Hall of Fame
Vivian B. Howard
R/M USBC Hall of Fame
2016
Recently one of Miss Vivian’s many friends asked me to submit her name for our bowling association’s Bowler of the Year award. The form was well thought out. It gave opportunities to list reasons both meritorious and performance. As I looked over the form, and turned it over to my wife to attempt chronicling her achievements; time passed and neither of us knew what to list for Miss Vivian’s long bowling career. Then I realized that the pins her ball knocked down were inconsequential to what Miss Vivian brought too bowling.
My recollections aren’t clear of when Miss Vivian started bowling at Foxfire, probably because it was likely before I came to Kannapolis in 1986. It just seems that Miss Vivian has always been a part of our lives. My first recollections of her are when she was bowling with the Central Baptist Church league. A small woman with a quiet demeanor she was not easy to notice. In managing the squeaky wheel which always draws the attention first, Miss Vivian just went about her choice of pastimes with quiet efficiency, and grace.
I never saw Miss Vivian get angry at a bad shot or game, although that is not to say she didn’t take the sport seriously. At her peak, (before Foxfire got its first scoring system) she was known to come up in the afternoon to practice, often alone, and fill the sixteen game score sheet before quitting. Focused on her skill, she would record the fall, and when done ask us to total the particularly good games. When the Ladies Scratch league bowling on Tuesday evenings, Miss Vivian would bowl at six thirty, then turn around and bowl with her church league at nine. She did this until the league folded when she was in her seventies. So in her time Miss Vivian has knocked down her share of pins, but what Miss Vivian brought to bowling over her time on the lanes won’t show up on a score sheet. Miss Vivian is the truest spirt of bowling.
While taking every shot seriously Miss Vivian supported and encouraged both teammate and opponent alike. Her even keel brought even the most hardened competitors to understand, even if for that brief moment, that while doing your best is important, it is not nearly as important as how you face the challenge and the adversity.
Every person that met Miss Vivian much less bowled with her understands the blessing with which they were bestowed spending the time with her. Now in declining health at age 90+, she bowled until her body simply would no longer allow it, her daughter Pam diligently working to facilitate her mother’s passion for as long as Miss Vivian could participate.
I miss her smiling face coming through our doors, and her quiet determination to participate in a sport she loves. Miss Vivian deserves the award because she embodies the best spirit of bowling, and makes everyone around her better for it.
When I grow up, I want to be just like Miss Vivian Howard.
Dan Simril, age 52