Margaret Varner Bloss
{{short description|American athlete and professor}}
{{Infobox badminton player
| name = Margaret Varner Bloss
| caption =
| birth_name = Margaret Varner
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1927|10|4}}
| birth_place = El Paso, Texas, United States
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| country = United States
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| medal_templates =
{{MedalSport | Women's badminton }}
{{MedalCountry | {{US}} }}
{{MedalCompetition | Uber Cup }}
{{MedalGold | 1957 Lancashire | Women's team }}
{{MedalGold | 1960 Philadelphia | Women's team }}
}}
Margaret Varner Bloss (born October 4, 1927) is a retired American athlete and professor of physical education from El Paso, Texas who excelled in three distinctly different racket sports: badminton, squash, and tennis.
She is the only person to have represented the US at the highest level of international competition in all three sports,[http://www.usabadminton.org/wof/varner-bloss.html Profile], usabadminton.org; accessed October 29, 2016. and is the only person to have won the U.S. national singles championships of both badminton and squash or to have been inducted into the respective U.S. halls of fame of both sports.[http://www.ocbadmintonclub.com/usnationals2006/2006usn-pw.shtml 2006 U.S. Nationals - Past Champions], ocbadmintonclub.com; accessed October 29, 2016.[http://www.usabadminton.org/wof/walk_of_fame_inductees_and_profiles.html Walk of Fame Inductees and Profiles], usabadminton.org; accessed October 29, 2016.[http://www.us-squash.org/ussquash/hall-of-fame-members.html United States Squash Hall of Fame Members] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013203547/http://www.us-squash.org/ussquash/hall-of-fame-members.html |date=2008-10-13 }}, us-squash.org; accessed October 29, 2016.
Badminton career
Varner's most impressive accomplishments came in badminton, which she took up at Texas Woman's University in the late 1940s, having gained prominence in junior and collegiate tennis. In 1955 and 1956, she won consecutive women's singles titles at the All-England Championships, then the world's most prestigious badminton tournament for individual players.
She was a runner-up in the All England singles in 1957, 1958 and 1960, and shared the doubles title in 1958.List of All England Women's Singles champions The fact that she won only one U.S. Singles title in badminton (1955) is largely attributable to the presence of two formidable contemporaries: Ethel Marshall and Judy Devlin Hashman. Along with Varner, they formed a kind of "great triumvirate" of American women's badminton.
Varner was a member of the world champion U.S. Uber Cup (Women's International Badminton) teams of 1957 and 1960.[http://www.usabadminton.org/wof/uber_cup.html Uber Cup], usabadminton.org; accessed October 29, 2016. After helping to secure victory in the second of these triennial events, she retired from badminton competition. She was inducted into the U.S. Badminton Hall of Fame (now called the Walk of Fame) in 1965 and the World Badminton Hall of Fame in 1999.
Squash career
Before her badminton career ended, Varner started to make her mark in squash by reaching the singles final of the U.S. championships in 1959. In 1960, she won the first of four consecutive national squash titles. She represented the U.S. against Great Britain in the Wolfe-Noel Cup matches (1959, 1963), and Philadelphia for five straight years in the Howe Cup. In 2000, she was inducted into the U.S. Squash Rackets Association Hall of Fame.
Tennis career
Varner's early racket sport triumphs came in tennis with victories in National Junior Girls Doubles (1944 and 1945) and in numerous Texas state and regional events.[http://www.wm.edu/tenniscenter/bloss.html ITA - 1996 Inductee Margaret Varner Bloss profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831051913/http://www.wm.edu/tenniscenter/bloss.html |date=2006-08-31 }}, wm.edu; accessed October 29, 2016. She eventually played the circuit of national and international tournaments which, in this amateur-only era, were generally held in the six-month span alternating with that of most badminton and squash tournaments.
Although she never reached the relative heights in tennis that she did in badminton and squash, she was a strong enough player to reach the final of Wimbledon women's doubles in 1958, losing to Althea Gibson and Maria Bueno.[http://www.wimbledon.org/en_gb/about/history/rolls/ladiesdoublesroll.html The Championships and The All England Lawn Tennis Club] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091115095327/http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/about/history/rolls/ladiesdoublesroll.html |date=2009-11-15 }}, wimbledon.org; accessed October 29, 2016. Her Wimbledon partner that year was Margaret Osborne duPont with whom she formed a friendship that became a life partnership following duPont's divorce.{{cite book |author=Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr |title=We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |year=1988 |isbn=0-07-034625-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wehavecomelongwa00king/page/75 75] |url=https://archive.org/details/wehavecomelongwa00king/page/75 }} In 1961 and 1962, the duPont-Varner partnership won doubles matches for U.S. Wightman Cup teams that defeated Great Britain.
Horse breeding
After her career in racket sports ended, Varner gradually immersed herself in a different kind of sports venture. Her marriage to horse trainer Gerald Bloss in the late 1960s produced a son, Leigh (born 1971). It also piqued Varner's interest in the breeding and training of thoroughbred racehorses.
After her husband's death, she pursued this interest seriously with her life partner Margaret Osborne duPont. They formed the duPont-Bloss Stables near El Paso and often gave their horses names taken from the argot of tennis and other racket sports.Diane Hales. "A Sportswoman's Dream Career", Badminton USA (Spring 1992), pp. 23-24. In 1996, they were ranked as Top Twenty Racehorse Owners by Thoroughbred Times.
Other
She was inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.{{cite web | url=http://www.desports.org/inductees/2019/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226010947/http://www.desports.org/inductees/2019/ | archive-date=2024-02-26 | title=Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in Wilmington, Delaware - 2019 Inductees }}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Footer Uber Cup Champions Badminton Team Women}}
{{Footer All England Open Championships Badminton Singles Women}}
{{Footer All England Open Championships Badminton Doubles Women}}
{{Footer World Invitation Tournament Champions Badminton Doubles Women}}
{{Badminton Hall of Fame members}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloss, Margaret Varner}}
Category:American female badminton players
Category:American female tennis players
Category:American female squash players
Category:American racehorse owners and breeders
Category:Tennis players from Texas
Category:Educators from El Paso, Texas
Category:Sportspeople from El Paso, Texas