PBA Stars Capture Gold in Pan Am Games

PBA Tour stars Chris Barnes, Bill O’Neill, Kelly Kulick and past PBA Women’s Series titlist Liz Johnson gave the United States a gold-medal sweep in the Pan American Games bowling competition this week in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Johnson added another gold medal in women’s singles while Barnes picked up a silver medal in men’s singles.

Barnes and O’Neill topped Venezuela’s Jose Lander and PBA Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli by 193 pins in the 12-game doubles competition while Kulick and Johnson ran away with a 328-pin victory over Mexico’s Sandra Gongora and Aseret Zetter at Bolerama Tapatio Tuesday.

Barnes and O’Neill qualified one-two in singles, but both were defeated by Colombia’s Santiago Mejia in the single-elimination match play finals. Meija topped Barnes, 189-171 and 205-193 in the best-of-three gold-medal match after the Colombian eliminated O’Neill, 711-589, in a three-game total pinfall match.

Johnson won Team USA’s third gold with a 232-196, 235-190 sweep of Canada’s Jennifer Park in the title match Thursday. Kulick was knocked out in the opening round by Brazil’s Stephanie Martins, 630-587.

PBA Tour exempt player, Columbia's Andres Gomez also earned a bronze medal, teaming with Mejia to finish third in men’s doubles.

Belmonte-Rash Match to Kick Off PBA's 2011-12 ESPN Schedule Dec. 4th

After finishing fourth and eighth, respectively, in the AMF Australian Masters Saturday in Sydney, Sean Rash of Montgomery, IL, and Australia’s Jason Belmonte have locked up a head-to-head “grudge match” that will launch the PBA Tour’s 2011-12 television season on ESPN on Sunday, Dec. 4.

 A Rash-Belmonte re-match has been anticipated since their emotional “bottlegate” confrontation during the GEICO PBA Team Shootout in June in Chicago. During a Team Shootout match, Rash angrily responded to Belmonte after he apparently made a noise with his plastic water bottle while Rash was on the approach, preparing to make a key shot. 

Belmonte later dismissed the incident as an accident, but neither player was apologetic, and both promised to resolve any differences on the lanes when they meet again. 

That meeting will occur as the first match of the men’s finals of the World Bowling Tour (WBT) presented by the PBA, which will air at 1 p.m. ET on Dec. 4 on ESPN. Rash qualified second in the season-long WBT points standings behind points leader, Finland's Mika Koivuniemi, now living in Hartland, MI, while Belmonte finished third on the points list.

Hong Kong’s Wu Siu Hong (coached by former PBA touring player Purvis Granger) won the Australian Masters men’s title and a $25,000 first prize with a 226-207, 259-243 victory over Mike Fagan of Patchogue, NY. Koivuniemi finished third, Rash fourth, Canadian Dan MacLelland now living in Saginaw, MI, was fifth, and Belmonte eighth.

Two-time PBA Women’s Series title winner Shannon Pluhowsky of Kettering, Ohio, won the Australian Masters women’s title, defeating Sweden’s Sandra Andersson, 236-181, 210-181, but the second-place finish was enough for Andersson to knock PBA Tour titlist Kelly Kulick out of the WBT women’s finals. Kulick and WBT women’s points leader Carolyn Dorin-Ballard did not bowl in Australia.

Dorin-Ballard won the WBT women’s points title followed by Sweden’s Nina Flack and Andersson. The WBT Women’s Finals presented by the PBA stepladder finals will follow the men’s telecast on ESPN on Dec. 4.

Both World Bowling Tour stepladder finals will be conducted on Thursday, Nov. 17, at 5:30 p.m. PT at South Point in Las Vegas.

Schreyer Retires from the Professional Bowlers Association

Fred Schreyer, Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), today announced his retirement after 11 years of service to the organization. The PBA Board of Directors has named Geoff Reiss Chief Executive Officer and has promoted Tom Clark to the position of Commissioner, effective November 1. Schreyer will continue to serve the PBA as a senior advisor.

"Fred has managed the PBA through a really challenging period. We're grateful for his leadership and that he's agreed to continue working with us to grow the PBA," said Mike Slade of the PBA ownership group.

Schreyer joined the PBA full-time in October 2002 as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, and was named Commissioner in 2003. But he has been affiliated with the organization since 2000 as its legal counsel. The University of Michigan and UCLA Law School graduate has 25 years of experience in the sports industry, including a seven-year stint as Director of Sports Marketing at Nike and was a founder of Nike's Sports Management division.

