Bill O'Neill (bowler)
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William O'Neill (born October 21, 1981) is a right-handed professional ten-pin bowler who competes on the
PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for tenpin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Reg ...
in North America. A resident of
Langhorne, Pennsylvania Langhorne Borough, formerly known as Attleboro, is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,643 at the time of the 2020 census. The mailing address "Langhorne" is used for Langhorne Borough but also broadly ...
, his nickname on tour is "The Real Deal". O'Neill has won 15 PBA Tour titles, including three major championships. He won the 2009–10 U.S. Open, and has won the PBA Players Championship twice (
2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
and
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
). He has finished runner-up in two other major championships. On January 31, 2025, O'Neill was elected to the PBA Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He was officially inducted with the 2025 class in April. O'Neill has also bowled internationally as a member of Team USA. He was the first person to be a two time
World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
after winning the WTBA singles titles (gold medals) in 2010 and 2013. Bill is a pro staff member for Hammer Bowling, Dexter shoes and Vise Grips.


Amateur career

O'Neill bowled collegiately for
Saginaw Valley State University Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is a public university in University Center, Michigan, United States, in Saginaw County. It was founded in 1963 as Saginaw Valley College. It is located on in Saginaw County's Kochville Township, appr ...
where he was a member of
Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity in North America. As of 2021, it had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 118,000 alumni. The fraternity is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded on February 26, 1897, at Vincennes Uni ...
fraternity. He earned first-team All American honors all four years he competed. He was named Bowling Writers Association of America's Collegiate Bowler of the Year in 2001, 2003 and 2004. He was also honored as the Most Valuable Player by the National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association in 2003 and 2004. In the 2020
Weber Cup The Weber Cup, named after professional ten-pin bowler Dick Weber, is a men's ten-pin bowling competition between Team Europe and Team USA. It is often referred to as "bowling's equivalent of golf's Ryder Cup". Each year, a team of five from t ...
, O'Neill and his Team USA teammates defeated Team Europe, 23–18. Overall in the event, O'Neill participated in 12 of 41 matches, going 3–2 in singles, 3–2 in doubles, and 1–1 in team.


