This the sixth in a 10-part series by PBA Commissioner Tom Clark.

As PBA Commissioner, my greatest privilege has been having a front row seat to PBA history.

I've worked more than 250 PBA finals since 2008. One thing has been guaranteed: Our events and our players always deliver compelling drama. Every time.

But as last decade came to a close, I singled out my 10 most memorable shows from 2010-19, with some personal notes:

No. 5: 2015 PBA League Quarterfinals, Bayside Bowl, Portland, Maine

The Brooklyn Styles defeated the NYC Kingpins in the match, with a strike by anchor bowler Parker Bohn III in a sudden death roll off, but even that exciting result took a far back to seat to the bowling center itself and the fans. 

For the first time, the PBA was in Maine, in the friendly confines of a 12-lane center called Bayside Bowl. When I had visited the place a year earlier, the assumption was Bayside Bowl was too small to host a PBA event. But then I witnessed their BoPo (Bowl Portland) league. The DJ, the volume, the fun, the love of bowing and friends, and I knew there would be a way to get the PBA in that building. 

The answer was the PBA League, our team concept needing only a couple lanes for TV. So we scheduled it, and the fans that packed the center, mostly members of BoPo and led by co-proprietor Charlie "Hungus" Mitchell, were so excited the PBA was there, were so loud, you couldn't hear yourself think. 

As we were about to start the show, we began our typical explanation to the crowd that they should be respectful and quiet when the bowler is on the approach, then when the ball goes, let loose with support. But the fans didn't like that instruction. They started to chant, "Let them cheer! Let them cheer!" 

To BoPo, quiet was not an option. So tournament director Kirk Von Krueger asked the PBA players if they had any problem letting the fans be loud throughout. The players unanimously agreed the fans should be as loud as they want. So it began. And it was loud. 

The players in the match, including some of the greatest of all time such as Pete Weber, Amleto Monacelli, Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Parker, had never bowled through anything like it and struggled mightily. Both teams missed multiple spares and had 65 in the fifth frame, on opens. 

ESPN announcer and PBA Hall of Famer Randy Pedersen yelled above the roar, "I don't know if I could handle something like this! There is so much crowd noise, I think it would just get too much adrenaline flowing, get you too jacked up. I love it, I think it's different, I think the fans are great. They are standing, for the first time at a PBA event they are actually standing laneside."

Then the great Parker Bohn missed a seven pin and Randy let out an exasperated, "Oh my God! These are some of the best spare shooters in the history of the game!" 

Of course, the players adjusted as they always do, illustrated by Parker not only striking in the clutch to win, but running into the crowd for high fives. A new tradition and the greatest environment in pro bowling was born. 

This past July, at the 2019 PBA League Elias Cup Finals back in Maine for the fifth straight year, for the first time the hometown Portland Lumberjacks won the Cup and the fans poured out onto the lanes in joy for the greatest exhibition of crowd exuberance in the history of the game. 

Bringing the PBA to Bayside Bowl is one of the things I am most proud of in my career, and being there is the most fun I've ever had in a bowling center.

Watch the first quarterfinals show from Bayside Bowl here:

Unlock this video, live events, and more with a subscription!

Sign Up

Already a subscriber? Log In

Continue watching the 2015 PBA League with the second quarterfinals show, semifinals and finals.

Tom Clark’s Top 10 Countdown

1. To be released June 6
2. To be released May 30
3. To be released May 23
4. To be released May 16
5. 2015 PBA League Quarterfinals
6. 2017 CP3 PBA Celebrity Invitational
7. 2019 PBA Playoffs Semifinals and Final
8. 2019 PBA Indianapolis Open
9. 2018 USBC Masters
10. 2012 PBA WSOB Scorpion Championship