After 48 years of service to bowling community, Clinton native headed to national Hall of Fame

Dec. 17—MAHOMET — Each summer, Darlene Baker takes a week-and-a-half-long vacation from her job as chief financial officer at the Piatt County Mental Health Center and heads to a different location across the country.

These vacations aren't relaxing in a conventional sense. The Clinton native spends that time volunteering 18 hours each day at the U.S. Bowling Congress' Junior Gold Bowling Tournament, which features the best young bowlers in the country.

"Everybody looks at me crazy like, 'You're taking time off of work to relax by being on your feet 18 hours a day at a bowling center?'" Baker said.

She wouldn't have it any other way.

Junior Golds isn't the only bowling-related commitment Baker has spent her vacation time on over the years.

As she progressed through various local, state and national bowling organizations, Baker has spent a large portion of her free time attending tournaments, events and board meetings across the state, country and world.

"She gets things done, and she leads by example," said Sandy Darnstaedt, who has worked with Baker on the state and national levels. "She sees a goal in mind and says, 'I'm going to work toward that goal.'"

In the years since she became a board member of the Women's Bowling Association chapter in her hometown at age 17 in 1975, Baker's career progressed to the state and national levels until she was named president of the USBC in 2010.

As far as she knows, she's the only person to ever serve concurrently on the boards of the Women's International Bowling Congress, the Young American Bowling Alliance and USA Bowling. From 2007 through 2014, she was also board chair of the Bowling to Veterans Link, which funds recreation therapy programs at veterans hospitals.

"Who would've thought somebody from Clinton, Illinois, would get to that position" of USBC president, said Baker, who currently serves as president of the state chapter. "And it's because — well, I can't say no, for one thing — but it's just because I wanted to give back to the sport. I love bowling and wanted to do whatever I could."

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Growing up, Vermillion Bowl in Clinton was like a second home for Baker and her family. Both of Baker's parents bowled competitively three days a week, and she joined her own league at the age of 8. It's where she and her four siblings also spent many of their weekend days and summer evenings.

At age 10, she got her own ball that she'd lug to the alley multiple times a week, and at 16, she began working her first paid job, walking over to the snack shop after bowling a few games. She didn't know it then, but that experience would inform her leadership of bowling in the United States.

"It's a small town, so everybody knew everybody," said Baker, who bowled at the alley into adulthood, until it was torn down and replaced with a parking lot for the car dealership next door. "You get to know the proprietors, and that's what helped me, because I realized early on that relationships between bowlers and proprietors are very important, because as bowlers, we need the proprietor.

"Without them, we have nowhere to go. And for the proprietors, they don't need us, but we sure can help them out a lot. That was one of the early lessons that helped me throughout my career as I moved up."

Shortly after she graduated from Clinton High School in 1975, she was approached by the president of the Clinton's Women's Bowling Association, who told her a spot had opened up on the organization's board.

"She didn't ask me," Baker said. "She just said, 'I'm going to appoint you.'"

Baker took quickly to the job and eventually became president. Along the way, she always took the opportunity to attend statewide meetings.

"I always wanted to go, just because I'm an administrative geek, I guess," she said.

In 1993, she was named to the board of the state's Women's Bowling Association. Six years later, a member of the national board retired, and Baker was approached by the president to run for the open spot.

At her first board meeting, discussions began to merge the Women's International Bowling Congress with the equivalent men's association to form the U.S. Bowling Congress. The merger was complex, and Baker, who chaired the strategic planning committee, used her financial acumen and leadership skills to help lead that process.

"We went through holy hell trying to get that merger done, and we finally got it done in 2004," said Libbi Fletcher, who began serving on the national board in 2002. "She is so very organized. Plus, her financial background in her private life comes into each of those boards, I'm sure, and her leadership comes into each of those boards, and her strategic-planning expertise comes into each of those boards.

"So, those boards get it all. She's a good listener, but she can challenge you if there's something not quite right — not that it's wrong, but we need to think more about this."

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Baker wound up serving two years as vice president of the national board, another year as president-elect and a one-year term as president of an organization that serves 1.4 million members, according to its website. Throughout that time, she traveled nationally and internationally and worked at least a few hours every day, all for a relatively small stipend.

She did it, she said, for the simple reason that she loved the sport, which she still plays multiple times each week.

"Anyone can do it. They always say, 'Cradle to grave,'" Baker said. "People who are handicapped can bowl. It's an opportunity for people to have recreation, and just the camaraderie, the social aspect of bowling in a league, you have your friends there all the time. We used to bowl after school. You can do it with your friends, kids have birthday parties (at the bowling alley). You can have fun and it can be serious too."

Seven years ago, Fletcher nominated Baker for the USBC's Hall of Fame, and finally, the announcement was made in November that she would be inducted April 24 at the organization's convention in Las Vegas.

"Finally, we got there," Fletcher said. "I'm so happy and proud that she finally gets in."

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Nearly half a century since she joined that first board, Baker is still enthusiastically serving the bowling world. And while she said she may eventually spend a vacation or two on trips that don't revolve around bowling, she plans on serving that world for years to come.

"I've always been an active person and like to give back," she said. "You just do what's right, and things happen, and I'm very blessed to be able to be in this situation."