Marianne DiRupo and Liz Johnson elected to PWBA Hall of Fame in 2025
ARLINGTON, Texas – The Professional Women’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame will welcome two new inductees in the Performance category in 2025.
Marianne DiRupo of Matthews, North Carolina, and Liz Johnson of Niagara Falls, New York, are set to be inducted during the 2025 PWBA Hall of Fame ceremony on May 14 in conjunction with the United States Bowling Congress Queens.
The 2025 USBC Queens is scheduled to run from May 14-20 at Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas.
DiRupo, 57, was the 1992 PWBA Rookie of the Year and earned her first of eight titles at the 1993 Ebonite Three Rivers Open, where she climbed the ladder and took down a trio of hall of famers in Wendy Macpherson, Nikki Gianulias and Cheryl Daniels. DiRupo would go on to win three majors, the 1997 Hammer Players Championship, the 2002 Miller High Life National Players Championship and the 2004 USBC Queens.
Her most successful year came in 1998 when she won the Omaha Open and Visionary Bowling Products Classic for her only multi-win season. In addition to her PWBA Tour victories, DiRupo also was a 10-time Bowlers Journal International All-American, including nine straight years from 1995 to 2004.
DiRupo holds the PWBA record for most 300 games in a tournament with four at the 1998 Sam’s Town Invitational, where she eventually finished third. She ended that season with five perfect games, the second-most in a PWBA season behind Tish Johnson’s seven in 1993.
By the end of her career, DiRupo made 51 PWBA telecasts and was 14th in career PWBA earnings ($664,073).
She also won the Classic Doubles title at the 1999 USBC Women’s Championships and was inducted into the USBC Hall of Fame in 2020.
Johnson, 50, burst onto the PWBA scene in 1996, winning PWBA Rookie of the Year and two titles, including a major at the U.S. Women’s Open where she defeated DiRupo for the first of her six wins at the event.
When the tour folded in 2003, Johnson had already amassed 11 career titles, including two majors (1996 U.S. Women’s Open and 2001 Hammer Players Championship). While the tour was dormant, she added three additional majors (U.S. Women’s Open in 2007 and 2013, USBC Queens in 2009) and became the first woman to make a Professional Bowlers Association Tour telecast in 2005.
When the PWBA Tour was relaunched in 2015, Johnson won three titles, including two majors, and earned the first of three consecutive Player of the Year awards.
Since the relaunch of the PWBA, Johnson has added 11 titles to run her career total up to 25 wins with 10 majors. In addition, she also became the second woman to win a PBA Tour title with her victory at the PBA Chameleon Championship in 2017, and she is the only PWBA bowler with multiple 300 games in championship-round appearances (2001 and 2021).
Outside the professional circuit, Johnson has six USBC Women’s Championship wins, was an 11-time member of Team USA with numerous international medals and was inducted into the USBC Hall of Fame in 2015.
Through 2024, there are 49 members of the PWBA Hall of Fame – 29 in performance, 10 in Pioneer, nine in Meritorious Service/Builder and one in Ambassador.
