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 objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll of the ball, or failing that, on the second roll. People approach modern ten-pin bowling as either a demanding precision sport or as a simple recreational pastime.
Norm Duke is an American professional bowler who previously competed on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour and now competes on the PBA50 Tour. He has won 40 titles on the PBA Tour, including seven major championships, and another six titles on the PBA50 Tour. A member of both the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame, Duke is one of only three players in history to reach 40 career PBA Tour titles. He has bowled 73 perfect 300 games in PBA competition, including the 16th televised 300 game in PBA Tour history on January 5, 2003. Duke is a member of the Storm pro staff.
A perfect game is the highest score possible in a game of bowling, achieved by scoring a strike with every throw. In bowling games that use 10 pins, such as ten-pin bowling, candlepin bowling, and duckpin bowling, the highest possible score is 300, achieved by bowling 12 strikes in a row in a traditional single game: one strike in each of the first nine frames, and three more in the tenth frame.
Walter Ray Williams Jr. is an American professional bowler and competitive horseshoes pitcher. He currently holds the record for all-time standard PBA Tour career titles (47), and total PBA earnings. He is a seven-time PBA Player of the Year, and won at least one PBA Tour title in a record 17 consecutive seasons. He starred in the ten-pin bowling sports documentary A League of Ordinary Gentlemen. As of June 26, 2022, Williams is also the all-time title leader on the PBA50 Tour, with 16. He is a three-time PBA50 Player of the Year, and has won three majors on that Tour. He has rolled 110 career perfect 300 games in PBA competition through 2019.
Jason Belmonte is an Australian professional ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for using the two-handed approach style to deliver his shot. He has won 31 PBA titles, including a record 15 major championships; he is only one of eight bowlers in PBA tour history to achieve 30 wins, making him the only 30-time winner in PBA Tour history who is not currently a member of the PBA Hall of Fame.
Mika Juhani Koivuniemi is a Finnish professional ten-pin bowler and bowling coach. He competed on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour in the United States, and won bowling titles in 21 different countries during his career. He is a two-time PBA Player of the Year, one of only three players born outside the USA to win that award. Koivuniemi is the second international player and first European ever elected to the PBA Hall of Fame; he was inducted in 2019. He is also a member of the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame and Finland Bowling Hall of Fame.
The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Regional professionals, a small percentage of the bowling membership competes at the national and international level, forming the PBA Tour. Founded in 1958, the PBA Tour has been in continuous operation since the inaugural 1959 season.
Osku Palermaa is a Finnish Ten-pin bowler now living in Partille, Sweden. He is a competitor on the European Bowling Tour, World Bowling Tour, and PBA Tour.
John Petraglia Sr. is an American professional bowler. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), where he won 14 PBA Tour titles. He has also won eight PBA Senior Tour titles. He is a member of both the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame.
Jason Couch is an American ten-pin bowler on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour, and a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame. A left-handed cranker, Couch graduated from Clermont High School in Clermont, Florida and still resides in Clermont. He owns 16 PBA Tour titles, including four major championships, plus two titles on the PBA50 Tour. He also owns 26 PBA Regional Tour titles and one PBA50 Regional Tour title.
Don Johnson was born in Kokomo, Indiana, but spent most of his adult life in Akron, Ohio and Las Vegas, Nevada.
William Bruce Hardwick was a right-handed ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association.
Ryan Jacob "Rhino" Page is a left-handed bowler on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour, and was the 2008 PBA Rookie of the Year. He is also a former U.S. Amateur champion, winning the event in 2005. A San Diego, California native, Page now resides in Spokane, Washington. Page attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. He helped the Jayhawks win the school's first-ever Intercollegiate Bowling Championship in 2004, and was named the MVP of the championships.
Michael Todd Fagan is an American former professional bowler on the PBA Tour. He has also participated in World Bowling Tour (WBT) and European Bowling Tour (EBT) events, and as a member of Team USA in international competitions. Known for his high backswing, he was given the nickname "King of Swing". He has a high RPM rate, but also has a smooth release, so his style can be classified as either a cranker or a power stroker.
Kyle Troup is an American professional ten-pin bowler from Taylorsville, North Carolina, now residing in Mt. Washington, Kentucky. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. Troup says he needed two hands when learning to throw the ball as a young child, calling himself self-taught in that regard.
Tom Daugherty is a right-handed American professional ten-pin bowler residing in Riverview, Florida. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), having joined in 2001. He is one of the few PBA bowlers to successfully use the one-handed no-thumb delivery. Although Daugherty has won four PBA Tour titles and 22 PBA Regional titles, he is perhaps best known for rolling a nationally-televised 100 game at the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions, the lowest score ever bowled in a televised PBA event.
Anthony Walter Simonsen is an American professional ten-pin bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 2014. Simonsen became known in bowling fan circles early in the 2016 season, when he earned the distinction as the youngest player in history to win a PBA major championship. He is now the youngest player in history to own five major PBA Tour titles. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. At age 25, Simonsen eclipsed $1 million in career PBA earnings during the 2022 season. Simonsen has also bowled internationally as a multi-year member of Team USA.
Marshall Kent is an American ten-pin bowler from Yakima, Washington now residing in Clarkston, Michigan. He currently competes on the PBA Tour and World Bowling Tour. He has been a member of Junior Team USA, and is a six-time member of Team USA. He has won seven PBA Tour titles and five PBA Regional titles.
Jakob Butturff is a left-handed American ten-pin bowler from Chandler, Arizona and a member of the Professional Bowlers Association. He competes in events on the PBA Tour and in global events as a member of Team USA. He has won eight national PBA Tour titles and 27 PBA Regional Tour titles. Jakob also rolled the 28th of the PBA Tour's 35 televised 300 games.
Harry Monroe Smith, nicknamed "Tiger", was a right-handed American ten-pin bowler and charter member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Smith won 12 PBA Tour titles, including two major championships. He is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame.
