Professional Bowlers Association

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The 2005-2006 PBA Tour logo with the Denny's sponsorship.

Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the U.S.A..

1 PBA History
2 The Exempt PBA Tour
- 2.1 Exemption Breakdown
3 PBA Tour Championships
4 PBA in the Media
- 4.1 PBA on ESPN commercials
5 External links

[edit] PBA History

2003-04 PBA Tour logo.

The PBA was founded in 1958 in Syracuse, NY. The PBA was purchased in March 2000 by former Microsoft executives Chris Peters (Chairman), Rob Glaser, and Mike Slade; the organization's corporate headquarters were moved to Seattle, Washington. In fall 2005, PBA leadership passed from Steve Miller (former President/CEO) to Fred Schreyer, who currently serves as the PBA's CEO/President, and Commissioner.

The PBA currently has over 4,100 members worldwide, including over 700 senior members. ^{[citation needed]} The first PBA season started in 1959 and had three sanctioned tournaments. The PBA oversees the PBA Tour, the PBA Senior Tour, a nd the PBA Regional Tour (a sort of minor-league circuit). The PBA Regional Tour consists of 7 regions: Central, East, Midwest, Northwest, South, Southwest, and West.

[edit] The Exempt PBA Tour

Walter Ray Williams, Jr. bowls on ESPN television for a PBA Tour title.

From the PBA Tour's inception through the 2003-2004 season, most national PBA events were open to the entire PBA membership. Starting in October 2004, the PBA adopted an all-exempt national tour format. In this format, only 64 bowlers compete each week. Bowlers can earn exemptions by winning a tournament during the previous season, winning one of the four major tournaments (and gaining a multi-year exemption), placing among the top finishers in points, leading a region on the PBA Regional Tour, or finishing in a high position at the PBA Tour Trials (the number of exemptions awarded at the Tour Trials can vary - in 2006, 10 spots will be available).

In total, 58 bowlers receive exempt status for the entire season. One of the remaining spots is awarded to a bowler (often a retired PBA legend or someone who is not exempt, but has enjoyed past success). The five remaining spots are awarded each week through the Tournament Qualifying Round. During the TQR, amateur and PBA bowlers bowl 7 games of qualifying. The top amateur bowler advances (no matter where he or she finishes), along with the top four PBA members.

Only three bowlers have advanced from the TQR round to make the telecast on ESPN. In the 2004-2005 season, Liz Johnson made history by becoming the first person to make a telecast after qualifying through the TQR round, while also setting the mark for being the first female bowler to make a PBA championship round on television. Johnson advanced to the final round, where she was defeated by Tommy Jones. In 2005-2006, Del Ballard Jr. and Sean Rash advanced from the TQR to the PBA telecast. While Ballard lost to Ritchie Allen in the final match of the 2006 Motel 6 Phoenix Classic, Sean Rash defeated Mike Devaney to win the 2006 West Virginia Championship. Rash became the first bowler to win a PBA tournament after advancing from the TQR. In addition to winning the $40,000 first prize, Rash also earned an exemption for the 2006-2007 season.

In the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials, Kelly Kulick made history becoming the first woman in PBA history to gain a PBA exemption (she will be exempt for the 2006-2007 season). Before it dissolved, Kulick was the 2001 Rookie of the Year in the PWBA, won the 2003 Women's U.S. Open, and was a three time member of Team USA.

[edit] Exemption Breakdown

The following is a breakdown of who gets a PBA exemption (for most tournaments in the 2005-2006 season):

64 - Total Bowlers for 2005-2006
- 40 - PBA Tour (champions and point leaders)
- 7 - Point leaders from the seven PBA regions
- 11 - PBA Tour Trials
- 5 - Weekly PBA TQR (Tournament Qualifying Round)
- 1 - Weekly Commissioner Exemption

If a bowler from any of the aforementioned categories does not take his or her spot, the next-place bowler beyond 5th place in the TQR will take the spot.

[edit] PBA Tour Championships

The 2001 PBA Tour logo.

