Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The goal is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll of the ball, or failing that, on the second roll. While most people approach modern ten-pin bowling as a simple recreational pastime, those who bowl competitively, especially at the highest levels, consider it a demanding sport requiring precision and skill.
The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling standards, rules, and regulations from 1895 onwards; the Women's International Bowling Congress—founded in 1916, as the female bowlers' counterpart to the then all-male ABC; the Young American Bowling Alliance; and USA Bowling. The USBC's headquarters are located in Arlington, Texas, after having moved from the Milwaukee suburb of Greendale, Wisconsin, in November 2008. The move enabled the USBC to combine its operations with the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America (BPAA).
Diandra Hyman Asbaty is an American bowler who represented Team USA for fifteen years and was United States Amateur Champion in 1999 and 2006. She is also an official youth bowling spokesperson for the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). She competed in the PBA Women's Series from 2007 to 2010, winning two titles in that span. She also won the 2012 USBC Queens major tournament and continues to compete in PWBA tournaments. Asbaty has been elected to the USBC Hall of Fame.
Lynda Barnes is one of the world's leading female tenpin bowlers. She is a former member of the PWBA. Bowling as an amateur, Lynda won the 1998 USBC Queens championship, then known as the WIBC Queens. In 1999, Lynda married Chris Barnes, a leading bowler on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour. The couple's twin sons, Troy and Ryan, were born in May 2002. Lynda is a former member of Team USA.
Kim Adler is an American Ten-pin bowling professional who was a member of the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA). The right-hander is considered one of the top female bowling players of all time, competing professionally from 1991–2003 and collecting 15 national PWBA titles, including major tournament wins at the 1996 Hammer LPBT Players Championship, 1997 Sam's Town Invitational and the 1999 U.S. Women's Open. In addition to her PWBA accomplishments, Adler placed first in Classic All-Events at the 2004 USBC Women's Open Championships.
Kelly Kulick is an American professional bowler, bowling coach and sportscaster. She has won ten professional women's bowling titles, one PBA Tour title and a professional mixed doubles title. Kulick is the first woman ever to win a regular Professional Bowlers Association tour title and the only woman to win a major PBA Tour tournament. She is a 16-time member of Team USA. Kulick is currently a pro staff member for Storm Bowling, Vise grips and High 5 gear. In 2019, Kulick was inducted into the USBC Hall of Fame, Superior Performance category.
The Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) organizes and oversees a series of annual tournaments for the top competitive women ten-pin bowlers. The series is often referred to as the "women's tour" of bowling.
Nelson "Bo" Burton Jr. is a retired professional ten-pin bowler, PBA Hall of Famer, and former longtime analyst for the Professional Bowlers Tour on ABC Television. He is the son of Nelson Burton, Sr., who himself was a successful bowler in his day, competing with the likes of Glenn Allison and Billy Welu. Bo compiled 18 titles on the PBA Tour, including two major championships, and earned $763,782 (USD).
Carolyn Dorin-Ballard is one of the top female ten-pin bowlers in the world. She is a member of the Professional Women's Bowling Association and has bowled in PBA Tournaments as well. She was an exempt competitor in the 2008–09 and 2009-10 PBA Women's Series seasons, which were sponsored by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). Between the PWBA and the PBA Women's Series, she has won 22 professional titles. Carolyn was a 2008 inductee into the USBC Hall of Fame, and a 2020 inductee into the PWBA Hall of Fame.
Donald James Carter was a right-handed American professional bowler. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he learned the game while working a childhood job as a pinsetter, and went on to become one of the legends of ten-pin bowling and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) in 1958.
Elizabeth Ann Johnson is an American professional bowler who currently competes on the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour, and in some events on the PBA Tour and PBA50 Tour. She initially became known as an 11-time winner on the PWBA Tour, which included the first of her six U.S. Women's Open titles in 1996, before that organization suspended operations in 2003.
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins or another target. The term bowling usually refers to pin bowling, most commonly ten-pin bowling, though in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, bowling may also refer to target bowling, such as lawn bowls. Bowling is played by 120 million people in more than 90 countries, including 70 million people in the United States alone.
The USBC Queens is an annual ten-pin bowling event for amateur and professional female bowlers, sanctioned by the United States Bowling Congress. The event is one of four women's professional majors since the PWBA tour returned in 2015 and the female equivalent of the USBC Masters, now one of the four majors on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour.
Shannon O'Keefe is an American professional bowler and bowling coach now living in Jacksonville, Alabama. She has competed in the United States and internationally, and is currently the head coach at Jacksonville State University. She is an 18-time member of Team USA (2005–2022) and an eight-time World Champion. She also won the 54th QubicaAMF World Cup in 2018 in Las Vegas. Shannon also won the 2019 Doubles gold medal at the Pan American Games in Peru.
LaVerne Carter, was an American professional bowler.
The Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour returned from a 12-year hiatus in 2015, thanks to a three-year funding commitment from the USBC and BPAA. The 2015 tour had ten stops, running from May 13 to September 13. Major tour stops included the following:
Daria Pająk is a competitive bowler on the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Tour in the United States. Following early bowling success in Poland, Pająk moved to the United States in 2012, eventually going professional and earning PWBA 2017 Rookie of the Year.
Shannon Pluhowsky is an American left-handed ten-pin bowler who competes in the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) and internationally. Pluhowsky is a 22-time member of Team USA, and a former four-time member of Junior Team USA (2000–2003). Pluhowsky has eight professional championships, including major wins at the 2006 USBC Queens in Reno, Nevada, the 2014 BPAA Women's All-Star in Rockford, Illinois, and the 2021 PWBA Tour Championship in Reno, Nevada.
Dorothy Ann Fothergill is an American former left-handed ten-pin bowler who competed in the Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA). In a brief career that was cut short by injury, she won 12 titles on the PWBA Tour, including six major championships. She was named the Woman Bowler of the Year in 1968 and 1969, and defeated many top men's competitors in exhibition play. She sued the Professional Bowlers Association in 1970 when her application to compete in men's tournaments was rejected. She was inducted into the Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) Hall of Fame in 1980. She was also one of the charter inductees into the PWBA Hall of Fame in 1995.
Shirley M. Garms was an American tenpin bowler. In consecutive years, 1961 and 1962, she was named woman Bowler of the Year by the Bowling Writers' Association of America. She won the BPAA All-Star championship in 1962. She was inducted into the United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in 1971 and the PWBA Hall of Fame in 1995. She lived in Island Lake, Illinois.
