Professional Bowlers Association on ESPN

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA)’s 33rd consecutive season of television coverage on ESPN begins with 16 telecasts, including 11 shows expanded from 90 minutes to two hours, and live coverage of two major championships plus the first round of an all-new team competition.

The winter-spring PBA television season on ESPN begins on Sunday, Dec. 9, PBA Commissioner Tom Clark and ESPN Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions Jason Bernstein announced today. Lon McEachern will be announcer and PBA Hall of Famer Randy Pedersen will be color analyst for all ESPN-PBA telecasts.

The schedule announced today includes only the winter and spring segments of the PBA’s 2012-13 schedule. Coverage of additional events, including the 70th U.S. Open, will be announced later.

“Since 1979 when ESPN made its debut, the PBA and ESPN have enjoyed a wonderful partnership that has allowed millions of bowling fans to watch the best in bowling,” Clark said. “We are, as always, excited to not only continue our relationship, but to expand our Sunday coverage to two hours for 11 of our 16 telecasts this season, and to include an all-new concept in professional bowling as part of our 2012-13 lineup.”

"We continue to work with our partners at the PBA to develop new ways of enhancing the bowling product,” Bernstein said. “The addition of 30 minutes of action to most of our Sunday shows this season is a great way to serve loyal fans of the sport."

The winter-spring ESPN lineup will include six telecasts originating from the PBA World Series of Bowling IV in Las Vegas, followed by the finals of the Round 1 Japan Cup from Tokyo, the Chris Paul PBA League All Stars, five new PBA League telecasts – including live coverage of the first PBA League event on Sunday, Jan. 27, from Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, MI - and live coverage of the United States Bowling Congress Masters from Brunswick Zone Carolier in N. Brunswick, NJ, on Sunday, Feb. 24, and PBA Tournament of Champions from Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis on Sunday, March 31.

PBA coverage will take a two-week break in mid-March during the NCAA basketball tournament.

In addition to its ESPN coverage, more than 200 hours of exclusive live coverage of qualifying and match play from PBA Tour events will be webcast to a worldwide audience on pba.com's Xtra Frame online bowling channel.

Further details on the PBA League will be announced soon.

2012-13 PBA-ESPN TELEVISION SCHEDULE
(All times ET; all shows are two hours unless noted)

Sunday, Dec. 9, 1 p.m. – WTBA Bayer Advanced Aspirin World Bowling Tour Finals presented by PBA, PBA World Series of Bowling IV, South Point Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas.
Sunday, Dec. 16, 1 p.m. – Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine Cheetah Championship, WSOB IV, South Point Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (90 minutes).
Sunday, Dec. 23, 1 p.m. – PBA Viper Championship, WSOB IV, South Point Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (90 minutes).
Sunday, Dec. 30, 1 p.m. – PBA Chameleon Championship, WSOB IV, South Point Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (90 minutes).
Sunday, Jan. 6, 1 p.m. – PBA Scorpion Championship, WSOB IV, South Point Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (90 minutes).
Sunday, Jan. 13, 1 p.m. – PBA World Championship, WSOB IV, South Point Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (90 minutes).
Sunday, Jan. 20, 3 p.m. – Round 1 Japan Cup, Tokyo, Japan.
Sunday, Jan. 27, Noon – PBA League Round 1, Thunderbowl Lanes, Allen Park, MI.
Sunday, Feb. 3, 4 p.m. – Chris Paul PBA League All Stars, Lucky Strike LA Live, Los Angeles.
Sunday, Feb. 10, 3 p.m. – PBA League Round 2 with Carmen Salvino Classic finals, Thunderbowl Lanes, Allen Park, MI.
Sunday, Feb. 17, 3 p.m. - PBA League Round 3 with Mark Roth Classic finals, Thunderbowl Lanes, Allen Park, MI.
Sunday, Feb. 24, 3 p.m. - United States Bowling Congress Masters, Brunswick Zone Carolier, N. Brunswick, NJ.
Sunday, March 3, 3 p.m. – PBA League Round 4 with Don Carter Classic finals, Thunderbowl Lanes, Allen Park, MI.
Sunday, March 24, 1 p.m. – PBA League Round 5 with Earl Anthony PBA Players Championship finals, Thunderbowl Lanes, Allen Park, MI.
Sunday, March 31, 2:30 p.m. – PBA Tournament of Champions, Woodland Bowl, Indianapolis.
Sunday, April 7, 1 p.m. – PBA League Elias Cup finals, Woodland Bowl, Indianapolis

