Marshall Holman

Last updated
Marshall Holman
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1954-09-29) September 29, 1954 (age 69)
San Francisco, California
Years active1974-1996 (competition)
1996-present (broadcasting)
Height5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Bowling Information
Affiliation PBA
Dominant handright
Wins22 PBA Tour (4 majors)
Sponsors Nike, Columbia 300

Marshall Holman (born September 29, 1954) is an American sports broadcaster and retired professional ten-pin bowler. He was known for his flamboyant, fiery demeanor and his success on the PBA Tour from the mid-1970s to the end of the 1980s. He is one of only 17 players in history to reach at least 20 career PBA Tour titles. Holman was sponsored by Columbia 300 and Nike. [1]

Contents

The first bowler on the PBA Tour to surpass $1.5 million in earnings, Holman won 22 titles (13th most all-time), including four majors (two U.S. Opens and two Tournament of Champions titles).

Bowling career

1970s

Holman's first PBA title came at the Fresno Open on July 8, 1975, when he was just 20 years old. He became the youngest winner in the Tournament of Champions, topping the field in the 1976 event when he was just 21 years old. [2] Holman would hold this record all the way up until 2016, when Jesper Svensson won that year's Tournament of Champions as a 20-year-old. [3] In 1979, Holman became the youngest bowler in history (24 years, 274 days) to reach ten career PBA Tour titles. [4] That record would later be broken by Pete Weber in 1987 (24 years, 247 days). [5]

1980s

After going without a title in the 1980 season, Holman roared back with three titles in 1981, including his second major at the BPAA U.S. Open. One of the reasons Holman did not win any titles in 1980 was an incident at a tournament that June, when he kicked (and broke) the foul light on his lane out of frustration with his game, netting him a $2500 fine and a 10-tournament suspension. [6] Before the decade was out, Holman would win his second U.S. Open (1985) and second Firestone Tournament of Champions (1986). He and partner Mark Roth won their third PBA Doubles title in 1984. So dominant were the pair in doubles tournaments, the PBA has hosted an annual event since 2015 called the Roth-Holman Doubles Championship.

Marshall was named PBA Player of the Year in 1987, despite not winning a title. However, he did lead the 1987 Tour in average and a few other statistical categories.

Later career

Holman's 22nd PBA title was earned at the 1996 PBA Ebonite Classic. This came eight years after he had last won on the PBA Tour. In this event, he defeated Wayne Webb, 246–235, in what turned out to be a very emotional battle that came down to the final frames. After Holman converted the tenth frame spare he needed to secure victory, the 42-year old exclaimed, "I'm back, baby, I'm back!" However, this would be his last title on Tour, as well as his last appearance in the televised finals. [7]

Holman was a three-time winner of the George Young High Average award (1982, 1984 and 1987), and earned nearly $1.7 million on tour. [8] Perhaps more impressive than his 22 titles, Holman made it to the final championship match 53 times (finishing runner-up 31 times) and had 63 more top-five finishes, for a total of 116 championship round appearances. [9]

He was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2006, he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. [10] He is also a 2010 inductee to the USBC Hall of Fame in the Performance category. [11] He was ranked 9th on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years."

Holman indicated in a 2017 interview that he is retired from competitive bowling and does not anticipate taking part in any more PBA senior events. [12]

PBA Tour titles

Major championships are in bold type.

  1. 1975 Fresno Open (Fresno, California)
  2. 1975 Hawaiian Invitational (Honolulu, Hawaii)
  3. 1976 Firestone Tournament of Champions (Akron, Ohio)
  4. 1977 PBA Doubles Classic w/Mark Roth (San Jose, California)
  5. 1977 Brunswick World Open (Glendale Heights, Illinois)
  6. 1978 Ford Open (Alameda, California)
  7. 1978 Northern Ohio Open (Fairview Park, Ohio)
  8. 1979 Quaker State Open (Grand Prairie, Texas)
  9. 1979 Columbia PBA Doubles Classic w/Mark Roth (San Jose, California)
  10. 1979 Seattle Open (Seattle, Washington)
  11. 1979 Brunswick Memorial World Open (Deerfield, Illinois)
  12. 1981 Quaker State Open (Grand Prairie, Texas)
  13. 1981 BPAA U.S. Open (Houston, Texas)
  14. 1981 King Louie Open (Overland Park, Kansas)
  15. 1983 Aqua Fest Mr. Gatti's Open (Austin, Texas)
  16. 1983 Venice Open (Venice, Florida)
  17. 1984 Showboat Doubles Classic w/Mark Roth (Las Vegas, Nevada)
  18. 1985 BPAA U.S. Open (Venice, Florida)
  19. 1985 Kodak Invitational (Rochester, New York)
  20. 1986 Firestone Tournament of Champions (Akron, Ohio)
  21. 1988 Bowlers Journal Florida Open (Venice, Florida)
  22. 1996 Ebonite Classic (Troy, Michigan)

