The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional

ten-pin bowling Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Headquartered in

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, the PBA membership consists of over 3,000 members worldwide. Members include "pro shop" owners and workers, teaching professionals and bowlers who compete in the various events put on by the Association. The PBA also oversees competition between professional bowlers via the following tours: *

PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Regional profess ...

– An annual calendar of events, currently running from January to December each year. *

PBA Regional Tour The PBA Regional Tour is a series of "mini tours", run by the Professional Bowlers Association, spanning across seven regions within the United States. The Tour allows PBA members and qualifying non-member amateurs to compete in weekend events. Th ...

– Allows PBA members and qualifying amateurs to compete in weekend events. The Tour consists of seven regions: Central, East, Midwest, Northwest, South, Southwest, and West. * PBA50/60 Tours – Originally the PBA Senior Tour, it was split in 2013 and now based on age. Set up like the PBA Tour, but allowing PBA members aged 50 years and older, and after the 2013 rebranding, a different tour for members 60 years and older, to compete in their own events. The PBA50/60 Tours also have Regional events. USBC sanctioned events on the PBA50 Tour are still branded as "Senior", and PBA60 Tour events are branded "Super Senior". * PBA-World Bowling Tour (WBT) – Events outside of North America that award a PBA Tour title if won by a PBA member. * PBA Women's Regional Tour *

PBA Women's Series The PBA Women's Series was a mini-tour for female professional bowlers. It was started in 2007 as a way to bring women's bowling back to television after the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) disbanded in 2003. Sponsored by the United ...

(inactive) – Selected PBA Tour events that ran from 2007 to 2010 included a concurrent, separate event for female professionals. * PBA Jr. – Launched in 2020 as a club for youth bowlers (age 17 and under) to enjoy PBA perks and compete in Regional events with the goal of qualifying for SMART scholarship earnings at the PBA Jr. National Championship. As of September 2019, the PBA is owned by Bowlero Corporation.

PBA history

20th century

Prior to the PBA's inception, bowling was broadcast on television sporadically beginning in the early 1950s. NBC began with an early 1950s special telecast entitled ''Championship Bowling''. Later regular weekly bowling shows, including ''

Jackpot Bowling ''Jackpot Bowling'' (also known as ''Phillies Jackpot Bowling'' and ''Jackpot Bowling Starring Milton Berle'') was a professional bowling show on NBC from January 9, 1959, to March 13, 1961. Broadcast history Short-form version ''Jackpot Bowling'' ...

'' began airing nationally. At the same time, there was a desire to start a professional bowling division in the

; an effort led by Eddie Elias, a sports agent based in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

. During the 1958 ABC (

American Bowling Congress The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling stand ...

) tournament in

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, sixty men, including Don Carter, Frank Esposito, Buzz Fazio, Matt Lebhar, Carmen Salvino,

Billy Welu William Joseph Welu (July 3, 1932 – May 16, 1974) was an American professional bowler, executive for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), bowling broadcaster, and ambassador for the sport. A founding member of the PBA in 1958, he won fo ...

Glenn Allison Glenn Richard Allison (born May 22, 1930) is a retired American professional ten-pin bowler who was a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He was born in Whittier, California, to Leo Allison, a car salesman, and Stella ...

, Steve Nagy, Harry Smith, Ray Bluth, Dick Hoover, Bill Bunetta, Robert "Bobby" Bellew, Vito Quercia, and Junie McMahon, attended a presentation by Elias. After listening to his proposal, thirty-three of the men donated $50 each, totaling $1,650 to start the organization, which was incorporated in 1958, and headquartered in Akron. The investors then became charter members of the PBA, basically giving them lifetime membership. Bill Bunetta was slated to be the first commissioner of the PBA by Eddie Elias but Bill was still a very active bowler and turned down the position to continue his bowling and teaching career. Competition began in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

with three tournaments. Italian-born Lou Campi of

Dumont, New Jersey Dumont is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 17,479,Dick Weber won the other two (''Paramus Eastern Open'' and the ''Dayton Open'') The PBA Tour slowly built an audience, expanding to seven tournaments in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

, then 13 tournaments in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

, before exploding with 30 tour stops in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

. Weber would become the first "face" of the PBA in the early years, as he won 10 of the first 23 events held, including seven in 1961 alone. While PBA bowlers regularly appeared on ''Jackpot Bowling'', Elias led an effort to give the PBA a permanent home on television. It first did so with the interstitial ''

Make That Spare ''Make That Spare'' is a fifteen-minute bowling program that was broadcast on ABC from October 8, 1960, to September 11, 1964. Broadcast history The series was hosted by the former actor and nightclub singer Johnny Johnston except in the 1961-196 ...

'' on

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Televisi ...

, which ran from 1960 to 1964, and then with full games on ''

Professional Bowlers Tour The Professional Bowlers Tour, also known as Pro Bowlers Tour, is a broadcast of the Professional Bowlers Association that aired on ABC from 1962 to 1997. In the telecasts, sportscaster Chris Schenkel and the graphics displayed during the show ...

'' beginning in 1965. Coupled with the continued support of its charter members, as well as sponsorships by the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...

