Parker Bohn III
Parker Morse Bohn III (born July 13, 1963) is a left-handed American professional bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 1984, and is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame. He currently ranks fifth all-time with 35 career PBA Tour titles, and has earned over $3 million in PBA events — only the fourth PBA player to do so. Bohn also won the $150,000 winner-take-all prize in the 2008 Motel 6 Roll to Riches event, but the earnings in this event do not count toward PBA career totals. Through the 2015 season, he has thrown 105 career perfect 300 games in PBA competition, including one of the PBA's 25 nationally-televised 300 games at the 1998 ABC (USBC) Masters in Reno, Nevada.[1]
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PBA Tour
Bohn's best career stretch was from 1997 through 2001–02, during which he won 18 titles overall and at least one title each season. His best single season came in 1999, when he won five titles and earned PBA Player of the Year honors. The '99 season featured a streak in which Parker won eight consecutive televised matches. His 1999 single-season average of 228.03 ranks fourth all-time. He would also be named Player of the Year in the 2001–02 season, a year highlighted by his first major championship title (2001 ABC Masters).
Bohn won his second major championship at age 49 by winning the PBA World Championship in January 2013. He joined the PBA50 Tour (formerly PBA Senior Tour) in 2014, and has three titles on that Tour, while continuing to bowl on the standard PBA Tour.
The 52-year-old Bohn won his 35th PBA Tour title at the PBA Cheetah Championship in December 2015, topping England's Paul Moor in the final match, 210–206. The win broke the career titles tie Bohn held with Mark Roth, moving him alone into fifth-place all time.[2]
Bohn is a four-time winner of the PBA's Steve Nagy Sportsmanship award. Highly active in promoting youth bowling, Bohn has established an annual Parker Bohn III Youth Scholarship Tournament in Howell, New Jersey. Since its inception in 1999, the tournament has awarded over $50,000 to junior bowlers in the form of college scholarship funding.[3] Parker won the PBA's very first Tony Reyes Community Service Award for the 2012–13 season.[1]
European Bowling Tour
In addition to his PBA titles, Bohn III has won two European Bowling Tour (EBT) titles that were not considered PBA titles: the 2013 BNC Bratislava Open and the 2016 Brunswick Ballmaster Open, held in Helsinki, Finland.[4]
Personal
Bohn was born in Jackson Township, New Jersey. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, Leslie, and three children, Justin, Brandon, and Sydney. He has two adult sons, Parker IV and Evan, from his first marriage. He is the brother-in-law of fellow PBA bowler, Doug Kent (Doug's wife Chrissie and Parker's wife Leslie are sisters). Parker Bohn (the first), PBIII's grandfather, was a five-time stock car (Modifieds and Sportsmen) racing champion at Wall (NJ) Stadium near his home at the Jersey Shore. His uncle (his mother's brother, Vincent Manniello) was a member of Bruce Springsteen's early band the Castiles.
In the media
Besides making regular appearances on ABC-TV, CBS-TV and ESPN during his years on the PBA tour, Bohn has authored a book (with text by Dan Herbst) called Bowling: How to Master the Game (Universe Publishing).
A bowling arcade game also bears his name: Parker Bohn III Pro Bowler. The full-motion video game features audio voice-over by Parker himself.
Bohn appeared in the movie Kingpin with Woody Harrelson for a brief scene. He also appeared as Frank Cache in episode 10 of the Japanese television drama Golden Bowl, bowling against Shu Akutagawa (played by Takeshi Kaneshiro.) He even bowled right-handed, deliberately throwing the game to show his disdain for his opponent.
He is one of the professional opponents in the "PBA® Bowling Challenge" game for Android and iOS devices.
Awards and recognition
- Inducted into PBA Hall of Fame, 2000
- Inducted into USBC Hall of Fame, 2007
- PBA Player of the Year (1999, 2001–02)
- Harry Smith PBA Points Leader award (1999, 2001–02)
- George Young PBA High Average award (1999, 2001–02)
- Steve Nagy Sportsmanship award (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993)
- Ranked #10 in the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years"
- Won the 2011 BPAA Dick Weber Bowling Ambassador award[5]
- Won the 2012–13 PBA Tony Reyes Community Service Award[1]
References
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- ↑ Vint, Bill. "Bohn Receives BPAA’s Dick Weber Bowling Ambassador Award." Article at www.pba.com on July 5, 2011.
