Robert Learn Jr. (born April 4, 1962) is a professional ten-pin bowler and bowling coach. He formerly competed on 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 Chicago, Illinois, the PBA membership consists of over 3,000 members worldwide. Membe ...

(PBA) Tour and is currently active on the PBA50 Tour. He is nicknamed "Mr. 300", having rolled over 100 perfect games between PBA and sanctioned USBC competition. Learn was inducted into the USBC Hall of Fame (Veterans category) in 2020. He is also a member of the

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 at ...

Bowling and Pennsylvania State Bowling Halls of Fame. Learn Jr. is a member of the Brunswick pro staff.

Bowling career

Learn became a PBA member in 1981, bowling mostly in

PBA Regional Tour The PBA Regional Tour is a series of "mini tours", run by the Professional Bowlers Association, spanning across seven regions within the United States. The Tour allows PBA members and qualifying non-member amateurs to compete in weekend events. The ...

events until joining the national

PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Regional profes ...

full-time in 1984. He won five PBA Tour titles during his career, including a major at the 1999 U.S. Open, but is most noted for: * Rolling the PBA's 10th televised 300 game in the opening match of the final round at the PBA Flagship Open, earning a $100,000 bonus. The event was held in Learn's hometown of

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

, on April 6, 1996. * Setting the all-time PBA record for total pins in a four-game TV final at the same event. Learn shot games of 300, 270, 280 and 279 for a total of 1,129. This shattered the previous PBA record of 1,070 pins, set in 1995 by David Ozio. In the four matches, Learn recorded 44 of a possible 48 strikes. Learn's fifth and final

title came in 2001 at the

Dydo Japan Cup ROUND1 Japan Cup is an annual PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) and JPBA (Japan Professional Bowling Association) bowling event sponsored by ROUND1. In its earlier years, the tournament typically featured the top 16 bowlers from each organizat ...

. He also has ten career runner-up finishes on the PBA Tour, and has earned over $1 million in PBA events. He joined the PBA Senior Tour (renamed the PBA50 Tour) in 2012, and has three titles on that Tour to date. He also has 25

titles and four PBA50 Regional Tour titles.

PBA Tour titles

Major championships in bold. # 1992 Fair Lanes Open (

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

) # 1993 Bud Light Hall of Fame Championship (

Richmond Heights, Missouri Richmond Heights is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri. It is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,603 at the 2010 census. According to Robert L. Ramsay, the name was suggested by Robert E. Lee, who t ...

) # 1996 Flagship Open (

) # 1999 U.S. Open (

Uncasville, Connecticut Uncasville is an area in the town of Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a village in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River where it flows into the Thames River. The name is now applied more generally to all of the ...

) # 2001 Dydo Japan Cup (

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan)

PBA50 Tour titles

# 2012 PBA Senior Mooresville Classic (

Mooresville, North Carolina Mooresville is a large town located in the southwestern section of Iredell County, North Carolina, United States, and is a part of the fast-growing Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 50,193 at the 2020 United States Census making it ...

) # 2013 PBA50 Pasco County Suncoast Open (

New Port Richey, Florida New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was counted at 16,728 in the 2020 census. History By ...

) # 2015 PBA/PBA50 South Shore Doubles w/DJ Archer (

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern L ...

)

Coaching career

In May 2017, Learn Jr., with over 25 years of coaching experience, accepted the position of head men's and women's bowling coach for the

Martin Methodist The University of Tennessee Southern (UT-Southern, formerly Martin Methodist College) is a public college in Pulaski, Tennessee. Founded in 1870, for over 150 years it was a private institution until joining the University of Tennessee system i ...

RedHawks in

Pulaski, Tennessee Pulaski is a city in and the county seat of Giles County, which is located on the central-southern border of Tennessee, United States. The population was 8,397 at the 2020 census. It was named after Casimir Pulaski, a noted Polish-born soldier ...

(now the Tennessee Southern Firehawks). He was named NAIA Men's Bowling Coach of the Year in the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons. He was also named 2023 USBC Men's Coach of the Year. Learn created TurboTech Collegiate Expo, which he designed specifically for college recruitment. He has conducted numerous bowling clinics around the world and has been a past coach for Team USA. In 2020, Learn was named manager of the expansion Miami Waves PBA League team.

Personal

Originally from

, Learn now resides in

Spring Hill, Tennessee Spring Hill is a city in Maury and Williamson counties, Tennessee, located approximately south of Nashville. Spring Hill's population as of 2020 was 50,005. Spring Hill is recognized as the 4th fastest growing city in Tennessee by the U.S. Cen ...

.Bob Learn PBA50 Tour profile at pba.com
/ref> Bob is married to his wife Stacey, and the couple has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Learn, Bob Jr. American ten-pin bowling players 1962 births Living people Sportspeople from Erie, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Boynton Beach, Florida