The PBA Tour currently has four major championship events: the USBC Masters (known as the ABC Masters prior to 2005), the PBA U.S. Open, the PBA World Championship, and the PBA Tournament of Champions. In the 2004-2005 season, the PBA held twenty tournaments. For that season, Patrick Allen was the Chris Schenkel Player of the Year and PBA points champion. Allen's closest competition came from the Tommy Jones, who won four of the tour's twenty events.

On October 3, 2005, the PBA signed a historic three year sponsorship deal with Denny's, which made the American restaurant chain the PBA Tour's first title sponsor. The 2005-2006 season, which contains twenty one events, began at the end of October 2005 and finished in April 2006.

In late May, the PBA held the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials to determine the remaining 10 bowlers who will have exempt status for the 2006-2007 season. At the Tour Trials, non-exempt PBA and international bowlers bowled nine games for five straight days on the five different PBA oil patterns. The ten bowlers with the largest pin totals after 45 games received exempt status for the 2006-2007 season. Mark Scroggins, Michael Haugen Jr., Jim Pratt, Chris Hayden, David Tessman, Kelly Kulick, Chris Johnson, Patrick Girard, Richard Wolfe and Del Ballard Jr. all received exemptions for the 2006-07 Denny's PBA Tour with their top-10 finishes in the 2006 Denny's PBA Tour Trials.

[edit] PBA in the Media

The PBA Tour was long known for its Saturday afternoon broadcasts prior to ABC television's Wide World of Sports. These broadcasts introduced viewers to bowling legends such as Earl Anthony, Dick Weber, Johnny Petraglia, Mark Roth, and Marshall Holman. The Pro Bowlers Tour lasted on ABC from 1961-1997. Chris Schenkel was the main sportscaster, along with color commentator Billy Welu. Upon Welu's passing in 1974, Nelson Burton Jr. joined Schenkel as color commentator. In 1984, NBC Sports televised the PBA Fall Tour from 1984 to 1991. Jay Randolph & Earl Anthony were the commentators. In 1998, the PBA moved its telecast to CBS, where it would stay until 1999. Since 2000, the PBA has exclusively been televised on ESPN.

The PBA reached new audiences in 2005, when it was featured in the 2005 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.

There have been only 17 perfect games bowled on the nationally-televised final day of regular PBA tournaments. Jack Biondolillo rolled the first one in 1967, and Tony Reyes bowled the most recent one in 2006. There have also been two on Senior PBA Tour telecasts, by Gene Stus (1992) and Ron Winger (1993).

A most memorable televised 299 game occurred on April 4, 1970 when Don Johnson defeated Dick Ritger to win the 1970 Firestone Tournament of Champions. With 11 strikes, he threw his 12th ball, stepped back and dropped to the floor. The ball hit the pocket, but the 10-pin remained standing. Johnson, still on the floor, briefly lowered his face into his hands, then stood up to a thunderous ovation.

Mark Roth gained immortality by becoming the first bowler to convert the almost-impossible "7-10 split" on national television in 1980. John Mazza and Jess Stayrook would also accomplish this feat on TV several years later.

[edit] PBA on ESPN commercials

Randy demonstrates the "Roll the Ball, Answer the Phone" technique on an ESPN commercial.

In 2005, ESPN and the PBA unveiled a series of comedic commercials with the catch phrase "Sundays are for Bowling" to promote the weekly televised bowling matches almost every Sunday during the season on ESPN. The commercials featured an unsuspecting black bowling ball unnoticeably sabotaging a person's routine Sunday activities. For instance, in one commercial, a man walks outside to his SUV only find a gaping hole in his canoe strapped to the vehicle's roof; the man then silently turns his head toward the lawn to find a black bowling ball staring back at him. The phrase "Sundays are for Bowling" then fades in on the screen followed by the promotional details.

In 2006, a new series of comedic television commercials appeared on ESPN. These commercials documented a group of average bowlers attending the fictional "Randy's Bowling Clinic", which is operated by an egotistical instructor named Randy. In each commercial, Randy insults his students and teaches them silly theatrics instead of actual bowling skills.