Robert Learn Jr. (born April 4, 1962) is a professional ten-pin bowler and bowling coach. He formerly competed on the Professional Bowlers Association (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 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 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, 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 David Ozio (born April 3, 1954) of Beaumont, Texas is a retired right-handed ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He won 11 titles on the PBA Tour, including one major championship, and was the 1991 PBA Player ...

. In the four matches, Learn recorded 44 of a possible 48 strikes. Learn's fifth and final PBA Tour 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 most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

) # 1993 Bud Light Hall of Fame Championship ( Richmond Heights, Missouri) # 1996 Flagship Open ( Erie, Pennsylvania) # 1999 U.S. Open ( Uncasville, Connecticut) # 2001 Dydo Japan Cup ( Tokyo,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

)

PBA50 Tour titles

# 2012 PBA Senior Mooresville Classic ( Mooresville, North Carolina) # 2013 PBA50 Pasco County Suncoast Open ( New Port Richey, Florida) # 2015 PBA/PBA50 South Shore Doubles w/DJ Archer (

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in 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 Lake County. As of the ...

)

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 in ...

RedHawks in Pulaski, Tennessee (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 Erie, Pennsylvania, Learn now resides in Spring Hill, Tennessee.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