Eli Whitney

Meritorious Service

Eli Whitney
City: Milwaukee
State: WI
Inducted: 1975

Whitney founded the ABC Hall of Fame in 1941, a year after he had joined the Congress staff as its first public relations manager. Whitney was an idea man. Among his innovations were the ABC Newsletter, which for a time included a special report to the hundreds of radio stations that carried bowling news in those days; the bowling writing competition sponsored by Bowling Magazine, the official publication for which he served as executive editor; and the Rip Van Winkle Award of the Bowling Writers Association of America, which he had helped organize in 1934.