Margaret Varner Bloss (born October 4, 1927) is an American retired athlete and a professor of physical education from El Paso, Texas who excelled in three distinctly different racket sports: badminton, squash, and tennis.
Varner Bloss is the only person to have represented the US at the highest level of international competition in all three sports,Profile, usabadminton.org; accessed October 29, 2016. and is the only person to have won the U.S. national singles championships of both badminton and squash or to have been inducted into the respective U.S. halls of fame of both sports.2006 U.S. Nationals - Past Champions , ocbadmintonclub.com; accessed October 29, 2016.Walk of Fame Inductees and Profiles , usabadminton.org; accessed October 29, 2016.United States Squash Hall of Fame Members , us-squash.org; accessed October 29, 2016.
Badminton career Varner's most impressive accomplishments came in badminton, which she took up at Texas Woman's University in the late 1940s, having gained prominence in junior and collegiate tennis. In 1955 and 1956, she won consecutive women's singles titles at the All-England Championships, then the world's most prestigious badminton tournament for individual players.
She was a runner-up in the All England singles in 1957, 1958 and 1960, and shared the doubles title in 1958.List of All England Women's Singles champions The fact that she won only one U.S. Singles title in badminton (1955) is largely attributable to the presence of two formidable contemporaries: Ethel Marshall and Judy Devlin Hashman. Along with Varner, they formed a kind of "great triumvirate" of American women's badminton.
Varner was a member of the world champion U.S. Uber Cup (Women's International Badminton) teams of 1957 and 1960.Uber Cup, usabadminton.org; accessed October 29, 2016. After helping to secure victory in the second of these triennial events, she retired from badminton competition. She was inducted into the U.S. Badminton Hall of Fame (now called the Walk of Fame) in 1965 and the World Badminton Hall of Fame in 1999.
International tournaments Women's singles YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult 1954 U.S. Open Judy Devlin 11–8, 6–11, 6–11 Runner-up 1955 All England Open Judy Devlin 9–11, 11–5, 11–1 Winner 1955 U.S. Open Judy Devlin 6–11, 12–9, 12–9 Winner 1956 All England Open Judy Devlin 11–8, 11–6 Winner 1956 U.S. Open Judy Devlin 10–12, 6–11 Runner-up 1957 All England Open Judy Devlin 2–11, 7–11 Runner-up 1957 U.S. Open Judy Devlin 2–11, 0–11 Runner-up 1958 All England Open Judy Devlin 7–11, 10–12 Runner-up 1960 All England Open Judy Devlin 1–11, 9–11 Runner-up 1960 U.S. Open Judy Devlin 11–6, 7–11, 7–11 Runner-up
Women's doubles YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult 1957 U.S. Open Dorothy O'Neil Judy Devlin Susan Devlin 15–7, 7–15, 5–15 Runner-up 1958 All England Open Heather Ward Iris Rogers June Timperley 15–12, 15–2 Winner 1960 U.S. Open Dorothy O'Neil Judy Devlin Susan Devlin 13–15, 4–15 Runner-up
Mixed doubles YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult 1960 U.S. Open Finn Kobberø Michael Roche Judy Devlin 15–7, 15–2 Winner
Squash career Before her badminton career ended, Varner started to make her mark in squash by reaching the singles final of the U.S. championships in 1959. In 1960, she won the first of four consecutive national squash titles. She represented the U.S. against Great Britain in the Wolfe-Noel Cup matches (1959, 1963), and Philadelphia for five straight years in the Howe Cup. In 2000, she was inducted into the U.S. Squash Rackets Association Hall of Fame.
Tennis career Varner's early racket sport triumphs came in tennis with victories in National Junior Girls Doubles (1944 and 1945) and in numerous Texas state and regional events.ITA - 1996 Inductee Margaret Varner Bloss profile , wm.edu; accessed October 29, 2016. She eventually played the circuit of national and international tournaments which, in this amateur-only era, were generally held in the six-month span alternating with that of most badminton and squash tournaments.
Although she never reached the relative heights in tennis that she did in badminton and squash, she was a strong enough player to reach the final of Wimbledon women's doubles in 1958, losing to Althea Gibson and Maria Bueno.The Championships and The All England Lawn Tennis Club , wimbledon.org; accessed October 29, 2016. Her Wimbledon partner that year was Margaret Osborne duPont with whom she formed a friendship that became a life partnership following duPont's divorce. In 1961 and 1962, the duPont-Varner partnership won doubles matches for U.S. Wightman Cup teams that defeated Great Britain.
Horse breeding After her career in racket sports ended, Varner gradually immersed herself in a different kind of sports venture. Her marriage to horse trainer Gerald Bloss in the late 1960s produced a son, Leigh (born 1971). It also piqued Varner's interest in the breeding and training of thoroughbred racehorses.
After her husband's death, she pursued this interest seriously with her life partner Margaret Osborne duPont. They formed the duPont-Bloss Stables near El Paso and often gave their horses names taken from the argot of tennis and other racket sports.Diane Hales. "A Sportswoman's Dream Career", Badminton USA (Spring 1992), pp. 23-24. In 1996, they were ranked as Top Twenty Racehorse Owners by Thoroughbred Times.
Other Varner Bloss was inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.
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