PBA’s Most Famous Gutter Ball Was Never the Story
Dell Ballard Jr. and David Ozio each won four PBA titles in 1991, but the Player of the Year vote was never as close as the count made it look — and no one checked the record.
Dell Ballard Jr. and David Ozio each won four PBA titles in 1991, but the Player of the Year vote was never as close as the count made it look — and no one checked the record.
In July 1985, Sports Illustrated published Pete Weber’s on-record cocaine confession during PBA tour competition. The organization’s commissioner never issued a single word in response.
Apollo Global Management owns bowling. In May 2026, eleven bowlers sued to break it apart — the first real test
In November 2023 the USBC ruled string pins score no different from free-fall machines. The same nineteen-page report recorded fewer
In 1991 the Professional Bowlers Association received $200,000 per show from ABC. In 1997 it was paying ABC $150,000 per show to stay on the air. The receipts have been public for twenty years. No major bowling video has ever cited them.
In 1999, the Wall Street Journal got one fact wrong about Microsoft programmer Chris Peters. Three months later, three Microsoft retirees bought the Professional Bowlers Association for $5 million.
Earl Anthony won 43 PBA titles and 6 Player of the Year awards. Twelve million people watched him bowl every Saturday for a decade. No major American network talk show ever booked him. Not once.
In 1991 the American Bowling Congress approved a coverstock chemistry it didn’t understand. Within fifteen months the inventor admitted it killed bowling.
In February 2022, three bowling balls failed pre-broadcast hardness testing at the PBA Tournament of Champions. The PBA banned the balls, never named the bowlers, and changed the rule. It’s the same thing they did in 1973.
On August 1, 2019, the United States Bowling Congress killed the only rule protecting bowling’s competitive integrity. Forty-two days later, Bowlero bought the Professional Bowlers Association.