Hawk to be inducted into MEAC Hall of Fame

When the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference inducts its 2023 Hall of Fame class on March 9 as part of the week-long festivities surrounding the basketball championships, it’s fitting that Hawks bowling legend Maria Rodriguez will be joining former teammate Jessica Worsley (Bond) as just the second bowler in the hall.

If Bond was the first piece to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s 2008 NCAA Championship puzzle then Rodriguez was the last.

“Maria brought so much energy to our team by being both fierce and fun on the lanes,” Worsley said. “She knew how to amp up her teammates and keep the atmosphere relaxed to help us in making high quality shots when they counted.”

Rodriguez — a current member of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association Tour — helped the Hawks to two NCAA Championships (2008, 2011) and one USBC Collegiate Championship (2011). Along with former teammate Kristina Frahm (Szczerbinski), she is one of two Hawks to be four-time National Tenpin Coaches Association All-Americans.

“I guess I didn’t realize how rare it was for a bowler to be in the MEAC Hall of Fame until I looked it up,” Rodriguez said. “I was like ‘Oh this is super rare and it’s pretty cool.’ I feel like I have never done enough in my career. I’m never satisfied. But it feels nice to get one thing and then another and another.”

Rodriguez was inducted into the Hawks Hall of Fame as an individual in November along with Frahm. The two were also inducted as a part of the 2007-08 Hawks bowling squad that won the first NCAA DI National Championship at Maryland Eastern Shore and the first NCAA DI HBCU women’s program to ever win a National Championship.

“It feels good to realize that I did so well,” Rodriguez said. “It was such a good time. It was only three and a half years, but I know that I left a mark. It’s not all about that, but all the work was worth it.”

During her Hawks career, she was also named NTCA Division I Player of the Year as a senior. She helped lead her teams to two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championships (2008, 2011). She was a three-time All-MEAC Selection and two-time MEAC Bowler of the Year (2010, 2011). She was named to the MEAC Top 50 (50th Anniversary) Bowling team. She is a two-time major champion on the PWBA Tour and still very competitive among her peers.

“Maria was the spark that our team needed,” Former Hawks bowling coach Sharon Brummell said. “After participating in the NCAA tournament each year since its inception, we just couldn’t win the title. Maria came to us in January 2008 and we won our first NCAA Women’s Bowling Championship in April 2008.”

The Hawks went on to win another NCAA Championship in 2011 as well as the USBC Collegiate Championship the same year. All seven members of that 2011 squad earned National Tenpin Coaches Association All-American during their career. That’s something that the sport may never see again.

“I think playing with so many talented teammates certainly helped,” Rodriguez said with a laugh. “Some of the girls from my team don’t bowl any more so a lot of new girls don’t know who they are or what they accomplished. But the people that know — including the people I am on tour with — they know how much talent we had and how strong the team was.

“When you have a good team and you give yourself a chance to win every single weekend, it helps everyone work harder. You motivate yourself and each other. If you are having a bad weekend there are so many other players there who are picking you up and helping you up. If I would have gone to a different school and not played with these women, I don’t think I would have accomplished the same things.”