James Campbell earns first senior win at 2025 USBC Super Senior Classic
June 01, 2025
FINAL STANDINGS
STEPLADDER FINALS RESULTS
GROUP STEPLADDER FINALS RESULTS
LAS VEGAS – James Campbell of Loudon, Tennessee, won three matches in the stepladder finals to take home the title in the 2025 United States Bowling Congress Super Senior Classic Sunday at Sam’s Town Bowling Center.
Campbell, a 61-year-old right-hander, was seeded fourth for the stepladder and defeated No. 1 seed Pete Weber, 201-193, in the final match of the event featuring players 60 and older. His win over the USBC and Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer gave Campbell his first senior title and the first-place check worth $8,000.
Campbell, whose highest finish as a senior was second place in the 2022 PBA50 Cup in Westland, Michigan, was emotional when talking about what this PBA60 title means to him.
“It just feels good to finally win because these guys out here are really good,” Campbell said after a slight pause to compose himself. “It means a lot. I didn’t get to bowl on tour when I was younger because I had a job and a family. I bowled regionals, but that was about it. I was able to retire at 58 and come out here. But I didn’t know if this day would ever happen. I’ve been pushing and pushing, and it finally did.”
The title match was close through the first half of the match, with Weber holding a three-pin lead after five frames. With both players clean through six frames and Weber working on a double, the seventh frame would prove to be a momentum changer.
Campbell left the 3-6-7-10 split, but was able to convert it for a crucial spare. Weber left a 10 pin his seventh frame, and uncharacteristically missed it for an open frame.
Campbell threw strikes in his eighth and ninth frames and then sat as Weber got up to bowl his ninth and 10th frames needing three consecutive strikes and at least seven pins on his fill ball to seal the win. Weber struck in the ninth, but left the 4-10 split in the 10th, which he was unable to convert.
That left Campbell needing a mark in his 10th frame to claim the championship. He left the 10 pin on his first shot in the 10th and calmly converted it, then got nine on his final shot to wrap up the win.
“I wasn’t watching Pete when he missed the 10 pin, but I heard the crowd react,” Campbell said. “You just never would expect that. Pete is so good; I just never see him miss single-pin spares. That opened the door, and I just tried to take advantage.”
Campbell’s road to the title actually started prior to the stepladder finals as he had to survive the Group B stepladder finals earlier on Sunday morning. Campbell defeated Venezuela’s Amleto Monacelli in the first match of the Group B stepladder, 214-197, then took out Mexico’s Carlos Denot, 222-180. That win made him the No. 4 seed for the main stepladder finals.
“I was more nervous in the group stepladder because last year I made it to that point as well, but lost my first match,” Campbell said. “When I got to the main stepladder, I had a little bit of nerves, but I didn’t have the butterflies I had in the previous matches for whatever reason. I was able to get on the approach and just stayed calm and made good shots.”
Campbell certainly did make good shots in the first two matches of the stepladder. In Match 1, against USBC and PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III, Campbell finished with strikes on seven of his last eight shots for a 248-224 win. Bohn, who was after his first PBA60 win to go with his 35 PBA Tour titles and 11 PBA50 titles, was undone by open frames in the eighth and ninth frames when he was unable to convert the 4-6-10 split and a 3-5-9 leave respectively.
Bohn reached the main stepladder by winning the Group A stepladder with wins over Finland’s Timo Raatikainen (230-209) and two-time Super Senior Classic winner Ron Mohr of Las Vegas (279-215).
After defeating Bohn, Campbell was nearly perfect in his semifinal match against No. 2 seed John Burkett. He started with the first nine strikes before leaving a 3 pin on his first shot in the 10th on his way to a 279-214 win.
Weber, 62, of St. Ann, Missouri, earned $6,550 for second place. Burkett, 60, a former Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher and one-time champion on the PBA50 Tour from Fort Worth, Texas, collected $5,250 for third and Bohn, 61, of Jackson, New Jersey, got $4,000 for fourth.
Campbell, who owns a USBC Eagle in Team All Events at the 2004 USBC Open Championships in Reno, Nevada, and is assistant coach of the men’s bowling team at Tennessee Wesleyan University, had to overcome some adversity to earn his first senior win.