(which sponsored 11 tournaments in 1963 alone), True Value Hardware and

Firestone Tire Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone (1868–1938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheele ...

, the PBA experienced growth in its tournament schedules and prize funds. Annual incomes for professional bowlers became, at the time, very competitive with other professional sports. A ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'' article from 1963 noted that top bowler Harry Smith stood to make as much money in 1963 as

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

's NL MVP

Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; born Sanford Braun; December 30, 1935) is an American former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. He has been hailed as one of t ...

and NFL Football MVP

Y. A. Tittle Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. (October 24, 1926 – October 8, 2017) was a professional American football quarterback. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Baltimore Colts, after spend ...

''combined''. Schedules reached a plateau of 35 tournaments per year in the 1980s. The 1965 Firestone Tournament of Champions was the first to offer $100,000 in prize money (including a then-record $25,000 first prize); the 1982 event featured a $200,000 purse, and the 1987 U.S. Open, sponsored by

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the ...

distillery, offered a $500,000 prize fund as well as the first $100,000 first-place prize in PBA history. By the 1980s, True Value pledged $100,000 to any roller of a perfect game on national television (increased to a $200,000 sum during its own ''True Value Open''). Prior to this, the PBA would award a televised 300 game with $10,000 and, in some seasons, a new Ford or Mercury automobile. In addition, in the early 1990s the

Miller Brewing Company The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the ...

offered $1 million to any bowler who could win all three of its sponsored tournaments in a given season. As television exposure increased for the PBA, it spun off a PBA Senior Tour in 1981, with Bill Beach winning the first seniors' championship that year. Having been renamed the PBA50 Tour in 2013, the senior bowling tour continues to the present day. In 1986, a group of professional bowlers who were dissatisfied with PBA management formed the Touring Pro Bowlers (TPB) group. After meeting resistance, the TPB took on the PBA in an

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...

suit. Though settled out of court, the lawsuit did serious financial damage to the PBA. Elias continued to be involved in the PBA until his death in 1998.

21st century

The PBA was purchased in March 2000 by former

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

executives Chris Peters (chairman), Rob Glaser, and Mike Slade, and its corporate headquarters were moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Together with CEO Steve Miller, a former Nike executive, they are recognized for rescuing the PBA from the brink of extinction. In 2011, Geoff Reiss was appointed as the PBA's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and Tom Clark as PBA Commissioner. These two assumed the shared CEO/Commissioner post that was held by Fred Schreyer since he took over for Miller in 2005. The PBA was featured in the 2006 sports documentary, '' A League of Ordinary Gentlemen''. The documentary, filmed during the 2002–2003 season, enjoyed a limited release in theaters before being released in a DVD format in March 2006. The PBA was also featured and acknowledged in the 2007 film ''7-10 Split''. In 2003, the PWBA (Professional Women's Bowling Association) folded, and the PBA began allowing female members in 2004. Missy Bellinder (Parkin) became the first female PBA member, while Liz Johnson became the first to cash in a PBA Tour event and later (2005) the first to make a PBA Tour telecast. In conjunction with the USBC, the PBA would later inaugurate the

in 2007. Following ESPN telecasts of the U.S. Women's Open, it brought back semi-regular women's bowling telecasts for the first time since the demise of the PWBA. The top two seeds out of a field of sixteen faced each other in one match, aired prior to the men's championship match. The Women's Series expanded from four events in 2007 to eight events in the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons, before being canceled. 20160821-Xtra-Frame-Setup

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, financial difficulties and the general state of the U.S. economy caused the tour to reduce the number of tour stops and overall events, while also reducing the number of live TV finals broadcasts. The PBA combined its fall schedule of six standard PBA tournaments (plus qualifying for the

PBA World Championship The PBA World Championship is one of five major PBA ( Professional Bowlers Association) bowling events. It is one of three PBA Tour major events that are open only to PBA members. (The U.S. Open and USBC Masters allow qualifying amateurs to enter. ...

) into a single World Series of Bowling event, held that year in

Allen Park, Michigan Allen Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 28,638. Ford Motor Company is an integral part of the community. Many of the company's offices and facilities lie within the city limit ...

near

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. All fall TV finals except the PBA World Championship were taped and aired at a later date on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, while all but one of the winter tour events continued to hold live TV finals. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, the World Series of Bowling was moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, and consisted of five tournaments with taped TV finals and qualifying for the PBA World Championship. The overall schedule that season was reduced to just 12 title events, with portions of three winter season events being taped and aired after the fact. Kelly Kulick won the 2010 Tournament of Champions, where she was the first-ever female competitor in the field. This also made her the first woman to win any Professional Bowlers Association Tour event that was also open to men. For the 2011–12 season, a total of 14 TV broadcasts were taped at the 2011 World Series of Bowling in Las Vegas to be aired on later dates. For the first time, the TV finals for the PBA World Championship did not air live. In fact, ESPN only aired the finals of the PBA's three remaining major tournaments (

USBC Masters The USBC Masters is a championship ten-pin bowling event conducted by the United States Bowling Congress. The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) began recognizing it as a title event in 1998, and it was designated one of the four majors in 20 ...