Broadcasting

Holman served as a color analyst alongside Mike Durbin on several ESPN and ESPN2 bowling telecasts from 1996 to 2001. From 1998 to 1999, he worked for CBS Sports and was teamed with Gary Seibel for telecasts when that network briefly showed PBA events.

After several years out of the booth, Holman has returned to the broadcasting arena. He served as a color analyst at the 2007 USBC Queens tournament and was in the broadcast booth (along with Nelson Burton, Jr.) for ESPN's five-week coverage of the 2007 and 2008 U.S. Women's Open events. He later provided commentary, alongside play-by-play man Dave Ryan, for the 2009 U.S. Women's Open telecasts. Holman was also the analyst for the live broadcast of the 2015 Men's U.S. Open, which ran on CBS Sports Network that season, and has appeared as an analyst at several Roth-Holman Doubles telecasts since then.

Personal

At age four, Holman moved to the city of Medford, Oregon. His father, Phil, was a morning DJ at radio station KBOY (now KEZX) in Medford. He was nicknamed "Holman the Poleman", as he once did a radio show while pole sitting in 1959. Marshall was then dubbed a similar nickname "Holman the Bowlman", as well as "Medford Meteor"; color analyst Nelson Burton, Jr. provided this information during a PBA Tour telecast on ABC on February 2, 1985.

Earlier in his bowling career, as once mentioned in the American Bowlers Journal magazine in the 1980s, Holman had a girlfriend from the state of New Hampshire. He would occasionally try the sport of candlepin bowling, popular in his acquaintance's state of residence, while visiting there.

For several years after retiring as a full-time PBA member, Holman continued to receive commissioner's exemptions to participate in the PBA's Medford Classic. Holman is currently the marketing director at Diamondback Wines. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norm Duke</span> American professional bowler

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.

The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, 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.

Nelson "Bo" Burton Jr. is a 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Roth</span> American professional ten-pin bowler (1951–2021)

Mark Stephen Roth was an American professional bowler. He won 34 PBA Tour titles in his career, and is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame. Roth was most dominant from 1975 through 1987, a stretch in which he made 107 televised finals appearances, captured 33 titles, and won four PBA Player of the Year awards. He is also known for having been the first professional bowler to convert a 7–10 split on national television.

Michael William Durbin is a retired American professional bowler and bowling broadcaster, and is a member of both the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Halls of Fame. Durbin won 14 PBA Tour titles in his career, including three major championships.

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.

Mike Aulby is a left-handed bowler and former member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He is one of only five PBA bowlers to win both a Rookie and Player of the Year award. He is also the first player in history to complete a career "Super Slam", in which a bowler wins all five PBA Tour major tournaments at least once. He has since been joined in this exclusive club by Jason Belmonte. Aulby owns 29 career PBA Tour titles, currently 9th place all-time, with eight major titles among these wins. He is a member of both the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame.

Don Johnson was born in Kokomo, Indiana, but spent most of his adult life in Akron, Ohio and Las Vegas, Nevada.

Richard A. Ritger was a right-handed ten-pin bowler in the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), who spent his later years as a bowling instructor and proprietor of Dick Ritger's Bowling Camp. Known for his smooth stroker delivery, he is one of only 17 players in history to have won at least 20 career PBA Tour titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Rash</span> American ten-pin bowler (born 1982)

Sean Rash is an American ten-pin bowler who is considered one of the top players on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. He currently owns 17 PBA Tour titles, including two major championships, and was the 2011–12 PBA Player of the Year. Rash has rolled two of his 30 career PBA perfect 300 games on television, making him the first player in history with multiple perfect games in the TV finals of a PBA Tour event. Canadian François Lavoie and American Chris Via, and Australian Jason Belmonte have since joined Rash in this exclusive club. Rash has also been on the losing end of four televised 300 games, more than any other player. Sean owns ten PBA Regional Tour titles.

