Nelson Burton Jr.

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Nelson "Bo" Burton, Jr. (born June 5, 1942 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a professional ten-pin bowler and former longtime analyst for the PBA Tour on ABC Television. He is the son of Nelson Burton, Sr., who himself was a successful bowler in his day, competing with the likes of Glenn Allison and Billy Welu. Burton compiled 18 titles on the PBA Tour and earned $763,782 (USD). He won his first title in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 20, 1964, at age 22. He was the 1970 PBA Player of the Year, leading the tour in average. Burton won major titles at the 1976 ABC Masters and the BPAA U.S. Open in 1978. Both Burton and his father are members of the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Hall of Fame. Burton, Jr. is also a member of the PBA Hall of Fame, elected in 1979. His final PBA tour title came in 1984 at the AMF Angle Open in his hometown of St. Louis. In that tournament, Burton set a record for a televised four-game pin total with a combined score of 1050 (278-279-257-236). This record stood until 1995 when it was broken by David Ozio with a score of 1070.^[1]

In 1975, Burton became the color analyst on ABC's Saturday afternoon telecast, The Pro Bowlers Tour, working with veteran sportscaster Chris Schenkel. He replaced Billy Welu, who died earlier that year. Burton spent nearly 23 years (1975 to 1997) with ABC. From 1978 to 1997, he hosted a bowling Tip Of The Week, usually after the second televised match. Burton also continued to compete on the PBA Tour part-time, and would even make the TV finals in some events (his broadcast backup on those occasions was usually Dick Weber.) He and Schenkel were still working together when ABC ceased production of the series in June 1997.

After leaving ABC, Burton moved to ESPN and spent one year in 1998 providing analysis for select PBA broadcasts. He also was a commentator for the 1998 Women's College Bowling National Championship. He and former NBC bowling announcer Jay Randolph called the action on ESPN2.

Burton has resided in South Florida with his family since 2001. He has not bowled regularly on the PBA Tour since 1986.

Burton has also been involved with the Generations Bowling Tour, as both a competitor and color commentator on local telecasts.

In August 2007, Burton and Marshall Holman were the broadcasters for the 2007 U.S. Women's Open in Reno, Nevada on ESPN. The early rounds of the event were taped that month and aired every Sunday afternoon over the course of four weeks, starting Sept. 16. The live televised finals aired on Oct. 14, and Liz Johnson won the event. It was Bo's first national broadcasting work in nearly ten years.

Burton was the color analyst on CBS' "Clash of Champions" bowling telecast that aired on May 10-11, 2008. He teamed with play-by-play man Bill Macatee and sideline reporter Lynn Swann. The broadcast marked bowling's return to network television for the first time since 1999 when CBS carried it.

Bo has also been involved in the Strike-a-Thon.