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Margaret
Varner Bloss
Margaret Varner Bloss (b.1927), a three-sport
champion, led a remarkable career as a player, educator and international
goodwill ambassador. Varner started winning tournaments at an
early age; she was a five-time Texas State champion and earned
three national junior titles. An outstanding student, Varner
attended the University of Southern California and received her
B.A. and M.A. degrees from Texas Women's University in 1950.
Varner could win with any racket, becoming
the first person to represent the U.S. in the world competition
in three racket sports: tennis, squash and badminton.
At the same time she pursued a 20-year college teaching career,
reetiring to join her former doubles partner, Margaret duPont, in raising thoroughbred racehorses including
such aptly-named winners as 'Super Set' and 'Tie-Breaker.'
Career Highlights
U.S. Girls' 18 Doubles Champion
1944, 1945
U.S. Girls' 18 Hard Court Doubles
Champion 1945
Southwestern Tennis Association
Singles Champion 1944-1945; Doubles 1944
Wimbledon Doubles Finalist (with
Margaret duPont) 1958
U.S. Wightman Cup Team Member
1961-1962 (2-0 record); Team Captain 1965
Squash Racquets champion: U.S.
Singles 1960-1963; Mixed Doubles 1961; U.S. Wolfe-Noel Team Member
1959, 1963; Philadelphia Howe Cup Team Member 1959-1963
Badminton champion: U.S. Singles
1956; Mixed Doubles 1960; All-England (World) Singles 1955-1956,
Doubles 1958; World Invitational Doubles 1956-1958, 1960; U.S.
Uber Cup Team Member 1957, 1960; Captain 1957, 1969
Author of Badminton, Co-author
of Table Tennis, Squash Racquets
Faculty
member, Physical Education, at Louisiana State University, Mt.
Holyoke College, Boston University, University of Delaware, University
of Texas at El Paso
Inducted into the Texas Tennisi
Association Hall of Fame 1985; Texas Women's University Hall
of Fame 1994; SWTA Hall of Fame 1995
Ranked as a Top 20 Thoroughbred
Racehorse Owner by Thoroughbred Times 1996
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