February 24, 2025 Jef Goodger

Sean Rash, Bill O’Neill, George Branham III and Dave Schroeder were all elected to the PBA Hall of Fame and will be enshrined April 18 as part of PBA Tournament of Champions week in Fairlawn, Ohio.

Rash and O’Neill are being heralded for their superior performance, Branham is the first player inducted into the new pioneer category, and Schroeder is being honored for his meritorious service.

“What an amazing Hall of Fame class, representing the best of the PBA’s history on and off the lanes,” said PBA Tour commissioner Tom Clark. “It will be a very special evening in Fairlawn.”

The 2025 PBA Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Friday, April 18 and will be streamed live on BowlTV.

Sean Rash

Superior Performance

Rash won each of his first four televised finals appearances and now enters the PBA Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. In his 20-year career, Rash has won 17 PBA Tour titles, including two majors: the 2007-08 USBC Masters and 2011-12 PBA Tournament of Champions.

In the 2011-12 season, Rash earned the Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year Award along with the George Young High Average Award and Harry Smith Point Leader Award. Rash also received the Best Bowler ESPY in 2012. Since that season, Rash has won 12 more titles in three different countries and became the first player ever to bowl two televised 300 games in title events.

Clark delivered the news to Rash in front of Rash’s family during the PBA Owen’s Illinois Classic pro-am.

Bill O’Neill

Superior Performance

Twenty years after winning the 2005-06 Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year Award, O’Neill likewise enters the PBA Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. O’Neill continues to put forth a consistently successful career netting him 14 PBA Tour titles, three of which are majors (2009-10 U.S. Open, 2020 PBA Players Championship and 2024 PBA Players Championship).

At the time of voting, O’Neill had cashed in nearly 83% of the events in which he competed (312 out of 376). He’s one of just three players to have won three different animal-pattern events at the World Series of Bowling, including his first ever title in the 2009 Chameleon Championship.

O’Neill was surprised with the news from Clark during the U.S. Open play-in stepladder live on FS1.

George Branham III

Pioneer

The first inductee into the Pioneer category of the PBA Hall of Fame, Branham was the first African American to win a PBA Tour title and, later, a major title. Branham won his first title in the 1986 Brunswick Memorial World Open, then won four more times, including the 1993 Firestone Tournament of Champions, to give him five titles in his career before retiring in 2003.

Branham’s former Tour roommate, Randy Pedersen, and Clark surprised Branham prior to the 2025 U.S. Open broadcast.

Dave Schroeder

Meritorious Service

For 27 years, Schroeder was instrumental in the PBA’s television productions, live streaming and media operations. Beginning as the PBA Tour media manager in 1993, Schroeder eventually held the positions of vice president of media and head of production as he defined the PBA’s television broadcasts.

During his tenure, Schroeder spearheaded the transition of television production from an outsourced entity to an internal production that became one of the PBA’s strongest assets. Schroeder also oversaw the PBA’s live-streaming service, Xtra Frame, which grew to become another of the PBA’s strongest assets, attracting the sale of the digital rights in 2018.

Surrounded by the PBA production crew, Clark interrupted Schroeder’s lunch with the pleasant surprise.

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