Monacelli 2012 PBA Senior Rookie of the Year

Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Hall of Famer Amleto
Monacelli, a two-time Player of the Year on the PBA Tour, was selected as the
2012 PBA Senior Rookie of the Year, becoming the first international player to earn the award.

The 51-year-old native of Venezuela also became the first international player
to win the Etonic Senior U.S. Open last June when he defeated fellow Hall of
Famer and 2012 Senior Player of the Year Walter Ray Williams Jr., 255-247, in the championship match at the Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas.

He also finished third in the United States Bowling Congress Senior Masters and compiled four other top 20 finishes which included a 10th, 11th, 15th and 19th in his six Senior Tour appearances.

“I quickly found that you still have to be bowling at a top level to do well on
the Senior Tour,” said Monacelli. “The competition was very tough and I feel
fortunate to do as well I did in my first year.”

During his career on the PBA Tour, Monacelli won 19 titles and was the first
foreign-born player to win PBA Player of the Year earning the honor back-to-back in 1989 and 1990.  He is the only foreign-born member of the PBA Hall of Fame and was inducted into the USBC Hall of Fame in 2012.

“One of my first impressions of bowling on the Senior Tour was how fast time has gone by,” he added. “Bowling with some of the guys I bowled against on Tour brought back a lot of memories.”

Also receiving votes for Senior Rookie of the Year were Bob Learn Jr., Mike
Edwards and Lennie Boresch who each won one title during the season, and Bryan Goebel, Rick Minier, Paul McCordic, Joel Carlson, Brian Cooper, Randy Shewmake and Todd Kjell.

Hall of Famer Dave Soutar of Bradenton, FL, who retired after more than 50
years of competing on the PBA Tour and Senior Tour, was voted the winner of the Senior Tour’s Dick Weber Sportsmanship Award.

In a career that started in 1961, Soutar won 18 titles on the PBA Tour and seven on the Senior Tour and becomes the first player to win sportsmanship awards from both Tours.  He earned the PBA Tour’s Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award winner in 1970.

“I’ve always respected my competitors and felt that if someone beat me they
bowled better than I did and they did the job they were supposed to do,” said
the 72-year-old Soutar, who bowled in a record 259 Senior Tour tournaments.
“I’ve always been pretty low key. If I got beat or wasn’t bowling well I usually
directed my anger at myself and not my opponents.”

The Senior Rookie of the Year award was voted on by PBA members and selected bowling writers while the Sportsmanship award was voted on by Senior Tour players.

International Tournament Highlights

Blancard Wins PBA Silverado National Open

You may know Josh Blanchard as the pro bowler who took an epic tumble during a PBA World Series of Bowling telecast last season.

But the former Four-time Collegiate All-American bowler bounced back from that incident and went on to be named PBA Rookie of the Year for 2011-12.

Now, he has added to his resumé with a victory in the Silverado National Open, a tournament conducted last week at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno.

Blanchard captured the tournament’s $15,000 first-place prize with a 213-204 victory over Kevin Foley, when Foley missed a spare in the 10th frame. It was a best-of-three match, which Blanchard swept; he won the first game, 236-210.

PBA’s Xtra Frame covered the tournament, and Blanchard’s post-tournament interview with Mike Jakubowski (a.k.a. Mike J. Laneside) can be viewed here.