OBIT ~ HOF Bowler Don Johnson
Hyfler/Rosner
Don Johnson, a Hall of Fame bowler and two-time Player of the Year on the
Professional Bowlers Association Tour, died Saturday at his Las Vegas home.
He was 62.
A 29-year valley resident, Johnson died of an apparent heart attack,
according to PBA spokeswoman Jennifer Casey.
Johnson won 26 Tour titles, tied with Dick Weber for seventh-most all-time.
His last victory came in New Orleans in 1977, the same year Johnson was
inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame.
Johnson's impressive career included two victories in PBA majors, and he
also won at least one tournament for 12 straight years, a PBA record until
Hall of Famer Earl Anthony did it for 14 straight.
Rick Peter, Johnson's closest friend for 23 years, said he spoke to Johnson
by phone Saturday and became alarmed when Johnson said he didn't feel well.
Peter drove to Johnson's home, but Johnson had already died.
"His health seemed to be OK last week," said Peter, who said funeral
services will be determined after Johnson's three children, Jimmy, Amy and
Scott, arrive in Las Vegas today from their homes near Columbus, Ohio.
Don Johnson's wife Carolyn died of cancer in 1994.
Jimmy Johnson, also a PBA Tour competitor, was handling arrangements, Casey
said.
Don Johnson retired from tournament play in 1999, but would occasionally
tutor friends or former students.
"You know you're over the hill when your first televised win was in black
and white," he told the Review-Journal in 1999 when he was voted No. 23
among the top 25 Las Vegas athletes of the century.
"That was just like Don," Peter said. "He was a real comic."
Johnson's first PBA win came in 1964 in Denver, and he won his first Player
of the Year honor in 1971, the same year he won the Tour stop at the
Showboat Bowling Center, now the Castaways.
He repeated as the Tour's top player in 1972, when he led in earnings with
$56,648. Johnson finished in the top 10 in earnings from 1966 through 1973.
He also rolled 30 sanctioned 300 games.
Johnson moved to Las Vegas from Akron, Ohio, in 1974, and became the host
pro at the Charleston Heights Bowling Center, which later became Arizona
Charlie's casino. The resort removed its bowling lanes in 1993.
While living in Nevada he was a two-time state champion, but his legacy was
as a pro.
Johnson, an Indiana native known on the PBA Tour as the "Kokomo Kid," also
was picked by the American Bowling Congress in 1999 as the sport's
eighth-best bowler of the century.
He was inducted into the American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in 1982.