PBA AD almost perfect at the ABC - PBA Tidbits - Professional Bowlers Association of America - Interview

Bowling Digest, Oct, 2002

THE TV LIGHTS MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN shining in his face, but when Nick Hoagland bowled his third game at the 2002 ABC Regular Singles Championship, he felt like he could have been on a live telecast.

Hoagland, the PBA's assistant tournament director, was in Billings, Mont., June 19 and 20 defending his 2001 ABC Singles Championship. In the first two games, he bowled a 244 and a 221. His third game was almost perfect.

"Our pair was the last pair bowling. The crowd had gathered, and with everyone watching, it felt like I could have been on TV," the 24-year-old says. "I just imagined that I was on TV and gave the crowd a show."

Unfortunately, he came up a little short of the perfect game. "I was a little soft on speed," Hoagland says of his one miss. "It crept a little high and left the 4-pin. If I had thrown it like Walter Ray Williams Jr., it would have been a strike."

He finished with a 299 and a three-game total of 764, which placed him in a five-way tie for 37th place. Hoagland plans to vie for the title again next year and said that the 15-hour drive from Seattle to Billings was well worth it.

"It is very nice to be announced as a defending champion in anything," he says. "It's probably the only time that it's going to happen in my life."