If it involved competition, Mary Klein was probably good at it.
Good enough to get her into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame.
As a student at Kearsley High, Klein, whose maiden name was Nagengast, participated in all four girls varsity sports that were offered: track, basketball, softball and field hockey.
“She excelled at everything she tried,” said Klein’s high school coach Esther Price. “She was just a natural athlete and a great student.” She was tall and slender and built for athletics and had the most wonderful personality.”
Klein and her Kearsley teammates put it all together in her senior year of 1950-51, winning a league championship in all four sports. “I still have a picture Mary sent me of her and her teammates,” Price said. “They won everything that year.”After graduating and serving a stint in the Marines, Klein concentrated her competitiveness on the bowling lanes, setting records and winning championships with regularity.
She was the first Flint area woman to roll a 700 series at then Northwest Bowl, tallying 701 on Feb 28, 1981. She came close to a 300 game at Colonial Lanes in November, 1982, stringing 11 strikes before missing on her last ball. Klein was an eight-time member of the Flint All-star team, helping the 1971 team set two scoring records that held up for 20 and 25 years.
In 1965, Klein was a member of the El Rancho team from the Ladies All-Star League that posted a score of 2,923, the first time a Flint women’s team had reached 2,900. That record stood for 11 years. During her career, Klein won a state championship, a bevy of league titles and several victories in the Women’s State 600 Club Tournament.
She served as a board member and an officer in the Flint Women’s Bowling Association for more than 13 years and was the first woman to hold an office in the Flint 700 Club Chapter 28.
Her bowling accomplishments were recognized locally when she was inducted into the Flint Bowling Hall of Fame in 1983 and on a state level when she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Bowling Hall of Fame in 1995.
She is the only Flint bowler to be inducted into the Michigan Women’s Bowling Association Hall of Honor. The FWBA conducted its 2001 City Tournament in honor of Klein, who had been a member emeritus since 1994. Klein died Jan. 10, 2002.
“It’s too bad she didn’t live to see this honor,” Price said. “She would have been so proud.”
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