Sean Rash

Sean Rash (born August 22, 1982) is an American ten-pin bowler who is considered one of the top players on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour.

Rash joined the PBA Tour in 2005.

He holds the distinction of being the first PBA player to ever win a title when starting from the Tour Qualifying Round (TQR), which he accomplished in his rookie season at the 2006 West Virginia Championship.

Rash caused a minor controversy during his 256-236 semifinal victory over Danny Wiseman in the 2006 Beltway Classic in Baltimore.

Rash later minimized his outburst, telling the Baltimore Sun in 2007, "The media and everybody took it and twisted it the wrong way. Danny knew exactly what I meant. I was trying to get his fans to cheer me on the next match."

Rash won his first PBA major title at the 2007 USBC Masters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The win gave him four titles in his first four television appearances, and seven straight match wins on TV to open his career (one short of the record eight wins set by George Branham III).

The streak ended when Rash lost to Norm Duke in the semifinal match of the 2008–09 season-opening PBA World Championship.

He currently owns 17 PBA Tour titles, including two major championships, and was the 2011–12 PBA Player of the Year.

Rash has rolled two of his 30 career PBA perfect 300 games on television, making him the first player in history with multiple perfect games in the TV finals of a PBA Tour event.

Canadian François Lavoie and American Chris Via, and Australian Jason Belmonte have since joined Rash in this exclusive club.

Sean also owns ten PBA Regional Tour titles.

In January of 2024, Rash was elected to the USBC Hall of Fame (Superior Performance category).

He will be officially inducted on April 24, 2024.

Rash, after throwing a match-clinching strike in the 11th frame, approached the crowd at the left side of the approach and yelled, "Who's your hometown fan, now," seemingly in reference to Wiseman, a Baltimore native.

Rash led the 2011–12 PBA Tour in average, earnings and points.

One day later, Rash won his 11th title in the PBA Detroit Open, defeating top seed Jason Belmonte in the final match.

The tournament is in its 18th year as of 2012, and has awarded nearly $25,000 in scholarship money over the years.

Rash won the 2012 PBA Tournament of Champions for his first championship in five years, and second major title overall.

Qualifying as the #1 seed, Rash beat Ryan Ciminelli in the final match 239–205.

On May 28, 2012, the PBA announced that Rash had won the 2012 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award in an extremely close vote (Rash received 29% of the vote to Jason Belmonte's 26.6%).

Sean won his sixth and seventh PBA Tour titles in the 2012–13 season, in the WBT Kuwait Open and WBT Thailand Open.

Sean was the top money winner on Tour for the 2012–13 season, with earnings of $248,317.

He later won an additional $20,000 in the World Bowling Tour finals (contested at the 2013 World Series of Bowling), but this did not count as a PBA title.

In the finals of the PBA Wolf Open on May 24, 2014 (broadcast nationally on June 3, 2014), Sean rolled the PBA's 23rd televised 300 game in the opening match.

He went on to win the tournament for his 8th PBA title.

This, combined with his June 2014 perfect game, made him the only player in PBA history to have bowled two televised perfect games in PBA Tour events.

He did not, however, go on to win the tournament.

On February 15, 2015 Sean bowled a 300 game on ESPN while competing in the Barbasol Tournament of Champions in Indianapolis, Indiana, the 25th time a perfect game has been bowled in a televised PBA event.

On October 11, 2015, Rash bowled from the #1 seed position and defeated Hall of Famer Pete Weber in a single-game final to win the PBA Xtra Frame Iowa Midwest Open for his ninth PBA title.

Sean passed the $1 million mark in career PBA earnings during the 2015 season.

As one of the top eight money leaders from the start of the 2015 season through the 2017 USBC Masters, Rash was invited to participate in the inaugural Main Event PBA Tour Finals in May, 2017.

He placed sixth in the event.

Rash won his 10th PBA title at the PBA Fall Swing Badger Open on September 10, 2016 in Allen Park, Michigan, defeating #1 qualifier Wes Malott in the final match.

On August 20, 2017, Rash won his 12th PBA Tour title at the Xtra Frame Gene Carter's Pro Shop Classic in Middletown, Delaware, defeating reigning PBA Player of the Year E. J. Tackett in the final match.

As of January 2020, Rash is a member of the 900 Global and Vise Grips pro staffs, being previously sponsored by Brunswick for 17 years.

Sean Rash was a highly accomplished bowler before turning pro.

His amateur accomplishments included:

Rash also started a tournament in his native Alaska when he was just 13 years old.

Frustrated by a lack of scratch tournaments for junior bowlers, he started his own: Sean Rash Stars of the Future.