Among Schreyer’s signature accomplishments during his tenure at the PBA’s helm were negotiation of umbrella sponsorship packages with Denny’s and Lumber Liquidators, opening PBA membership to women for the first time (2004), creation of the PBA Summer Series, creation of the PBA World Series of Bowling, production of the PBA’s 50th Anniversary Gala in 2009 and working to allow PBA members to represent their country as Team USA members.

"Serving the PBA for the past 11 years has been a great privilege and a tremendous experience,” Schreyer said. “It is always difficult to step back, but I feel good about handing the reins to Geoff and Tom. As the PBA embarks upon its 53rd year, I look forward to continuing to provide assistance wherever I am needed."

Reiss, who joined the PBA as Vice Chairman in March 2011, previously held several positions at ESPN, was CEO at Associated Content, and was Senior Vice President/General Manager of Newsweek's digital division. While at ESPN, Reiss managed the launch of ESPN.com, NFL.com, NBA.com, and NASCAR Online. He also was Senior Vice President/General Manager of ESPN the Magazine, and managed ESPN's relationships with Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and The Tribeca Film Festival. He developed and acquired the Peabody Award-winning Dan Klores documentary Black Magic. He started his media career at Spy magazine.

"The PBA has a terrific opportunity to establish an important presence in the sports marketplace and I'm looking forward to working with our team, members and industry partners to fully realize our potential," said Reiss.

Clark became the PBA’s Vice President and COO in March 2008 after serving as the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the United States Bowling Congress. Clark, who was promoted to Deputy Commissioner in 2009, came to USBC from USA Today where he worked as a sports editor from 2000-2005. Previously he was an executive editor and sports editor for newspapers in the Media General chain and founded and published a sports magazine in his hometown Syracuse, NY.

The former collegiate bowler was named Bowlers Journal International magazine’s “Person of the Year” in the bowling industry for 2005 for his efforts in bringing publicity to the game. Clark also was the recipient of the 2008 Billiard and Bowling Institute of America Industry Service Award and the 2009 USBC Joyce Deitch Trailblazer Award. 

"It's an honor to be given this opportunity to help build an organization that has meant so much to my life," Clark said. "I love the sport of bowling and the PBA and I'm energized by that same passion for the game that our players and fans have shown for over 50 years."

The PBA also has announced that Kirk Von Krueger, Vice President and Director of PBA Tours, has been promoted to Deputy Commissioner. Von Krueger, a former PBA touring player, began his career with the PBA in 1995 as assistant Tournament Director, becoming Tournament Director in 1996.

Brent Seabrook's ICE BOWL in Chicago

Chicago Blackhawk defenseman Brent Seabrook and his teammates hooked up with fans recently at Lucky Strike Chicago for a fundraiser. The group bowled in the fourth annual ICE Bowl to raise money for hockey-playing children from low-income families receive equipment, not to mention educational opportunities, otherwise unavailable to them. Click for the video.

MOTIV Adds Primal Impulse in Novemeber

Coming in November, MOTIV will release the Primal Impulse in a vivid Blue/Lime Pearl with the NEOMARK Color accents in Hot Pink Pearl and Black, the “Atomix™ SFP reactive" coverstock wraps the Impulse™ core (RG: #15/2.60, DIFF: #15/.050). 

The MOTIV Primal Impulse is finished with 2000-grit Wet Sand then Polished. 

World Wide Release Date is November 25, 2011.

Gotta Have The Nuts

900 Global The Nuts pearl contains the asymmetric “Nuts” core with Radius of Gyration (RG) of 2.551 and RG Differential of .050 wrapped in the S70 pearl coverstock finished with 900 Global's NEAT system (visual appeal of compound/polish, performance of 4,000 grit). 

WORLD WIDE Release date of November 1, 2011

A new color combination will be available in Black and Pink in the 900 Global Hook line. The “S43” cover is described as “a Hybrid Polished.” The symmetric “Hook” core has an RG of 2.551 and RG Differential of .046 in #15 pounds. The new Hook (IN PINK/ BLACK) will be available November 1, 2011.

Ebonite Adds Warning Sign

Ebonite announced a new hybrid addition to their Sign/Signals performance category ball line-up. The new Warning Sign, a Gold and Navy blue hybrid cover utilizes the same core as the previous Vital Sign and Vital Energy offerings. 

It shares the same asymmetric core as the current pearl Signals, with the “Vital Mass Bias Core,” but has the all new “High Traction Reactive HYBRID-2” cover. Ebonite Brand Manager Ed Gallagher reports “The Warning Sign’s combination of core and cover will have you winning in heavy oil.”

Look for the Warning Sign November 22, 2011.