, U.S. Open and Tournament of Champions) in a live 2012 broadcast. All other ESPN broadcasts for Winter 2012 were taped events from the World Series, while four additional non-major title tournaments were available live via the PBA's "Xtra Frame" webcast service. Along with reduced stops, prize funds for some standard tournaments were reduced, starting in 2010, with as little as $15,000 going to the winner. The 2011 Tournament of Champions, however, did offer a PBA-record $1 million prize fund and an unprecedented $250,000 top prize. In January 2013, the PBA League, consisting of eight teams of five professional bowlers each, held its first event. On the eve of the PBA Tour's 60th season (2018), the PBA provided some statistics on the history of the Tour and its bowlers: * Over 10,000 bowlers have held PBA membership since the organization's founding in 1958. * As of September 1, 2017, 345 different bowlers have won a PBA Tour title. * Among the 345 winners, 124 (35.9%) won only one title in their career, while 51 bowlers (15.6%) have earned 10 or more titles. On September 10, 2019, Bowlero Corporation, the world's largest operator of bowling centers, announced it had purchased the PBA. Bowlero's Chief Customer Officer, Colie Edison, was appointed CEO of the PBA. Bowlero announced that current PBA Commissioner Tom Clark will continue in that role. In January 2022, Colie Edison stepped down as CEO to become Chief Growth Officer for the WNBA. Beginning with the 2019 PBA Tour season, television coverage moved from

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

, with 26 broadcasts being held on

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...

and four broadcasts on terrestrial Fox stations.

PBA League

Teams

Dallas Strikers (current player-manager:

Norm Duke Norm Duke (born March 25, 1964) is an American professional bowler currently competing on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour and the PBA50 Tour. He has won 40 titles on the PBA Tour, including seven major championships, and another ...

) NYC KingPins (current manager:

Carolyn Dorin-Ballard Carolyn Dorin-Ballard (born 1964, Linden, New Jersey) is one of the top female ten-pin bowlers in the world. She is a member of the Professional Women's Bowling Association (1990–2003 and 2015–present) and has bowled in PBA Tournaments as we ...

) Chicago Hitmen (formerly Philadelphia Hitmen) (current manager: Jason Couch) LA X (current manager: Andrew Cain) Motown Muscle (current manager: Del Ballard Jr.) Waco Wonder (formerly BROOKLYN STyLES) (current manager:

Johnny Petraglia John Petraglia Sr. (born March 3, 1947) is an American professional bowler. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), where he won 14 PBA Tour titles. He has also won eight PBA Senior Tour titles. He is a member of both the ...

) Silver Lake Atom Splitters (current manager: Mark Baker) Portland Lumberjacks (current manager: Tim Mack) PBR Milwaukee Pounders (added 2020 as Brew City Ballers) (current manager: Marshall Holman) Las Vegas High Rollers (added 2020) (current manager:

Amleto Monacelli Amleto Monacelli (born 27 August 1961) is a Venezuelan professional bowler and a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He has amassed 20 titles on the PBA Tour, making him one of only 16 players in history to accumulate at least ...

) Phoenix Fury (all-

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

team; 2020 only) (Manager: Kim Terrell-Kearney) Miami Waves (all-women's team; 2020 only) (Manager:

Bob Learn Jr. Robert Learn Jr. (born April 4, 1962) is a professional ten-pin bowler and bowling coach. He formerly competed on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour and is currently active on the PBA50 Tour. He is nicknamed "Mr. 300", having rolled o ...

)

Championships

By year

By team

Mark Roth Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...
League MVP award winners

Hall of Fame

The PBA Hall of Fame was founded in 1975 with eight initial inductees: six for Performance (Ray Bluth, Don Carter, Carmen Salvino, Harry Smith, Dick Weber and

) and two for Meritorious Service (Frank Esposito and Chuck Pezzano). Since its inception, it was located at the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame in St. Louis,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. It is now part of the new USBC headquarters in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region ...

. Through 2019, there are 111 PBA Hall of Fame Members in three categories: * Performance (54) * Meritorious Service (35) * Veterans/Senior (19) Membership in the Hall of Fame was originally determined by annual elections. From 2000 to 2008, those in the Performance category had to have ten PBA titles (or two major championships) on their resume, as well as be retired from the tour for five years. Another revision took effect in 2008. Bowlers can now qualify for the Hall of Fame based on five PBA titles on their resume, as long as two of those titles were major championships. Other active bowlers can now qualify for the Hall as well if they have 20 years of membership and are elected. Late in 2008, The PBA announced the launch of a new PBA Seniors Hall of Fame.

John Handegard John Handegard (born May 18, 1938) is a retired professional ten-pin bowler who has spent time on both the PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered ...

, at the time the all-time leader in PBA Senior titles (14) became the first inductee on January 24, 2009."PBA to induct Norm Duke, Del Ballard Jr. and John Handegard into Hall of Fame." Article at www.bowlingdigital.com, November 26, 2008.

References and footnotes

External links

*
PBA on ESPN
{{Authority control Ten-pin bowling Bowling organizations Sports in Akron, Ohio Bowlers Association Professional sports leagues in the United States