“I’m coming back from surgery on my right knee in February,” Campbell said. “Normally I would start practicing for the start of the (senior) tour a couple months prior, but I wasn’t able to do that this year because of the surgery, so I totally wasn’t expecting this. Especially after Day 1 when I was minus 14 (tied for 118th place).”
Campbell gave credit to his wife Karla for keeping him focused on the right things during the stepladder finals.
“My wife was here all week, but she had to fly home before today’s finals to take care of some things,” Campbell said. “I called her after the group stepladder finals, which she had been watching on BowlTV, and she gave me a tip that really helped me. She said, ‘Make sure you stay behind the ball. When you stay behind the ball, you keep it on line.’ And she was right, because it was pretty obvious when I didn’t stay behind it, it would go off line. So, that really helped me.”
The 2025 Super Senior Classic, which was livestreamed from start to finish by BowlTV, started with 208 players bowling 12 games of qualifying over Thursday and Friday to determine the top 52 competitors for Saturday’s cashers’ round.
The advancers bowled six more games, with 18-game totals determining the 12 players for match play.
The match-play finalists were placed into one of two match-play groups. Group A consisted of the qualifiers who placed as an odd seed after the cashers’ round (1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11), while Group B featured the even seeds (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12).
Each competitor in match play bowled six head-to-head games, including a final position round, and 24-game totals – including 30 bonus pins for each victory – determined the top two seeds for the main stepladder finals.
Weber earned the top seed in the main stepladder finals by winning Group B with a 5,712 total, while Burkett claimed the No. 2 seed by taking the top spot in Group A with 5,627.
The second-, third- and fourth-place finisher in each match-play group still were in contention to advance to the main stepladder through a group stepladder that took place Sunday prior to the main stepladder at Sam’s Town.
With the conclusion of the Super Senior Classic, the top bowlers age 50 and older will take to the lanes at Sam’s Town for the USBC Senior Masters.
The Senior Masters is the second major championship on the 2025 PBA50 Tour schedule and will be held from June 2-8 with livestream coverage provided by BowlTV.
For more information on the Super Senior Classic, visit BOWL.com/SuperSenior.
To learn more about the USBC Senior Masters, head to BOWL.com/SeniorMasters.
To stay informed on the PBA50 Tour, check out PBA.com.
STEPLADDER FINALS RESULTS
GROUP STEPLADDER FINALS RESULTS
LAS VEGAS – James Campbell of Loudon, Tennessee, won three matches in the stepladder finals to take home the title in the 2025 United States Bowling Congress Super Senior Classic Sunday at Sam’s Town Bowling Center.
Campbell, a 61-year-old right-hander, was seeded fourth for the stepladder and defeated No. 1 seed Pete Weber, 201-193, in the final match of the event featuring players 60 and older. His win over the USBC and Professional Bowlers Association Hall of Famer gave Campbell his first senior title and the first-place check worth $8,000.
Campbell, whose highest finish as a senior was second place in the 2022 PBA50 Cup in Westland, Michigan, was emotional when talking about what this PBA60 title means to him.
“It just feels good to finally win because these guys out here are really good,” Campbell said after a slight pause to compose himself. “It means a lot. I didn’t get to bowl on tour when I was younger because I had a job and a family. I bowled regionals, but that was about it. I was able to retire at 58 and come out here. But I didn’t know if this day would ever happen. I’ve been pushing and pushing, and it finally did.”
The title match was close through the first half of the match, with Weber holding a three-pin lead after five frames. With both players clean through six frames and Weber working on a double, the seventh frame would prove to be a momentum changer.
Campbell left the 3-6-7-10 split, but was able to convert it for a crucial spare. Weber left a 10 pin his seventh frame, and uncharacteristically missed it for an open frame.
Campbell threw strikes in his eighth and ninth frames and then sat as Weber got up to bowl his ninth and 10th frames needing three consecutive strikes and at least seven pins on his fill ball to seal the win. Weber struck in the ninth, but left the 4-10 split in the 10th, which he was unable to convert.
That left Campbell needing a mark in his 10th frame to claim the championship. He left the 10 pin on his first shot in the 10th and calmly converted it, then got nine on his final shot to wrap up the win.
“I wasn’t watching Pete when he missed the 10 pin, but I heard the crowd react,” Campbell said. “You just never would expect that. Pete is so good; I just never see him miss single-pin spares. That opened the door, and I just tried to take advantage.”
