January 19, 2025 Nolan Hughes

On the eve of a new season, the possibilities are limitless — not even the snow flurries downing the Atlantic Coast can dampen the exhilaration burgeoning in Middletown, Del.

A year ago at this time, who could have foreseen the emergence of Boog Krol? Maybe just Keven Williams.

Who would have thought DeeRoon Booker would win a major? Other than DeeRonn himself, of course.

Who could have predicted another Player of the Year campaign from EJ Tackett? Okay, maybe that one was a little less surprising.

A new season has arrived. New champions will be crowned. Legends will rise further into the stratosphere. Veterans will rewrite their legacies.

Before the action beings this week, here are 100 things you need to know:

1. The 2025 season begins in Delaware, where Boog Krol captured his first career PBA Tour title last season.

2a. Tim Foy Jr. is the only Delaware native among the 2025 exempt field.
2b. Foy made the PBA Delaware Classic finals last season.

3. In 2018, Anthony Simonsen won the PBA Xtra Frame Gene Carter's Pro Shop Classic throwing a back-up ball.

4. Last season's U.S. Open finalists — Anthony Simonsen, Jason Belmonte, Kyle Troup, EJ Tackett and Bill O’Neill — own a combined 96 career titles and 30 career major championship wins.

5. EJ Tackett and Anthony Simonsen have qualified for each of the past three U.S. Open finals.

6. Royal Pin Woodland is the only venue to have hosted all five PBA major championships.

7. Wes Malott won the last PBA Tour stop in Vernon Hills, Ill. which was in November 2008.

8a. Carmen Salvino, a PBA Hall of Famer and founding member of the PBA, turned 91 last fall and still lives in the Chicago area.
8b. Salvino was in attendance last year when Marshall Kent won the PBA Illinois Classic in Mount Prospect, Ill.

9. AJ Johnson, a Chicago native, finished runner-up in last season’s PBA Illinois Classic.

10. The PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship is named after PBA Hall of Famers Mark Roth and Marshall Holman.

11. Qualifying for this year's PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship is concurrent with the PBA Illinois Classic.

12. Andrew Anderson and Kris Prather, defending champions of the PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship, also won the event in 2021.

13a. Pete Weber grew up in St. Louis, which is why the PBA Missouri Classic bears his name.
13b. Weber ranks 4th all-time with 37 career PBA Tour titles.
13c. The Weber family has three PBA Hall of Famers: Pete, Dick (Pete's father) and John (Pete's brother).

 

14. Anthony Simonsen, whose personality and talent is reminiscent of Weber, won the 2024 PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic.

15. Seven of Mike Aulby’s 29 PBA Tour titles came in Nevada, hence the naming of the PBA Mike Aulby Nevada Classic.

16. The WSOB XVI will be the first WSOB with four animal pattern championships since 2017.

17. With a max field of 296 players, the WSOB XVI is poised to be the largest WSOB ever.

18. Jason Belmonte won the last PBA Tour event in Reno: the 2017 PBA World Championship.

19. EJ Tackett, who has won two consecutive PBA World Championships, also won the 2016 PBA World Championship in Reno.

20. Anthony Simonsen, Liz Johnson, Gary Faulkner Jr. and Richie Teece each won their first career title at the National Bowling Stadium.

21a. Matt Russo won the PBA Scorpion Championship last season, marking his first televised title.
21b. Ryan Ciminelli won the last PBA Viper Championship in 2015.
21c. Shawn Maldonado won the last PBA Chameleon Championship in 2021, marking his first career title.
21d. EJ Tackett, who won the PBA Shark Championship last season, has won two WSOB titles each of the past two seasons.

22a. Gianna Brandolino, who won last season's PBA LBC National Championship Clash, will be among the favorites to win the PBA Junior Girls National Championship
22b. Defending PBA Junior Boys National Championship winner, Ernesto Reynoso, will attempt to go back-to-back in 2025.
22c. Other notable PBA Junior qualifiers include Katelyn Abigania, Jos Weems, Sydney Bohn, Abigail Starkey, Trae Henrichsmeyer, Avery Domaguin and Kaitlyn Stull, the 2023 PBA Junior Girls National Championship winner.

23. Anthony Simonsen set the USBC Masters match play scoring record (250.40 average) during the 2023 Masters in Allen Park, where the 2025 event will be held.

24a. DeeRonn Booker started with 23 of 24 strikes, shooting 279 and 300, to defeat EJ Tackett in last year’s USBC Masters bracket match play.
24b. Booker went undefeated in match play to win his first career title.

25. No player has won the USBC Masters more than Jason Belmonte, who has four Masters titles.

 

26. PBA All-Star Weekend will be the first televised PBA event to utilize certified string pinspotters.

27a. Two-handed players have won 10 of the past 24 major championships.
27b. Those majors have been won by Jason Belmonte (4), Anthony Simonsen (3), Kyle Troup (2) and Chris Via (1).

