General | 9/29/2020 1:00:00 PM

Margaret Varner Bloss graduated from TWU in 1949 with her bachelor's degree and again in 1950 with her master's degree. She was inducted into the TWU Athletics hall of fame in 1994. During her TWU career, she won state titles in tennis and badminton. Bloss is the only person to represent the United States in international competition in three racquet sports: tennis (Wightman Cup), badminton (Uber Cup), and squash (Wolfe-Noel Cup).

We caught up with Varner Bloss to discuss her tennis and horse racing career in a brief conversation transcribed below. It has been edited and condensed for clarity. 
 
What brought you to TWU in the first place?
I had two girl friends here in El Paso that went there to school and I had been to a big university in California and I didn't particularly like Los Angeles. So, they talked me into going down there and I loved it. 
 
And you competed in tennis and badminton here, is that correct?
Yes, that's right. That's where I first played badminton. I had never played before. 
 
And then after your time at TWU, you moved on and played professional tennis and moved on to the Wimbledon final in 1958…tell us a little about your professional career.
It wasn't really professional, it was an amateur career. Even playing at Wimbledon, it was amateur. The game has changed a bit now. No prize money, but they gave us travel expenses and living expenses.
 
Had to be a tremendous experience competing and Wimbledon though…
Oh, it was a lot of fun. The first ball I ever hit there was on the Centre Court. The court itself is just magnificent. It was surreal.
 
For someone who played competitive tennis, when you stepped out on that court, did you get an adrenaline rush?
You're pretty nervous as you're sitting in that little room waiting to go on…til they call you and your opponent is there with you. It's a little bit nerve wracking. 
 
(Son): Tell them [about] back then, how you found out who you were playing and where you were playing.
I had never played at Wimbledon before. I had been there to play badminton. I picked up the morning paper and there I was, first match on the [Centre] Court. I had never even been there before. Fortunately, I was able to win that match and go on.
 
You also played quite a bit of squash as well…
I played a lot of squash. I learned to play in Boston when I was teaching at Boston University. They played a lot of squash in New England, so I was able to do that. 
 
So, after you finished with tennis, your doubles partner Margaret DuPont(sp?) and yourself kept the competitive fires going a little bit and got into the horse racing business.
Yes, we did. We moved to El Paso and I've always been interested in horses. I had horses when I was young, before I went off to college and teaching. 
 
Are there any particular memories or stories about your time working with the horse racing that stick out to you?
We had one called tiebreaker which won a lot of races for us. We raced primarily in New Mexico and ours were New Mexico bred horses. We weren't trying to go to the Kentucky derby. 
 
If you had a chance to give a message to the current athletes at Texas woman's who are kind of following in your footsteps, what sort of advice would you give to them?
Well I haven't thought about it before but just stay with it. Keep working at it. And learn as you go so you can get your game up to par. Take advantage of every opportunity you can to improve yourself. 
 
Was there a person or professor that was really important to you while you were here?
Dr. Juggen was chairman of the [health and physical education] department and she was a well-known national figure and she made the department, made this thing work.