Not just "good," but the best - Opening Frame - bowler Parker Bohn III wins Bowling Digest Bowler of the Year award - Brief Article

Bowling Digest, June, 2002 by Brett Ballantini

IT ISN'T A SIMPLE GOOD GUY-bad guy battle. Is it?

With apologies to Walter Ray Williams Jr., Jason Couch, and all the other pretenders to the mantel of 2001-02 BOWLING DIGEST Pro Bowler of the Year, this season's race boiled down to two: "good guy" Parker Bohn III and "bad guy" Pete Weber.

While the race was close enough that our decision couldn't be determined before the final event of the 2001-02 season, the Battle at Little Creek, it Wasn't nearly as close at it was in 2000, when after juggling numbers and surveying our panel of experts, we selected Chris Barnes, Norm Duke, and Ryan Shafer as our first-ever co-winners of a major award.

Bohn killed any chance of a dual Bowler of the Year award and a light/dark "Goofus and Gallant" cover with P-Dub by winning the Battle outright, while Weber finished out of the running.

But before we shower Parker with laurels, let's get one thing straight: "good guy" vs. "bad guy," light/dark, "Goofus and Gallant"--well, that entire dynamic is a goof. Sure, Weber has some rough edges. He's had his ups, as well as more widely reported downs. And as fun as it is to watch his emotion on the lanes, if I were on the approach listening to him beat the tar out of me, it would be all I could do to keep my composure and not knock those shades fight off his face.

But you see, that's Weber's appeal--and his charm. He's just completed a fantastically successful "comeback" season and, in the process, truly has become the poster boy for the PBA. Like it or not--and judging by your letters, most of you don't--P-Dub is back, and he'll be a force to be reckoned with on the lanes for years to come.

On the other hand, make no bones about it, Parker is a beloved figure. We get letters about him all the time; it seems someone's always writing to tell us about an appearance he squeezed in between tour stops, or advice he promised to give and followed through on.

Throughout the year I'm lucky enough to work with him on his instructionals for the magazine, and he's simply the nicest bowler--the nicest athlete, for that matter--I've ever known. Even the PBA's Web site has a predictable tag line for Parker: "Nice guys finish frost."

Great, you say. So Parker wins our honorary (nonexistent) "good guy" plaque. So what? Nice doesn't get you two Bowler of the Year honors in three seasons. Good doesn't make you our 2001-02 Bowler of the Year.

While Bohn may never surpass his incredible 1999 season, in which he set personal bests for TV appearances (11) and wins (nine), earnings ($247,722), national titles (five), and regional titles (four), not to mention rolling the all-time tour best average of 228.04, his 2001-02 campaign was none too shabby.

First, and most importantly, Bohn led the tour in every major category--average (221.54, his fifth season averaging 220 or better), TV appearances (nine, tying him with Couch), match-play appearances (24, meaning he made the top-32 cut 80% of the time), world points (380,659), and earnings ($245,200).

Bohn made TV appearances in an impressive nine of the 30 events (30%). He's now broken the $200,000 earnings level three times. And when it comes down to it, bowling is all about titles, and Bohn's five in 2001-02 ties his career-best from 1999.

Perhaps Bohn's incredible campaign isn't even the PBA story of the year. Fifteen players reaching $100,000 on the season, the increased prize kitty, and P-Dub's resurgence all may be a bit sexier stories. But when the dust settled on this season, Bohn dominated like no one else.

And so we say: Parker, you're the best.