Darlene Baker

Meritorious Service

Darlene Baker
City: Mahomet
State: IL
Inducted: 2024

Baker has spent more than three decades serving the bowling industry in a variety of local, state, national and international roles from youth bowling to the adult ranks.

She has been a director, secretary, treasurer, delegate, vice president and president at every level, culminating with a one-year term as the president of USBC (the first woman to hold the office), following a year as president-elect. 

Baker has served on dozens of committees, often as the chairperson, at each level and was a key participant in the creation of the USBC in 2005 through the merger of the ABC, WIBC, YABA and USA Bowling. She also has contributed to the evolution of the SMART program.

She has been a member of the volunteer tournament staff at the USBC Junior Gold Championships for more than a decade and has assisted at the World Bowling Women’s Championships and World Bowling Youth Championships as well as her annual state and local events. 

Her decades as a leader, volunteer, philanthropist and mentor already have earned her spots in the Clinton (Ill.) WBA Hall of Fame (1991), Illinois WBA Hall of Fame (2005) and Champaign (Ill.) Area Hall of Fame (2012) – all for meritorious service.