By Roscoe Nance
Jessica Worsley-Bond is one of the most decorated bowlers ever to compete for the most successful bowling program in MEAC history with three national championships to its credit.
Worsley-Bond led Maryland Eastern Shore to the first NCAA national title in program history – and the first Division I national championship for an HBCU women’s program in any sport – in 2008 and was named Most Outstanding Performer at the NCAA Tournament; she was the 2008 MEAC Woman of the Year and Maryland Eastern Shore's Female Athlete of the Year in 2007 and 2008.
Worsley-Bond was a two-time National Tenpin Coaches Associaton (NTCA) All-American and NCAA All-Tournament Team pick, a three-time MEAC All-Tournament Team choice and MEAC Tournament Most Outstanding Performer in 2006.
Yet Worsley-Bond was surprised to learn that she had been selected for induction into the MEAC Hall of Fame. She is the first bowler selected to the Hall.
“It’s such an honor because there are so many excellent athletes who come out of the MEAC,” she said. “I was honestly surprised to be selected. It’s really such an honor because even with my fellow inductees, it’s such a high caliber of athletes the MEAC has produced. I feel just humbled.”
The 2019 Hall of Fame Class also includes football All-Americans Dwayne Harper of South Carolina State; Jerome Mathis of Hampton; Kyle O’Quinn, a two-time MEAC Defensive Player of the Year for Norfolk State and a current member of the NBA Indiana Pacers; and Florida A&M Assistant Sports Information Director Alvin Hollins.
The class will be enshrined during an awards brunch on Thursday, starting with a welcome gathering at 9:30 a.m. at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel The Hall of Fame class will also be recognized during halftime of the 6 p.m. men’s tournament game at the Norfolk Scope Arena that same day.
Worsley-Bond, a chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, downplays her role in the success of Maryland Eastern Shore’s bowling program.
“I was fortunate to be with a lot of supportive and talented women bowlers throughout my four years,” she said. “Everyone worked so hard. Everyone had the same goal in mind. It was a lot of work, but it was also enjoyable along the way because everyone was contributing and trying so hard. It wasn’t forced – we need to do this. The talent came through. It was something to absorb and enjoy.”
But it was Worsley-Bond who carried the Hawks as they won their first NCAA crown. They were runners-up in 2007 and entered the 2008 NCAA Championships ranked No. 2 in the country. Worsley-Bond rescued the Hawks in their rematch against Vanderbilt, a team they had beaten to open the tournament. They trailed 3-0. She picked up “the big four” split in game five to shift momentum in favor of Maryland Eastern Shore.
WorsleyBond faced a 2-10 split in the finals match against Arkansas State that she, ignoring the pressure of the pressure of the situation, converted to again give the Hawks momentum. She also had a clutch strike to start the 10th frame.
“The pressure was it’s in the Baker format,” Worsley-Bond said. “You only get two frames a game. You know if one of your two chances isn’t your best or you have an open frame, it really hurts. You have that extra need to make this one count. Since you’re bowling one of the top teams in the nation, you know if you give them an opening, they’re going to take advantage of that.”
Worsley-Bond said that considering the situation, the 2008 NCAA Championships was the best performance of her career. Winning the Most Outstanding Performer Award confirms that.
But she is quick to share credit for winning the title with her teammates.
“We knew from losing my junior year that we really didn’t want to go through that feeling again,” she said. “Everyone did what they could to make sure we would come out on top that year. It was one of the highlights of my career to be the Most Outstanding Player. That meant a lot with such a great team that we had.”
Worsley-Bond said winning the national championship was – and still is -- a surreal experience.
“People dream about it,” she said. “A lot of days, it doesn’t feel like that actually happened. My junior year, it was just an accomplishment just to make it to the finals. There are not a lot of words to explain how amazing an accomplishment that was.”
Worsley-Bond came to Maryland Eastern Shore intent on winning the national championship, and she told head coach Sharon Brummell as much when she was being recruited, even though the Hawks hadn’t won as much as a MEAC championship in four years.
“I told Coach Brummell that was the goal,” she said. “The national championship was always the goal, what we practiced for, what we worked so hard for. We always kept that n mind. On the good days and the bad days, that was the goal we were after.”
In addition to winning the 2008 national championship and being the runner-up for the national crown in 2007, the Hawks won three MEAC crowns from 2006-08 with Worsley-Bond leading the way.
Worsley-Bond came to Maryland Eastern Shore after meeting Brummell at a tournament when she was in high school. The two hit it off right away.
“I immediately fell in love with her,” Worsley-Bond said. “She was such a warm person. She would speak to me and carry on a conversation. You would have thought we had known each other for years.”
Worsley-Bond and Brummell kept in contact, and when she was eligible to be recruited she visited the Maryland Eastern Shore campus.
“I immediately loved the team, the school, the athletic department,” she said.
She visited other schools, but none compared to Maryland Eastern Shore.
“It always came back to Eastern Shore,” she said. “I told my parents how much I liked it there and the people there were nicest she had ever met.”
Worsley-Bond comes from a family of bowlers. Her grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles all bowled when she was growing up. She picked up the sport at age five. She dabbled with softball, but bowling was always her first love and she started taking lessons.
“It’s just such a fun sport,” she said. “It’s never the same any time you go in there. It’s always a challenge. The people and the teams you get to be with and compete against, it brings you together even though it such an individual sport. “I just loved the game and wanted to compete at the highest level when I hit high school.”
Worsley-Bond certainly reached that goal.