Bob Benoit (born July 21, 1954, in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

) is a retired professional bowler in the

Professional Bowlers Association The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and currently owned by the Lucky Strike Entertainment Corpor ...

(PBA), who was active in the 1980s and 1990s. Over the course of his career, Benoit won four

PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for tenpin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Reg ...

titles, all between 1988 and 1993.

PBA career

Benoit is mostly known for being the first bowler to bowl a

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New Yo ...

in a televised title match, and became the fifth PBA bowler to throw a televised perfect game overall. He did this against

Mark Roth Mark Stephen Roth (April 10, 1951 – November 26, 2021) was an American professional ten-pin bowling, bowler. He won 34 PBA Tour titles in his career (sixth most all-time), and is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association, PBA and United ...

, beating him 300–255, at the Quaker State Open on January 23, 1988. The victory was in front of his home crowd at the Forum Bowl in

Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Dallas County, Texas, Dallas, Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant, and Ellis County, Texas, Ellis counties with a small part extending into Johnson County, Texas , Johnson county. It ...

, a place where Benoit bowled league during the eleven years in which he lived in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Only two other players have scored 300 in a televised title match since Benoit's feat:

Mike Aulby Mike Aulby (born March 25, 1960, in Indianapolis, Indiana) is a left-handed bowler and former member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He is one of only five PBA bowlers to win both a Rookie and Player of the Year award. ( Tommy Jone ...

in 1993 and Tommy Jones in 2020. This was Benoit's first ever title, as well as his first appearance in a telecast, making him the first bowler in history to score 300 in their very first TV appearance. This distinction stood until 1996, when C.K Moore scored a 300 game in the semifinal round of the 1996 PBA Columbia 300 open, which was his first ever TV finals appearance. Benoit would later be on the other end of a televised 300 game, losing 300–236 to Butch Soper in a stepladder match of the Hilton Hotels Classic in July, 1994. Benoit had 28 career top-five finishes and made it to the final match on eight occasions (wins in bold type): *January 23, 1988: Quaker State Open in

Grand Prairie, TX Grand Prairie is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Dallas County, Texas, Dallas, Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant, and Ellis County, Texas, Ellis counties with a small part extending into Johnson County, Texas , Johnson county. It ...

(defeated

) *January 21, 1989: Showboat Invitational in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

(lost to Del Ballard Jr.) *February 16, 1991: Bud Light Classic in Sunrise, FL (defeated

Wayne Webb } Wayne Webb (born August 4, 1957) is an American professional bowler from Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He was known for his success from the late 1970s to the end of the 1980s. Webb is one of only 17 players in history to win at least 20 PBA Tour ti ...

) *March 9, 1991:

Johnny Petraglia John Petraglia Sr. () (born March 3, 1947) is an American professional bowler. He is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), where he won 14 PBA Tour titles. He has also won eight PBA Senior Tour titles. He is a member of both th ...

Open in North Brunswick, NJ (lost to Pete Weber) *June 1, 1991: Beaumont PBA Doubles Classic (w/Del Ballard Jr.) in

Beaumont, TX Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city center to city center). ...

(defeated Steve Hoskins and Philip Ringener) *July 6, 1991: El Paso Open in

El Paso, TX El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

(lost to Ray Edwards) *August 6, 1992: Senior/Touring Pro Doubles (w/ Nelson Burton Jr.) in

Belleville, IL Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. It is a southeastern suburb of St. Louis. The population was 42,404 at the 2020 census, making it the most populated city in the Metro East region of Greater ...

(lost to Justin Hromek and Dick Weber) *July 17, 1993: El Paso Open in El Paso, TX (defeated Robert Lawrence)

Personal

Bob's brother, Rick Benoit, is a former PBA Tour consultant for Brunswick. He currently provides coaching and training for both professional and amateur bowlers through BowlU International, a bowling program he founded. Rick serves as BowlU's President/Lead Instructor alongside PBA Tour professional and fellow Lead Instructor, Brad Angelo. Bob currently is a coach at Seaman High School in Topeka, Kansas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benoit, Bob 1955 births Living people Sportspeople from Topeka, Kansas Sportspeople from Dallas American ten-pin bowling players