Wesley Clint "Big Nasty" Malott is an American professional ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Originally from Pflugerville, Texas, he now resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has won ten PBA Tour titles, and was the 2008–09 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year. He won his lone major championship at the 2012–13 U.S. Open, and has finished runner-up in five other PBA major tournaments. Malott also won the 2006–07 Showplace Lanes Megabucks Shootout, which was not a PBA Tour event. He won the non-title PBA King of Bowling event in 2009, and defended his King position eight consecutive times through 2018.

David Husted, of Milwaukie, Oregon, is a retired professional ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1996, and became a member of the USBC Hall of Fame in 2012.

Dave Davis was an American professional ten-pin bowler who was a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and resided in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida in his later life before moving to Lake Placid, Florida. Davis is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame.

Steve Cook is an American retired left-handed ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He was known as the largest physical specimen on the PBA Tour, standing at 6 feet 7 inches tall, and weighing in around 260 pounds. He was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1993, and was ranked #25 on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years." In 2014, Steve was elected to the USBC Hall of Fame for Superior Performance.

This is a recap of the 1979 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 21st season, and consisted of 34 events. Following up on his eight titles a season ago, Mark Roth captured another six titles in the 1979 season, winning his third straight PBA Player of the Year award to match Earl Anthony's record of three POY crowns. Roth also averaged 221.699 during the 1979 season, to date the highest tour average in PBA history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesper Svensson (bowler)</span> Swedish professional bowler (born 1995)

Jesper Svensson is a Swedish professional bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 2014, and also competes on the European Bowling Tour (EBT). He has won eleven PBA Tour titles overall, including a major title at the 2016 PBA Tournament of Champions. He also owns six EBT titles and one PBA Regional title. He is known for using the two-handed shovel style delivery with a dominant left hand. He uses non-reactive urethane bowling balls almost exclusively. Svensson is a member of the Storm and Vise Grips pro staffs.

Andrew Anderson of Holly, Michigan is a right-handed American professional ten-pin bowler known for winning the 2018 USBC Masters. He competes in events on the PBA Tour and in global events as a member of Team USA. In his second full season on the PBA Tour (2018), Anderson won the Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year Award.

Jim Stefanich is a retired American right-handed ten-pin bowler most known for his years in the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Stefanich won 14 PBA Tour titles, including two major championships, and rolled the third-ever televised perfect 300 game in a PBA Tour event. He is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame.

James William Godman was an American professional bowler who won ten titles on the Professional Bowlers Tour, and was the first bowler to win the prestigious Tournament of Champions twice, winning in 1969 and 1973. Godman is ranked 32nd on the list of the 50 Greatest PBA Bowlers of all-time.

References

  1. ↑ "Burns Shoes Blog" . Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  2. ↑ Thomas, Jason. "Top 10 Moments in T of C History." Article at www.pba.com on August 16, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Jesper Svensson Becomes Youngest Tournament of Champions Winner". bowling.about.com. February 28, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  4. ↑ PBA Bowling Tour: 1979 Season Seattle Open at www.pba.com
  5. ↑ "Pete Weber | Biography, Bowling, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  6. ↑ "IT TOOK SOME CONTROVERSY TO GRAB THE HEADLINES – The Morning Call". 13 October 1985.
  7. ↑ Trower, Tim (January 6, 2002). "Hall of Famer Marshall Holman to take to the lanes again". mailtribune.com. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  8. ↑ Hall of Fame bios at www.pba.com, official website of the Professional Bowlers Association and Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour
  9. ↑ "Marshall Holman (career stats)". mcubed.net. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  10. ↑ "Inducted Members – Marshall Holman". jewishsports.net. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  11. ↑ "Bowl.com | John Handegard, Betty Barnes elected to USBC Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2009-11-21.
  12. ↑ Len Nicholson. Phantom Radio.
  13. ↑ Bob Wechsler (2008). Day by Day in Jewish Sports History (February 6). KTAV Publishing House. ISBN   978-1-60280-013-7 . Retrieved 2012-01-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.