Marshall Holman

Marshall Holman (born September 29, 1954 in San Francisco, California) is an American professional bowler primarily known for his flamboyant success on the PBA Tour throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Nike sponsored Holman.^[1]

Holman also served as a color analyst alongside Mike Durbin on several ESPN and ESPN2 bowling telecasts from 1996–2001. From 1998-99, he worked for CBS Sports and was teamed with Gary Seibel for telecasts when that network briefly showed PBA events.

Holman's first PBA title came at the Fresno Open on July 8, 1975, when he was just 20 years old. His last PBA title was earned at the 1996 PBA Ebonite Classic. This came eight years after he had last won a title. In this event, he defeated Wayne Webb in what turned out to be a very emotional battle that came down to the final frames. The first bowler on the PBA to surpass $1.5 million in earnings, Holman won 22 titles (11th all-time) -- including four majors (two U.S. Opens and two Tournament of Champions titles). He was the youngest-ever winner in the Tournament of Champions, topping the field in the 1976 event when he was just 21 years old.^[2] Holman would hold this distinction until 2016, when 20-year old Jesper Svensson won that year's Tournament of Champions.^[3] In 1979, Holman became the youngest bowler (24) to reach the 10-title plateau.^[4] That record would later be broken by Pete Weber in 1987.

Marshall was named PBA Player of the Year in 1987, was a three-time winner of the George Young High Average award, and has earned nearly $1.7 million on tour.^[5]

Holman was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. He is also a 2010 inductee to the USBC Hall of Fame in the Performance category.^[6] He was ranked 9th on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years."

Earlier in his bowling career, as once mentioned in the American Bowlers Journal magazine in the 1980s, Holman had a girlfriend from the state of New Hampshire. He would occasionally try the sport of candlepin bowling, popular in his acquaintance's state of residence, while visiting there.

Holman has received several commissioner's exemptions to participate in the PBA's Medford Classic, even though he is no longer an active PBA member.

After several years out of the booth, Holman has returned to the broadcasting arena. He served as a color analyst at the 2007 USBC Queens tournament and was in the broadcast booth (along with Nelson Burton, Jr.) for ESPN's five-week coverage of the 2007 and 2008 U.S. Women's Open events. He later provided commentary, alongside play-by-play man Dave Ryan, for the 2009 U.S. Women's Open telecasts. Holman was also the analyst for the live broadcast of the 2015 Men's U.S. Open, which ran on CBS Sports Network that season.

Personal

Holman moved to Medford, Oregon at the age of 4. Holman's father, Phil Holman, was a disc jockey at a local radio station in Medford. He was nicknamed "Holman the Poleman", as he once did a radio show while pole-sitting. Marshall was then dubbed a similar nickname "Holman the Bowlman". (Color analyst Nelson Burton, Jr. provided this information during a PBA Tour telecast on ABC, 2 February 1985.) He has also been called the "Medford Meteor."

Holman and his wife currently reside in Medford and own two Liberty Tax Service franchises there. Holman is Jewish.^[7]

See also

• List of select Jewish bowlers

References

1. ↑ "Burns Shoes Blog". Retrieved 2012-01-15. 
2. ↑ Thomas, Jason. "Top 10 Moments in T of C History." Article at www.pba.com on August 16, 2010.
3. ↑ "Jesper Svensson Becomes Youngest Tournament of Champions Winner". bowling.about.com. February 28, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016. 
4. ↑ 1979 Seattle Open at www.pba.com
5. ↑ Hall of Fame bios at www.pba.com, official website of the Professional Bowlers Association and Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour
6. ↑ http://www.bowl.com/news/xmlburner.jsp?xa=./webapps/ROOT/news/main/data/111309HallofFame.xml
7. ↑ Bob Wechsler. Day by Day in Jewish Sports History (February 6). Retrieved 2012-01-15.