28. The record for most strikes in a PBA Strike Derby round belongs to one-handed EJ Tackett (16).

29. The PBA Players Championship will be the first televised finals held at David Small's JAX 60.

30. Michigan native Tom Smallwood finished runner-up in the PBA Players Championship last season.

31. Bill O’Neill has won two of the past five PBA Players Championships.

32a. EJ Tackett, Anthony Simonsen, Matt Ogle and Jason Sterner have qualified for the TOC finals two straight years.
33b. Jason Belmonte and Marshall Kent beat all four of those players to win each of the past two respective TOCs.

 

34. This will be the 35th TOC to be held at AMF Riviera Lanes.

35. Boog Krol won last season's PBA Playoffs despite starting the season without priority status.

36. Kyle Troup won the PBA Playoffs in 2021 and 2022.

37a. EJ Tackett, Anthony Simonsen and Jason Belmonte have qualified for all eight iterations of the PBA Tour Finals since 2017.
37b. Those three players, plus Kyle Troup, have each won the PBA Tour Finals twice.

38. Anthony Simonsen and Danielle McEwan have won the Storm PBA/PWBA Striking Against Mixed Doubles two straight years.

39. Sweden’s Jesper Svensson won the 2024 Storm Lucky Larsen Masters.

40. Sweden will also host three PBA Regional events in 2025.

41. Managers of the new PBA Elite League: Battle of the Brands teams will set their lineups before each tournament like fantasy football teams.

42a. Seven of DV8’s eight players are two-handed.
42b. Seven of Storm’s 10 players are major champions.
42c. Four of Hammer’s eight players finished top-10 in points last season.
42d. Motiv added Matt Russo, the 2024 season’s top left-handed player, in the offseason.
42e. Half of Ebonite’s eight players are left-handed.
42f. Roto Grip added Justin Knowles and Kevin McCune in the offseason with the former being the team’s only southpaw.
42g. 900 Global has the only father-son duo in the PBA Elite League with Chris Barnes and Ryan Barnes.
42h. Parker Bohn III’s 35 career titles are more than double the amount of the rest of Brunswick’s roster combined (34).

43a. Nathan Bohr was elected to the PBA Southwest Region Hall of Fame in 2015.
43b. Bohr finished 44th in points last season, meaning he was the best player to not earn an exemption. 
43c. Bohr re-earned his exempt status at PBA Tour Trials, highlighted by his brilliant laneplay strategy on the final day of the tournament.

44. Jesper Svensson was the first player to win five titles by the age of 21.

45a. Tommy Jones shot 300 to win the 2020 PBA Hall of Fame Classic — on the weekend of his own Hall of Fame induction.

46a. EJ Tackett led the PBA Tour with a near-record 229.37 average last season.
46b. Tackett became the fifth player to win at least three career PBA Player of the Year awards last season.

48a. Jake Peters is a two-time recipient of the PBA Steve Nagy Sportsmanship award.
48b. His tour roommate is Richie Teece, who won the 2024 Nagy award.

 

49a. At 16, Deo Benard became the youngest PBA member to win a PBA Regional Tour title.
49b. Benard won his first career PBA Tour title in the PBA Cheetah Championship last season.

50a. Sean Rash won his first seven career televised matches.
50b. Rash’s first loss came to Norm Duke in the 2008-09 PBA World Championship, when Duke went on to win his third consecutive major.

51. Matt Sanders is a two-time Indiana state high school champion.

52a. Anthony Simonsen was the youngest player to win a major when he won the 2016 USBC Masters.
52b. Simonsen was the youngest player to win two majors when he won the 2019 PBA Players Championship.
52c. Simonsen was the youngest player to win three majors when he won the 2022 U.S. Open.
52d. Simonsen was the youngest player to win four majors when he won the 2022 USBC Masters
52e. Simonsen was the youngest player to win five majors when he won the 2023 USBC Masters.
52f. Simonsen could be the youngest player to win six majors if he wins another by the end of the 2028 season.

53a. Matt Russo changed his release after the first event of the 2024 season, switching to a thumb-less two-handed delivery.
53b. Russo led all left-handed players in 2024 competition points.

54a. Graham Fach won the 2016 PBA Players Championship to become the first Canadian to win a PBA Tour title.
54b. That was Fach’s second career PBA Tour event.

55. Cam Crowe, who won the 2020 U.S. Amateur Championship and 2021 Boys U20 Junior Gold Championships, will be among the top contenders for Rookie of the Year in 2025.

56. Chase Nadeau was a two-time 1st Team All-American at Arizona State University.

57a. Patrick Dombrowski won the PBA Regional Players Invitational two years in a row before qualifying for the 2025 PBA Tour.
57b. As a part-time PBA Tour player, Dombrowski advanced to the USBC Masters televised rounds in 2023 and 2024.

