^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Women's International Bowling Congress (U.S.)

image by Eugene Ipavec, 8 February 2009

Description

See also:

Description

The Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) was an organization for women bowlers formed in 1916 as a counterpart to the American Bowling Congress (ABC). In 2005, the WIBC merged with the ABC and the Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA) to form the United States Bowling Congress (USBC).
- from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_International_Bowling_Congress.

Here is the story about the flag of the Women's International Bowling Congress:
The Flag: A Story of Values and Beginnings
"Description: Philena Bohlen of Los Angeles, a member of the WIBC Executive Board, waited until almost the last minute of the 1939 WIBC Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City to suggest that WIBC have its own official flag. The flag she imagined would use color to represent qualities, times and places important to WIBC and its history.

Bohlen showed delegates a sketch of her design. The idea was approved, and she was instructed to proceed. A year later, on April 30, 1940, she presented the first WIBC flag - a gift of the California Women's Bowling Association - to the WIBC Annual Meeting delegation in Syracuse, N.Y.

Ideals and Principles
Before displaying the 3 ft. x 5 ft. banner, which she sewed herself, Bohlen noted that WIBC's new flag was being unfurled during the presidency of WIBC President Jeannette Knepprath. "Her program is powerful, her convictions strong, her sympathies broad and certainly her leadership proven," Bohlen said. Bohlen also said her flag was an attempt to capture "the high ideals and fine principles of this splendid organization."

The WIBC flag, made up of an insignia set against a striped field of red, blue, yellow and purple, tells a story about WIBC's values and beginnings.
The Flag's Stripes
The colors red and blue symbolize valor and loyalty, and they were meant to duplicate the red and blue in the flag of the United States. The color yellow symbolizes the flower, chrysanthemum, and stone, topaz, of the month of November. (WIBC was founded in November 1916 in St. Louis.) The gold of the chrysanthemum also symbolizes WIBC's golden purposes; and the topaz also symbolizes fidelity and friendship. The color purple symbolizes a violet, the state flower of Illinois. (WIBC was incorporated in Illinois in October 1919.) The violet flower also holds special meaning, because it is often called a forget-me-not.

The Flag's Insignia
The flag's insignia includes the strike, spare, split and miss marks familiar to all bowlers; and a bowling ball and pin.

About Philena Bohlen
Philena Bohlen served as WIBC fifth vice president from 1944 to 1949 and was inducted into the WIBC Hall of Fame in 1955. She was instrumental in organizing both the Los Angeles Women's Bowling Association and the California WBA."

The flag and story from: http://www.wibchistoryhub.com/display.asp?ID=0416007212003412341949448 [no longer available].
Eugene Ipavec, 7 February 2009