David Ozio (born April 3, 1954) of

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

is a retired right-handed

ten-pin bowler Tenpin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The goal is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll of the ...

and member of 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). He won 11 titles on the

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 ...

, including one major championship, and was the 1991 PBA Player of the Year. He was the 2004 Senior PBA Rookie of the Year, and has won five titles on the Senior and Generations tours. Ozio is a member of both the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame.

PBA career

Ozio had a slow start on the PBA Tour, first joining in 1978. After devastating heartbreak following the loss of his first wife Sharon during childbirth in 1981, he won his first title in 1985, and would win a second later that season. After amassing six titles by 1990, he started 1991 with titles in the season's first two events. He then won his only career major on the regular PBA Tour later that season at the 1991 Firestone Tournament of Champions, when he was living in nearby

Vidor, Texas Vidor ( ) is a city in western Orange County, Texas, United States. A city of Southeast Texas, it lies at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Farm to Market Road 105, east of Beaumont. The town is mainly a bedroom community for the nearby ...

. The televised finals for this Tournament of Champions was delayed 40 minutes due to a bomb threat, which turned out to be a hoax. After winning a fourth title later that season, Ozio was named 1991 PBA Player of the Year. He was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1995. He was ranked #34 on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the last 50 years." Ozio's 11th and final PBA Tour win was on October 28 – November 1, 1995 in the AMF

Dick Weber Richard Anthony Weber (December 23, 1929 – February 13, 2005) was an American professional bowler and founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Along with Don Carter, Weber is widely regarded as professional bowling's fi ...

Classic at the

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first Black player selected ...

Center in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, where he broke the TV record for four-game pinfall with 1,070 pins, topping the mark of 1,050 set in 1984 by Nelson Burton Jr. The record would stand only one year, however, as it was shattered by Bob Learn Jr.'s 1,129 four-game total in an April 6, 1996

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

event. Ozio spent some time on the PBA Senior Tour (now PBA50 Tour), winning two events including the 2004 Senior U.S. Open, before being slowed by a wrist injury. He retired from professional bowling after the 2008 Senior season, having decided he wasn't as competitive as he wanted to be. 22 years after his PBA Hall of Fame induction, Ozio was voted into the USBC Hall of Fame in January 2017, and was inducted with the 2017 class on April 26.

PBA Tour titles

Major championships in bold. # 1985 AMF Angle Open (

Florissant, Missouri Florissant () is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, Missouri, within Greater St. Louis. It is a middle-class, second-ring northern suburb of St. Louis. Based on the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population ...

) # 1985 Tucson Open (

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

) # 1986 Lite Beer Classic (

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

) # 1988 Hammer Open (

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States. It is a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, located in Central Oklahoma. Its population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States census, a 16% increase from 2010. maki ...

) # 1989 Milwaukee Classic (

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

) # 1990 Showboat Doubles Classic w/Steve Wunderlich (

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 ...

) # 1991 AC-Delco Classic (

Torrance, California Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...

) # 1991 Showboat Invitational (Las Vegas, Nevada) # 1991 Firestone Tournament of Champions (

Fairlawn, Ohio Fairlawn is a city in western Summit County, Ohio, United States, and a suburb of Akron. The population was 7,710 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Akron metropolitan area. History Fairlawn was incorporated as Fairlawn Village in 1960. It ...

) # 1991 Chevy Truck Classic (

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

) # 1995 AMF Dick Weber Classic (

)

In the media

* Ozio authored an instructional book (with Dan Herbst) in 1992 called ''Bowl Like a Pro''. * ''Bowlers Journal International'' editor Gianmarc Manzione interviewed Ozio, along with fellow pro-bowlers DJ Archer, Steve Wunderlich, Pete McCordic, Paul McCordic, and Mark Williams, among others, about surviving

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...

in 2017.

References

External links

David Ozio
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozio, David American ten-pin bowling players American people of Italian descent Sportspeople from Beaumont, Texas 1954 births Living people People from Vidor, Texas