58a. Kyle Troup set the official single-season earnings record of $496,900 in 2021.
58b. Troup set the unofficial single-season record by picking out his hair 1,187 times in 2023.

59a. Packy Hanrahan only competed in four events (10 individual games) on the varsity team during his four seasons at Wichita State.
59b. Hanrahan was one of three players to win multiple titles during the 2023 PBA Tour.

60a. Nate Purches finished as the runner-up in the inaugural PBA Junior Boys National Championships.
60b. Purches became the first former PBA Junior player to win PBA Rookie of the Year in 2024.

61a. Bill O'Neill is one of five 2025 exempt players to have won at least 14 career titles and three major championships.
61b. O’Neill made the semifinals of the PBA Playoffs last season, which is farther than his beloved Philadelphia 76ers have advanced in the NBA playoffs with Joel Embiid.

62. Kris Prather can complete the Triple Crown with a U.S. Open title.

 

63. In the 2011-12 season, Stu Williams became the first player from England to win a PBA Tour title.

64. Eric Jones won a PBA Regional Tour title as an amateur at 15, making him the youngest to win a regional at the time.

65. In 2021, Chris Via became the first player to throw two televised 300 games in the same season.

66. BJ Moore qualified for the PBA Cheetah Championship finals in 2023 and 2024.

67. Marshall Kent was a two-time Collegiate Player of the Year for Robert Morris University.

68. Sean Lavery-Spahr tied his career high with a third-place finish in last season's PBA Illinois Classic.

69. Jason Belmonte won three majors in the 2017 season alone, a PBA record.

70. Andrew Anderson was the second-youngest PBA Player of the Year award winner at 23 years old.

71. PBA Hall of Famer Chris Barnes is a Masters title away from the Grand Slam.

72. Tom Smallwood's life story inspired the 2022 CBS sitcom "How We Roll."

73. Andrew Hall has signed an autograph as Ed Sheeran.

74. Kevin McCune won the PBA Players Championship in 2023, making the McCune’s the first three-generation family of PBA Tour champions.

 

75. Brandon Runk is the brother-in-law of the "Ginger Assassin" Anthony Neuer.

76. Kyle Sherman started the uber-popular "Brad and Kyle" YouTube channel with fellow tour player, Brad Miller, in 2017.

77. Keven Williams recorded strike songs for several tour players, including Jason Belmonte and Kyle Troup.

78. Hayden Stippich's collegiate coach was Bob Learn Jr., aka "Mr. 300."

79. DeeRonn Booker won the showcase showdown on "The Price is Right" in 2009.

80. Bailey Mavrick has never seen either "Top Gun" movie.

81. Matt Ogle started bowling two-handed after suffering a significant wrist injury more than 15 years ago.

82. Jason Sterner's nickname is "Flash."

83. Tim Foy Jr. won the Regular Team Eagle in the 2024 USBC Open Championships.

84. Sam Cooley won the 2018 QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup.

85a. Tom Daughtery owns the record for the lowest score bowled on TV with 100
85b. His opponent, Mika Koivuniemi, shot 299.

86. Cristian Azcona is the only Puerto Rican player to win a PBA Tour title.

87a. Zach Wilkins finished top-25 in all 14 of his 2024 PBA Tour title events.
87b. Wilkins cashed in 13 of those 14 events.
87c. In the one event Wilkins did not cash, he finished one place and four pins behind the last casher.

 

88. Among his numerous international victories, Kim Bolleby won the 2019 AIK International Tournament in Sweden.

89. Half of François Lavoie's six career titles are majors.

90. In 2015, AJ Johnson earned the No. 1 seed for the USBC Masters finals as a senior at McKendree University.

91. Boog Krol threw 31 consecutive strikes in 2023 PBA Wichita Classic qualifying.

92. Justin Knowles is a three-time Michigan state Masters champion.

93. Nate Stubler was a two-time 1st Team All-American at St. Ambrose University.

94. Dom Barrett is one of nine players (and first European) to win the PBA's Triple Crown.

95. Chris Sloan won bronze in the 2018 World Men’s Championship Masters event, Ireland's first bowling medal.

96a. Tomas Käyhkö was named Finland’s Bowler of the Year for 2023 and 2024.
96b. Käyhkö looks to join Mika Koivuniemi and Osku Palermaa as Finnish PBA Tour champions.

97. England's Richie Teece won the 2016 European Bowling Tour rankings championship.

98. Jakob Butturff set the U.S. Open record after leading qualifying by 617 pins in 2017.

99. Mitch Hupé became the third Canadian to win a PBA Tour title during the 2023 season, winning the PBA Roth/Holman Doubles Championship with Packy Hanrahan.

100. Ryan Barnes was a two-time 1st Team All-American at Wichita State University.

BONUS. The PBA Delaware Classic finals, the first show of the 2025 season, will air Saturday, Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. Eastern on FS1.