PBA Telecasts Switch To Sundays
Beginning with the PBA Greater Cincinnati Classic, the PBA telecasts will switch from Tuesdays to Sundays. The first Sunday telecast will be live from Erlanger, Ky., on November 11, from 5 – 6:30 p.m. (ET).
The remaining 14 PBA 2001-2002 season events will be Sunday telecasts. The majority of the ESPN finals will be from 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. (ET) with a few exceptions. Check local listings for specific times.
Rookies In the Race
With new members joining the PBA daily, the race for the PBA Rookie of the Year honors is beginning to heat up. This season’s class of rookies is filled with a wide variety of professionals from young guns to PBA regional stars to former top amateur bowlers.
This past week, in the Johnny Petraglia Open, eight rookies made it to the top 32, five made it to the round of 16, two in the round of eight and one, Brian Kretzer, to the telecast. Kretzer is the first rookie to make a telecast this year, putting him ahead of most rookies in the field. He is one of several well-known former amateur bowlers that decided to give up their amateur status and try their luck with the “new” PBA.
Other rookies expected to make a splash in the 2001-2002 season are Tommy Jones, Mike Wolfe, Chris Sand, Michael Eaton Jr., and Nick Vogelgesang.
This season’s group of rookies is perhaps the strongest rookie class since 1998 when Chris Barnes won the honors over Robert Smith, Patrick Healey Jr. and Kurt Pilon.
Pros Traveling Abroad
During the short break between the PBA Johnny Petraglia Open and the PBA Greater Cincinnati Classic, PBA Hall of Famers Amleto Monacelli and Pete Weber will travel with PBA stars Mark Mosayebi, Robert Smith and Javier Pardi overseas for a quick trip to Venezuela.
The group will participate in a special pro-am and will put on an exhibition for their overseas bowling fans. The trip will also include a cook-out atop a mountain and will allow international fans an opportunity to get to know the PBA stars they admire from a far. For both Monacelli and Pardi, it will be a short stop home as the two are residents of Venezuela.
Walter Ray Williams Jr. Continues To Set TV Record
Walter Ray Williams Jr. has made the PBA telecast the past three weeks and each time, he continues to set a new PBA record for the most television appearances. The 33-time PBA titleholder now has 129 TV appearances, which includes 126 singles appearances and three doubles appearances. In 1999, the PBA Hall of Famer surpassed Earl Anthony’s previous record of 113 appearances. Anthony now ranks second, with Marshall Holman third (110), Pete Weber fourth (98) and Mark Roth fifth (97).
Of those 129 appearances, Williams has 33 first-place finishes, 33 second places, 27 third places, 11 fourth places, 24 fifth places and one 8th place (2000 had eight-man format).
