A. Jane Hassell, a native of Mount Gilead, North Carolina, earned a business administration degree from St. Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, Va. She currently works as a system administrator/supervisor for the Navy Federal Credit Union.
A. Jane first bowled with friends on a weekly basis in 1970. She enjoyed the experience and later that year joined a league at Ten Pen Coliseum in Alexandria. She began with a 130 average, which steadily increased, especially several years later when she joined a second league. ln addition, she has served as a league president and a treasurer.
A. Jane won her first tournament in 1984 at the Virginia Bowling Queens event in Leesburg. The next year she won another VBQ tournament in Alexandria. She captured a third VBQ in Lynchburg in 1989. In this event she also has two runner-up finishes and two third-place finishes.
A. Jane has been even more successful in the Bowl America Open Tour, winning three events in 1987, one in 1989 (in which she contributed a 724 series), and two in 1990. She also has four second-place finishes (with series of 719, 716, and two 708s) and a third-place finish, at which time she rolled her highest series ever, 750, on games of 235-279-236.
Other tournaments in which A. Jame has emerged on top include the Fair Lanes Summer Tour Finals, the Bill Rhodman Classic (twice) and National Roll-off, the National Bowling Association Eastern Regional Scratch Match Doubles, the Washington, D.C. Area Women's Bowling Association Scratch Doubles, the Washington, D.C. Area 600 Club Singles, the Seagram's Cooler U.S. Open Qualifier, and the Ladies Scratch Team Event in Williamsburg, Va.
Her most lucrative title came in September 1989 when she registered a 703 series to help her team win the $50,000 top prize in the National Industrial Tournament in Dayton, Ohio.
A. Jane has held the highest average in at least one league since 1978. She has 14-700 series and has been ranked in the WDCAWBA Top 10 each year since 1982. In 1989-90, with the help of a 203 average, she earned the coveted No. 1 ranking.
A. Jane, the mother of 17-year-old Clarissa Nicole. has been a youth coach for 10 years, serving first at Alexandria Bowling Center and currently at Bowl America Silver Hill.
Her bowling goals include a 300 game, an 800 series, and a WIBC or LPBT title. There’s no betting against her attaining one goal or all three, for she has demonstrated excellence on the lanes for many years. That is why A. Jane Hassell is a most deserving addition to the WDCAWBA Hall of Fame.