About
The PBA was established in 1958 when 33 charter members banded together to form the Professional Bowlers Association. Today, with over 4,300 members, it remains the acknowledged "major league" of bowling in the world. In March 2000, a trio of high-tech entrepreneurs (and former Microsoft executives) purchased the league in hopes of making it the next global emerging sport and creating additional opportunities for its members. The 2009-2010 season will feature a first-ever World Series of Bowling, which marks the first time the PBA Tour will spend
an extended period of time in one city. The event figures to be a financial boon for Detroit with hundreds of competitive bowlers from around the world, including exempt PBA Tour stars such as Walter Ray Williams Jr., Pete Weber, Jason Belmonte and reigning player of the year Wes Malott expected to participate. Seven PBA Tour bowling telecasts emanating from the World Series will air on ESPN, bringing further exposure to the city of Detroit.
"The World Series builds on the proud tradition of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour being the standard in professional bowling worldwide," said PBA Tour CEO and Commissioner Fred Schreyer. "Detroit will be host to the greatest festival of competitive bowling in history."
Detroit boasts more USBC certified bowlers than any other city in the U.S. Main host Thunderbowl Lanes is a 90-lane bowling center featuring a unique arena setup for the taping of the ESPN telecasts and continuous online coverage on the PBA Tour's live streaming video service Xtra Frame on pba.com.
"We are thrilled to host this revolutionary month in PBA Tour history," said Thunderbowl Lanes owner Tom Strobl. "Detroit's passionate bowling fans are in for a treat."
The seven PBA championship events with dedicated telecasts will be taped at the conclusion of the World Series and air out over what has traditionally been the first half of the PBA Tour season from mid-October to early December 2009, Sunday afternoons on ESPN. The first half of the season on ESPN will conclude with the live finals of the PBA World Championship on Dec. 13, featuring the four finalists decided in early September at the World Series.
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Contact
Since a trio of high-tech entrepreneurs (and former Microsoft executives) purchased the league in hopes of making it the next global emerging sport and creating additional opportunities for its members, the PBA Headquarters have moved to Seattle, Wash. Below you will find contact information for those offices.
719 Second Avenue
Suite 701
Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: (206) 332-9688
Fax: (206) 654-6030
Website: www.pba.com
Rhino Page
By the time Rhino Page gathered his ball to set up for one more strike after throwing the front 11 on TV at the 2009 Japan Cup, he had no idea that he was throwing one short for $100,000. “My jaw dropped when they told me I had won that money,” Page recalls of the aftermath of bowling the first-ever televised 300 game in Japan Cup History. But even the thrill of holding a $100,000 check with his name on it does not rival the excitement Rhino anticipates as he prepares to bowl with Team USA for the sixth time. “Money and PBA titles are great,” Rhino concedes, “but when you’re in a foreign country and you have ‘USA’ on your back and you’re on that gold medal stand, you feel so much pride.”
After making history at the Japan Cup and recording the most sensational rookie year in the 50 years of the PBA’s existence in the 2007-2008 season, there is a lot to be proud of in Rhino’s life these days. For all the accolades on his resume, though, one of his proudest achievements has nothing to do with bowling. A feisty youth bowler who was hotly competitive in everything he did—“even if it was a simple card game,” Rhino says—Rhino worked as hard to become a great bowler as he did to become a great person, struggling to soften a temper that provoked his parents to withdraw him from a junior tournament mid-match for kicking a ball return. “I had such a bad temper as a kid. It had to do with that competitiveness. When things don’t go your way you don’t know how to deal with it,” Rhino says. “It is easy to learn how to win, but not so easy to learn how to lose.” With talent such as all-time PBA titlist Walter Ray Williams, Jr. and reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott in his corner on Team USA this year, though, losing is likely the last thing on Rhino Page’s mind.
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Stefanie Nation
Despite winning a title in her debut appearance on a PBA Women’s Series telecast and making two additional telecasts later in the same season, something was still missing for Stefanie Nation—something that only Team USA could help her regain. “The biggest thing for me was going from team to individual bowling. The only person you have to rely on is yourself,” Nation says of her transition from collegiate bowling at the University of Central Florida, where the Striking Knights fell just short of a national title in 2006 when they lost to Lindenwood in the title match, to bowling professionally. “I am so excited to bowl the Women’s World Championship, knowing that there are people behind me that are going to pick me up no matter what happens.
When you’re out there alone it’s just you, there’s nobody there to pick you up on things like missed spares.” As much as Nation may have grown to value a team ethic at UCF, though, nothing instills Nation with a sense of something bigger than herself more powerfully than bowling with Team USA. “I just got chills thinking about it,” Nation says. “It is such a sense of pride to know that there are millions at home that we are representing, and that when we win medals, the country wins medals. It is not about us—it is about bowling.”
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John Nolen
Until recently, John Nolen of Waterford, Mich., was a virtual unknown on the national bowling scene. He used the nationally televised championship round of the 2009 USBC Masters to change that in a hurry. Competing on television for the first time, Nolen defeated Danny Wiseman of Baltimore, 202-193, to win the USBC Masters and claim his first career Lumber Liquidators Professional Bowlers Association Tour title. Nolen, the No. 1 seed for the championship round, finished as the top qualifier and blew through match play undefeated to win the title. He finished 7-0 in his matches and became the first top qualifier to win the title since Mike Scroggins accomplished the feat in 2005.
