Sports

Longtime Alaska bowler nabs 3rd national Senior Player of the Year award

Ron Mohr, the former Eagle River man who joined the Senior PBA tour after retiring as an air traffic controller in 2008, once again demonstrated that he rolled a strike when choosing a second career.

For the third year in a row, Mohr captured the Professional Bowlers Association's Player of the Year award for bowlers 60 and older. He earned the honor Thursday by winning the Dick Weber Championship in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Mohr won four straight stepladder matches and then rolled three strikes in the final frame of the title match to secure the tournament victory and the Player of the Year award. He defeated Michigan's Harry Sullins, 237-235, in the title match.

"It's a spectacular way to wrap up the season where I accomplished way more than I thought I would," Mohr said in a tournament recap by the PBA.

Making things even sweeter was the fact Thursday's victory came in the Indiana town Mohr grew up in.

A 2017 selection to the PBA Hall of Fame, Mohr, 62, lived most of his adult life in Alaska, where for years he worked as an air traffic controller.

He lived here from 1979 to 2013 and was a regular competitor in Anchorage bowling leagues, where he established himself as a top amateur and eventually a top bowler on the Senior Tour.

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He made his debut on the Senior Tour, for bowlers 50 and older, in 2008 and took it by storm, winning PBA50 Player of the Year titles in 2009 and 2011. For the last three years, he earned PBA60 Player of the Year titles for being the Senior Tour's top bowler who is 60 or older.

Though there is no specific PBA Tour for bowlers 60 and older, the PBA bestows two Player of the Year awards for seniors, one for those 50 and older and one for those 60 and older.

Mohr in 2013 moved to Las Vegas to accommodate his busy tournament schedule. He's a fitness fanatic who has kept track of his workouts since 1999; by last October he had topped 2 million situps and 1 million pushups.

Beth Bragg

Beth Bragg wrote about sports and other topics for the ADN for more than 35 years, much of it as sports editor. She retired in October 2021. She's contributing coverage of Alaskans involved in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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