PBA career

O'Neill was named PBA Rookie of the Year in his first full PBA season (2005–06), after making match play 11 times in 18 tournaments and appearing once in the TV finals. Despite not winning a tournament, O'Neill had an excellent season in 2008–09. He qualified for match play in a career-high 18 of 20 tournaments, made it to the championship round seven times (a career high until being matched in 2019), and narrowly missed winning the PBA's George Young High Average Award (222.96 to
Wes Malott Wesley Clint "Big Nasty" Malott (born October 26, 1976) is an American professional ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Originally from Pflugerville, Texas, he now resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has won ...
's 222.98). After 83 tournaments and 11 previous finals appearances without winning, O'Neill finally earned his elusive first PBA Tour title in the PBA Chameleon Championship on September 6, 2009, defeating Ronnie Russell in the final match. That same season, O'Neill earned his second PBA Tour title and first major title at the 2009-10 67th Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open. After qualifying as the #2 seed, he defeated Tommy Jones in the semifinal match. He started slowly in the championship match against #1 seed and defending champ Mike Scroggins, converting a spare then leaving an open frame. However, he then rolled the final 10 strikes of the game, for a runaway 267–207 victory. Bill won a then-career high $147,275 in the 2009–10 season. He finished the season tied with Walter Ray Williams, Jr. and Mike Scroggins in PBA Player of the Year points, but the honor went to Williams in an overall competition points tie-breaker. At the
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
PBA World Series of Bowling, Bill won the
Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...
Viper Championship for his third PBA Tour title. O'Neill also had the highest 60-game qualifying scores among all bowlers at the World Series. This earned him the #1 seed for the 2010–11
PBA World Championship The PBA World Championship is one of five major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) Ten-pin bowling, bowling events. It is one of three PBA Tour major events that are open only to PBA members. (The U.S. Open (bowling), U.S. Open and USBC Masters ...
, which took place January 14–16, 2011. However, he was defeated in the title match by
Chris Barnes Chris Barnes may refer to: * Chris Barnes (actor) (born 1965), American child actor *Chris Barnes (bowler) Chris Barnes (born February 25, 1970) is an American professional Ten-pin bowling, bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Associat ...
. He won the Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Cheetah Championship on November 10, 2012, beating Mike Wolfe for his fourth PBA Tour title. He then went without a title for all of calendar year 2013. During the PBA's Summer Swing in
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, O'Neill defeated Brian Valenta in the Lucas Oil PBA Badger Open to receive his fifth PBA title. O'Neill also won the special "King of the Swing" challenge at this event for an additional $10,000, though this was a non-title match. At the
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
Summer Swing, O'Neill qualified as the #1 seed in the PBA Oklahoma Open, and defeated
Jason Belmonte Jason Belmonte (born 29 July 1983) is an Australian professional ten-pin bowling, ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for usi ...
in his lone match to win his sixth PBA title. O'Neill repeated his 2014 win in the King of the Swing (non-title) challenge event to earn an additional $10,000. Bill also finished third in two other Summer Swing events, taking home a total of $36,000 during the five-event series. On August 2, 2015, Bill won his seventh PBA title in the Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles championship, teaming with PWBA player
Shannon O'Keefe Shannon O'Keefe (née Rondeau, born January 27, 1979) is an American professional bowler and bowling coach now living in Jacksonville, Alabama. She has competed in the United States and internationally, and is currently the head coach at Jack ...
to take the top prize. This marked his first season since 2009–10 in which he had multiple titles. In
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
, O'Neill and O'Keefe repeated as champions at the Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles championship, giving O'Neill his eighth PBA title. O'Neill collected his ninth PBA title on February 25, 2018, winning the Roth/ Holman PBA Doubles Championship with partner
Jason Belmonte Jason Belmonte (born 29 July 1983) is an Australian professional ten-pin bowling, ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for usi ...
. On January 6, 2019, O'Neill won his tenth PBA title (and first singles title since 2015) at the season-opening PBA Hall of Fame Classic. At World Series of Bowling X in March, he had top ten finishes in all four events and made two televised finals, but he didn't win a title. O'Neill qualified as the #7 seed for the inaugural PBA Tour Playoffs. He made it all the way to the June 2 finals in this event, but lost to
Kristopher Prather Kristopher "Kris" Prather (born January 1, 1992) of Plainfield, Illinois is an American professional ten-pin bowler who competes on the PBA Tour. He is known for winning the inaugural PBA Tour Playoffs on June 2, 2019 and the PBA Tournament ...
. O'Neil cashed $40,000 for his runner-up finish, and surpassed the $1,000,000 mark in career earnings during the 2019 season. On August 11, O'Neill won his 11th PBA Tour title at the PBA Harry O'Neale Chesapeake Open. Having qualified as the top seed, he defeated A.J. Chapman in the championship finals for his second title of the 2019 season. O'Neill also won the $25,000 first prize in the FloBowling PBA ATX invite on September 21, 2019. This was a non-title elimination event featuring the top eight points-earners over the nine FloBowling PBA Summer Swing tournaments. Overall in 2019, O'Neill established career highs in cashes (21) and earnings ($185,148), and tied his career high with seven championship-round appearances. O'Neill qualified as the #1 seed for the 2020
PBA Tournament of Champions The PBA Tournament of Champions is one of the five major PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) bowling events. It is an invitational event and the only PBA Tour major that does not have any open field. All participants must meet qualifications to ...
, but lost the championship match to
Kristopher Prather Kristopher "Kris" Prather (born January 1, 1992) of Plainfield, Illinois is an American professional ten-pin bowler who competes on the PBA Tour. He is known for winning the inaugural PBA Tour Playoffs on June 2, 2019 and the PBA Tournament ...
. Six days later, on February 15, O'Neill won his twelfth PBA Tour title and second major at the 2020 PBA Players Championship in
Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
. He qualified as the #3 seed for the stepladder finals, beating Kris Prather and
Jason Belmonte Jason Belmonte (born 29 July 1983) is an Australian professional ten-pin bowling, ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for usi ...
in matches #2 and #3, and defeating E. J. Tackett in the championship match by one pin, 233–232. Based on 2020 points, O'Neill qualified as the #2 seed for the season-ending PBA Tour Playoffs, earning a bye into the Round of 16. On his way through the brackets, he defeated AJ Johnson,
Kyle Troup Kyle Troup (born June 11, 1991) is an American professional ten-pin bowler. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. Troup says he needed two hands when learning to throw the ball as a young child, calling himsel ...
and Tom Smallwood in single-game matches. He then defeated
Anthony Simonsen Anthony Walter Simonsen (born January 6, 1997) is an American professional Ten-pin bowling, ten-pin bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 2014. Simonsen became known in bowling fan circles early in the ...
in the double-elimination final match, 235–203 and 249–195. O'Neill was rewarded with his 13th PBA Tour title and the $100,000 first prize. On December 18, 2020, the PBA announced that O'Neill had finished runner-up to Jason Belmonte for 2020 PBA Player of the Year. Despite the 2020 season being shortened by COVID-19, O'Neill cashed a career-high $272,285. After a three-year title drought, O'Neill won his 14th PBA Tour title and third major championship at the 2024 PBA Players Championship. Qualifying as the #2 seed, O'Neill knocked off Ryan Barnes in the semifinal match before defeating top seed Tom Smallwood in the championship match, 209–178. For the 2024 season, O'Neill finished fourth in Tour points and cashed $198,540. On February 1, 2025, during an FS1 telecast of the U.S. Open play-in round, O'Neill was being interviewed by Rob Stone and
Randy Pedersen Randy Pedersen (born May 28, 1962) is an American sportscaster and former professional Bowler (ten-pin), bowler as a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He is currently a color analyst for Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports ...
to honor the 15th anniversary of his U.S. Open win in 2010. PBA Commissioner Tom Clark then approached the broadcast booth to surprise O'Neill with the announcement that he had been elected to the PBA Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. On February 8, 2025 (broadcast March 2 on FS1), O'Neill and partner Jason Belmonte won their second Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Championship, the last one coming in 2018. Through 2019, O'Neill had recorded 30 perfect 300 games in PBA competition. He also has 10 PBA Regional titles.


