Parker Morse Bohn III is a left-handed American professional bowler. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association since 1984, and is a member of the PBA and USBCHalls of Fame. He currently ranks fifth all-time with 35 career PBA Tour titles, and has earned over $3.1 million in PBA events — only the fourth PBA player to top the $3 million mark. Bohn also won the $150,000 winner-take-all prize in the 2008 Motel 6 Roll to Riches event, but the earnings in this event did not count toward PBA career totals. Through the 2018 season, he has thrown 114 career perfect 300 games in PBA competition, including the 13th PBA nationally televised 300 game at the 1998 ABC Masters in Reno, Nevada.
PBA Tour
Bohn's best career stretch was from 1997 through 2001–02, during which he won 18 titles overall and at least one title each season. His best single season came in 1999, when he won five titles and earned PBA Player of the Year honors. The '99 season featured a streak in which Parker won eight consecutive televised matches. His 1999 single-season average of 228.03 ranks fourth all-time. He would also be named Player of the Year in the 2001–02 season, a year highlighted by a major championship title at the 2001 ABC Masters. Bohn won his second major tournament at age 49 by winning the PBA World Championship in January 2013. He joined the PBA50 Tour in 2014, and has four titles on that Tour, while continuing to bowl on the standard PBA Tour. Bohn also owns 25 PBA Regional Tour titles and three PBA50 Regional Tour titles. The 52-year-old Bohn won his 35th PBA Tour title at the PBA Cheetah Championship in December 2015, topping England's Paul Moor in the final match, 210–206. The win broke the career titles tie Bohn held with Mark Roth, moving him alone into fifth-place all time. Coupled with Bohn's win at the PBA Players Championship earlier in the year, 2015 marked the first time he won multiple titles in a season since 2001–02. His win was a breakthrough as he had finished runner-up at the Players Championship in 1993, 1996, 1998, and 1999. Bohn was retroactively awarded a major title for his 2015 PBA Players Championship victory. After the tournament returned to major status in the 2016 season, the PBA voted to award additional major titles to the winners of the three previous Players Championship events, stating the tournament "is a members-only event, and includes all of the elements of a major." This gave Bohn three majors among his 35 PBA Tour titles. Bohn is a four-time winner of the PBA's Steve Nagy Sportsmanship award. Highly active in promoting youth bowling, Bohn has established an annual Parker Bohn III Youth Scholarship Tournament in Howell, New Jersey. Since its inception in 1999, the tournament has awarded over $50,000 to junior bowlers in the form of college scholarship funding. Parker won the PBA's very first Tony Reyes Community Service Award for the 2012–13 season.
Additional titles and accomplishments
In addition to his PBA Tour titles, Bohn III has won 25 PBA Regional titles, plus two European Bowling Tour titles that were not considered PBA titles: the 2013 BNC Bratislava Open and the 2016 Brunswick Ballmaster Open, held in Helsinki, Finland. Since joining the PBA50 Tour in 2014, Bohn has won four PBA50 titles. Bohn holds the PBA record for the highest pinfall in a 56-game qualifying block, both scratch and with bonus pins. He also holds the scratch and with bonus pins records for a 64-game block. Both records were set in the 1999 season.
Personal life
Bohn was born in Jackson Township, New Jersey. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, Leslie, and three children, Justin, Brandon, and Sydney. He has two adult sons, Parker IV and Evan, from his first marriage. He is the brother-in-law of fellow PBA Hall of Famer, Doug Kent. Parker Bohn, PBIII's grandfather, was a five-time stock car racing champion at Wall Stadium near his home at the Jersey Shore. His uncle was a member of Bruce Springsteen's early band the Castiles.
In the media
Besides making regular appearances on ABC-TV, CBS-TV and ESPN during his years on the PBA tour, Bohn has authored a book called Bowling: How to Master the Game. A bowling arcade game also bears his name: Parker Bohn III Pro Bowler. The full-motion video game features audio voice-over by Parker himself. Bohn appeared in the movie Kingpin with Woody Harrelson for a brief scene. He also appeared as Frank Cache in episode 10 of the Japanese television dramaGolden Bowl, bowling against Shu Akutagawa During one part of the episode, Bohn bowls right-handed, deliberately throwing the game to show his disdain for his opponent. Bohn has also appeared in a television commercial for Lumber Liquidators, where he is shown attempting to throw a bowling ball on new hardwood floors only to be stopped by his wife, Leslie. He is one of the professional opponents in the "PBA® Bowling Challenge" game for Android and iOS devices.
