Carol Mielczarek is arguably the finest female 10-pin bowler in Windsor-Essex sports history. She dominated Windsor’s women’s leagues and represented Canada internationally for several decades.

Mielczarek was born in Windsor on Christmas Day, 1953.

After two years as a five-pin bowler, Mielczarek took up 10-pin at the age of 15. She was a natural. By age 17, she was good enough to compete in an adult league – provided she had her parents’ signed permission.

During a long and decorated career on the local bowling circuit, Mielczarek was named Bowler-of-the-Year by the Windsor Area Women’s Bowling Association (WAWBA) on 16 occasions. She qualified for the organization’s All-Star team 24 straight years, during which time she won 17 team titles, including 15 consecutive crowns between 1987 and 2001.

Mielczarek won four Ontario All-Events Championships and is famously a five-time Windsor Molson Masters Champion. She also finished as runner-up on five occasions and earned the High Qualifier title four times in the latter competition.

On the global circuit, Mielczarek regularly represented her country during the 1990s. Specifically, she entered international competitions as a member of Team Canada in Singapore (1992), Mexico (1993), Malaysia (1994), and the United Arab Emirates (1999). She notably won gold in trios and silver in singles and team competitions at the 1993 event, the American Zone Championships.

In 1989, Mielczarek was inducted into the WAWBA Hall of Fame. In 2002, she was admitted into the Ontario Women’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame.

While Mielczarek no longer bowled regularly at the time of her induction into the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame, she later returned to the sport and was still active as recently as 2013.

Mielczarek was memorably the first woman to qualify for Windsor’s handicap league at the Super Bowl. A handful of area women followed her lead in the ensuing years.

Mielczarek bowled four perfect games in her career and maintained a 200-plus average for 14 straight years across three leagues.