"This means everything to me," said Nolen, who earned $60,000 and a two-year PBA Tour exemption. "I came into this week wanting to get a win, and if this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life, I have to think that way."
Read More
About
The PBA was established in 1958 when 33 charter members banded together to form the Professional Bowlers Association. Today, with over 4,300 members, it remains the acknowledged "major league" of bowling in the world. In March 2000, a trio of high-tech entrepreneurs (and former Microsoft executives) purchased the league in hopes of making it the next global emerging sport and creating additional opportunities for its members. The 2009-2010 season will feature a first-ever World Series of Bowling, which marks the first time the PBA Tour will spend
an extended period of time in one city. The event figures to be a financial boon for Detroit with hundreds of competitive bowlers from around the world, including exempt PBA Tour stars such as Walter Ray Williams Jr., Pete Weber, Jason Belmonte and reigning player of the year Wes Malott expected to participate. Seven PBA Tour bowling telecasts emanating from the World Series will air on ESPN, bringing further exposure to the city of Detroit.
"The World Series builds on the proud tradition of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour being the standard in professional bowling worldwide," said PBA Tour CEO and Commissioner Fred Schreyer. "Detroit will be host to the greatest festival of competitive bowling in history."
Detroit boasts more USBC certified bowlers than any other city in the U.S. Main host Thunderbowl Lanes is a 90-lane bowling center featuring a unique arena setup for the taping of the ESPN telecasts and continuous online coverage on the PBA Tour's live streaming video service Xtra Frame on pba.com.
"We are thrilled to host this revolutionary month in PBA Tour history," said Thunderbowl Lanes owner Tom Strobl. "Detroit's passionate bowling fans are in for a treat."
The seven PBA championship events with dedicated telecasts will be taped at the conclusion of the World Series and air out over what has traditionally been the first half of the PBA Tour season from mid-October to early December 2009, Sunday afternoons on ESPN. The first half of the season on ESPN will conclude with the live finals of the PBA World Championship on Dec. 13, featuring the four finalists decided in early September at the World Series.
Read More
Rhino Page
By the time Rhino Page gathered his ball to set up for one more strike after throwing the front 11 on TV at the 2009 Japan Cup, he had no idea that he was throwing one short for $100,000. “My jaw dropped when they told me I had won that money,” Page recalls of the aftermath of bowling the first-ever televised 300 game in Japan Cup History. But even the thrill of holding a $100,000 check with his name on it does not rival the excitement Rhino anticipates as he prepares to bowl with Team USA for the sixth time. “Money and PBA titles are great,” Rhino concedes, “but when you’re in a foreign country and you have ‘USA’ on your back and you’re on that gold medal stand, you feel so much pride.”
After making history at the Japan Cup and recording the most sensational rookie year in the 50 years of the PBA’s existence in the 2007-2008 season, there is a lot to be proud of in Rhino’s life these days. For all the accolades on his resume, though, one of his proudest achievements has nothing to do with bowling. A feisty youth bowler who was hotly competitive in everything he did—“even if it was a simple card game,” Rhino says—Rhino worked as hard to become a great bowler as he did to become a great person, struggling to soften a temper that provoked his parents to withdraw him from a junior tournament mid-match for kicking a ball return. “I had such a bad temper as a kid. It had to do with that competitiveness. When things don’t go your way you don’t know how to deal with it,” Rhino says. “It is easy to learn how to win, but not so easy to learn how to lose.” With talent such as all-time PBA titlist Walter Ray Williams, Jr. and reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott in his corner on Team USA this year, though, losing is likely the last thing on Rhino Page’s mind.
Read More
Stefanie Nation
Despite winning a title in her debut appearance on a PBA Women’s Series telecast and making two additional telecasts later in the same season, something was still missing for Stefanie Nation—something that only Team USA could help her regain. “The biggest thing for me was going from team to individual bowling. The only person you have to rely on is yourself,” Nation says of her transition from collegiate bowling at the University of Central Florida, where the Striking Knights fell just short of a national title in 2006 when they lost to Lindenwood in the title match, to bowling professionally. “I am so excited to bowl the Women’s World Championship, knowing that there are people behind me that are going to pick me up no matter what happens.
When you’re out there alone it’s just you, there’s nobody there to pick you up on things like missed spares.” As much as Nation may have grown to value a team ethic at UCF, though, nothing instills Nation with a sense of something bigger than herself more powerfully than bowling with Team USA. “I just got chills thinking about it,” Nation says. “It is such a sense of pride to know that there are millions at home that we are representing, and that when we win medals, the country wins medals. It is not about us—it is about bowling.”
Read More
John Nolen
Until recently, John Nolen of Waterford, Mich., was a virtual unknown on the national bowling scene. He used the nationally televised championship round of the 2009 USBC Masters to change that in a hurry. Competing on television for the first time, Nolen defeated Danny Wiseman of Baltimore, 202-193, to win the USBC Masters and claim his first career Lumber Liquidators Professional Bowlers Association Tour title. Nolen, the No. 1 seed for the championship round, finished as the top qualifier and blew through match play undefeated to win the title. He finished 7-0 in his matches and became the first top qualifier to win the title since Mike Scroggins accomplished the feat in 2005.
"This means everything to me," said Nolen, who earned $60,000 and a two-year PBA Tour exemption. "I came into this week wanting to get a win, and if this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life, I have to think that way."
Read More