Professional wins


PBA Tour wins (15)


World Series of Bowling


Wins (3)

O'Neill,
Jason Belmonte Jason Belmonte (born 29 July 1983) is an Australian professional ten-pin bowling, ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for usi ...
, and E. J. Tackett are the only three PBA bowlers to have won titles at three different PBA World Series of Bowling events.


Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order.'' "T" = Tied for a place


International achievements

Bill is a seven-time member of Team USA. He bowled for Team USA at the 2010 WTBA World Men's Championships, where he won the gold medal match in singles over
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
's Bok Eum Choi, 244–202.Thomas, Jason. "O'Neill golden in singles at World Men's Championships." Article at www.pba.com on August 14, 201

/ref> He also won a trios gold medal with
Chris Barnes Chris Barnes may refer to: * Chris Barnes (actor) (born 1965), American child actor *Chris Barnes (bowler) Chris Barnes (born February 25, 1970) is an American professional Ten-pin bowling, bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Associat ...
and Rhino Page, while helping Team USA to gold medals in team and all-events. In 2012, he became the first non- Finnish winner in the ''Ballmaster Open'' held in
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
.


Career statistics

Statistics are through the last complete PBA Tour season. +CRA = Championship Round Appearances


Personal

Bill married Christi White in May 2010. White is a former NCAA bowler and graduate of
Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University () is a private university with its main campuses in New Jersey, located in Madison / Florham Park and in Teaneck / Hackensack. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University offers more than 100 degree prog ...
. Christi delivered the couple's first child, their son Gavin, in February 2013 and a daughter, Avery, in September 2017.


References


External links


Bill O'Neill
at the
Professional Bowlers Association The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and currently owned by the Lucky Strike Entertainment Corpor ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Bill 1981 births Living people American ten-pin bowling players Saginaw Valley State University alumni Sigma Pi members Bowlers at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in bowling Sportspeople from Langhorne, Pennsylvania Place of birth missing (living people)