her first game in 1923. After a season of league bowling, she quit, but she resumed in 1926 and blossomed quickly. In 1927, she beat the great Jimmy Smith 704 to 697 in a three-game series.

McCutcheon then began touring and in 1930 she opened the Mrs. McCutcheon School of Bowling. When she retired in 1939, she had bowled ten perfect 300 games, eleven 800 series, and more than a hundred series of 700 or better, despite the fact that most of her games were rolled on unfamiliar lanes throughout the country.

Most of her records are not recognized because they were made in exhibitions or unsanctioned matches. However, her average of 206 in a sanctioned league during the 1938-39 season was a recognized record for a woman bowler until 1964.

After retiring from competition, she taught bowling in New York City until 1944 and in Chicago until 1954, when she retired and moved to California.
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