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Kelly Kulick did what no woman pro bowler has ever done before. She beat a man in a bowling game.
Kulick, a lithe 32-year-old ash blonde from Union, N.J., bowled a 265 at the 45th Tournament of Champions on Sunday in Las Vegas becoming the first woman ever to win and a pro-bowling men’s tournament. ” Even former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens couldn’t believe it. He tweeted, “Kelly Kulick just defeated Chris Barnes 265-195 to become the 1st woman ever to win the PBA Tour!! Congratulations Kelly!” Kulick, who started the tournament with four straight strikes, was also the first female bowler allowed (she first earned a season-long exemption) in the male-dominated Professional Bowler’s Association Tour. ”I kind of think of myself as Grace Kelly on a bowling lane,” Kulick told ABC News. “You glide through the approach.” But it wasn’t always easy. In her first PBA season, “Kulick needed to finish in the top 39 in the Tour’s point system to gain an exemption for the 2007-8 season. She was 54th. She earned $31,140 in 19 P.B.A. Tour events and never finished higher than 22nd. “It was frustrating,” she told the New York Times in 2007. “So much was riding on the line.” When she’s not knocking down pins, she works at her father’s auto repair shop right alongside the boys. Famed tennis player Billie Jean King (who also beat a boy in 1973) praised the bowling beauty, “It serves as a motivational and inspirational event for girls and women competing at all levels around the world.” It sure does. (Read more at www.chicktalkdallas.com/blog)
I also think it’s great that a woman not only make it into a men’s league but she wins in the league too (see Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie). And it’s important that she stays winning and doesn’t pull a Danica Patrick–the female IndyCar driver turned Nascar driver/bikini model who sponsors love but who has only won one first place in a major race. Female athletes breaking into men’s pro leagues have to not only deal with inherent sexism and the idea that they don’t deserve to be there but also the unflattering fact that many women (see Patrick, Wie and Sorenstam) simply don’t perform on the same level as men. The girls who do get in are sexually exploited (well, Danica makes major bank so I don’t think she minds the photo shoots) or used to boost ratings. Getting in is important, but winning is so much better. Keep it up Kulick!
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