Campbell’s road to the title actually started prior to the stepladder finals as he had to survive the Group B stepladder finals earlier on Sunday morning. Campbell defeated Venezuela’s Amleto Monacelli in the first match of the Group B stepladder, 214-197, then took out Mexico’s Carlos Denot, 222-180. That win made him the No. 4 seed for the main stepladder finals.
“I was more nervous in the group stepladder because last year I made it to that point as well, but lost my first match,” Campbell said. “When I got to the main stepladder, I had a little bit of nerves, but I didn’t have the butterflies I had in the previous matches for whatever reason. I was able to get on the approach and just stayed calm and made good shots.”
Campbell certainly did make good shots in the first two matches of the stepladder. In Match 1, against USBC and PBA Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III, Campbell finished with strikes on seven of his last eight shots for a 248-224 win. Bohn, who was after his first PBA60 win to go with his 35 PBA Tour titles and 11 PBA50 titles, was undone by open frames in the eighth and ninth frames when he was unable to convert the 4-6-10 split and a 3-5-9 leave respectively.
Bohn reached the main stepladder by winning the Group A stepladder with wins over Finland’s Timo Raatikainen (230-209) and two-time Super Senior Classic winner Ron Mohr of Las Vegas (279-215).
After defeating Bohn, Campbell was nearly perfect in his semifinal match against No. 2 seed John Burkett. He started with the first nine strikes before leaving a 3 pin on his first shot in the 10th on his way to a 279-214 win.
Weber, 62, of St. Ann, Missouri, earned $6,550 for second place. Burkett, 60, a former Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher and one-time champion on the PBA50 Tour from Fort Worth, Texas, collected $5,250 for third and Bohn, 61, of Jackson, New Jersey, got $4,000 for fourth.
Campbell, who owns a USBC Eagle in Team All Events at the 2004 USBC Open Championships in Reno, Nevada, and is assistant coach of the men’s bowling team at Tennessee Wesleyan University, had to overcome some adversity to earn his first senior win.
“I’m coming back from surgery on my right knee in February,” Campbell said. “Normally I would start practicing for the start of the (senior) tour a couple months prior, but I wasn’t able to do that this year because of the surgery, so I totally wasn’t expecting this. Especially after Day 1 when I was minus 14 (tied for 118th place).”
Campbell gave credit to his wife Karla for keeping him focused on the right things during the stepladder finals.
“My wife was here all week, but she had to fly home before today’s finals to take care of some things,” Campbell said. “I called her after the group stepladder finals, which she had been watching on BowlTV, and she gave me a tip that really helped me. She said, ‘Make sure you stay behind the ball. When you stay behind the ball, you keep it on line.’ And she was right, because it was pretty obvious when I didn’t stay behind it, it would go off line. So, that really helped me.”
The 2025 Super Senior Classic, which was livestreamed from start to finish by BowlTV, started with 208 players bowling 12 games of qualifying over Thursday and Friday to determine the top 52 competitors for Saturday’s cashers’ round.
The advancers bowled six more games, with 18-game totals determining the 12 players for match play.
The match-play finalists were placed into one of two match-play groups. Group A consisted of the qualifiers who placed as an odd seed after the cashers’ round (1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11), while Group B featured the even seeds (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12).
Each competitor in match play bowled six head-to-head games, including a final position round, and 24-game totals – including 30 bonus pins for each victory – determined the top two seeds for the main stepladder finals.
Weber earned the top seed in the main stepladder finals by winning Group B with a 5,712 total, while Burkett claimed the No. 2 seed by taking the top spot in Group A with 5,627.
The second-, third- and fourth-place finisher in each match-play group still were in contention to advance to the main stepladder through a group stepladder that took place Sunday prior to the main stepladder at Sam’s Town.
With the conclusion of the Super Senior Classic, the top bowlers age 50 and older will take to the lanes at Sam’s Town for the USBC Senior Masters.
The Senior Masters is the second major championship on the 2025 PBA50 Tour schedule and will be held from June 2-8 with livestream coverage provided by BowlTV.
For more information on the Super Senior Classic, visit BOWL.com/SuperSenior.
To learn more about the USBC Senior Masters, head to BOWL.com/SeniorMasters.
To stay informed on the PBA50 Tour, check out PBA.com.