Badge marks '50' milestone for Whiteman and Jefferson

BOWLS BADGE: Bowlers Glenys Whiteman and Robin Jefferson have achieved 50 centre victories, and badges commemorating the fact have been specially made for them. One of the badges rests on a Gisborne-East Coast centre bowls shirt. Pictures by Liam Clayton

GLENYS Whiteman preferred tennis to bowls, but her husband Alex’s encouragement wore her down and she tried the game at Riverhead, near Kumeu north of Auckland, in the late 1970s.

Almost 40 years later she has reached the milestone of 50 centre wins — 52, to be exact — and has earned the award of a specially made badge to commemorate the achievement.

Robin Jefferson joined Whiteman in the “50 club”, as a member of the winning champion of champions open men’s triples team.

Glenys and Alex Whiteman came to Gisborne in 1983. Glenys’s first centre win — in the fours — was not all smooth sailing. In qualifying, her team were seven up going into the last end, but dropped eight shots to lose that game.

Her favourite was the 2013 Burton Trophy triumph with Francie Adair and Gail Bagnall. It was the first time it was a triples tournament, and the first year it was open to women.

Apart from that, she particularly enjoys the self-reliance required in singles play.

Jefferson’s first centre win in Gisborne was the Burton in 1990, but he had no particular favourite.

Four other bowlers in New Zealand have achieved 50 centre wins, and one of them is Te Karaka’s David File.