Rob Stone New Voice of the PBA

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) announced this week that Rob Stone will serve as the league's lead play-by-play announcer on ESPN telecasts for the 2007-08 season.
"The PBA has a long and storied history on national television, and I'm honored to serve as the new voice of the organization," Stone said. "I'm really looking forward to calling the action alongside Randy Pedersen every Sunday afternoon on ESPN."
Stone joined ESPN in June 1997 as the host of ESPN2's Worldwide Soccer, a weekly news and highlights show. Stone also served as host of MLS Extra Time, Major League Soccer's (MLS) first one-hour, in-season Monday night program, which debuted in 2000 on ESPN2.
Since 1998, he has served as a sideline reporter for select MLS and U.S. Soccer telecasts on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, and he hosted MLS Cup halftime shows in 1998 and 1999. Beginning in 2004, Stone became the primary play-by-play commentator for ESPN2's MLS telecasts and U.S. Men's National Team games. During the 2006 MLS World Cup, Stone served as reporter and play-by-play commentator in Germany.
During World Cup 98 in France, Stone traveled the country and filed daily reports on the offbeat and behind the scenes sites of the world's most popular sporting event for ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. He also provided reports and features from France 98 for World Cup 2Night, a daily recap of the day's activities at the tournament. In Korea/Japan 02, Stone served as host of World Cup 2Night on ESPN2 and during the pre-, halftime and post-game segments.
Beginning in 1999, Stone has also been serving as a college football sideline reporter. He primarily contributes to ESPN's Friday primetime series.
Stone came to ESPN from WTOG-TV in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla., where he served as weekend sports anchor and sports reporter from 1995-97. In addition, he reported for the Tony Dungy Show and the Sam Wyche Report , and was chief reporter for the Bucs' Countdown to Kickoff pregame show.
Stone began his television career at ESPN as a production assistant from 1992-93. He worked on SportsCenter, Outside The Lines and College GameDay. From ESPN, Stone went to WFXL-TV in Albany, Ga., as a weekend sports anchor/sports reporter (1993-94) and sports director (1994-95).
The Simsbury, Conn., native is a 1991 Colgate graduate with a degree in English. He was an all-state and all-conference soccer performer as a midfield player for the Red Raiders, and captained the squad his senior year.
Stone joins veteran PBA analyst Randy Pedersen, who is entering his sixth season as the lead color announcer for Denny's PBA Tour telecasts on ESPN. Pedersen, who owns 13 Denny's PBA Tour titles and more than $1 million in career PBA earnings, has also appeared in the major motion pictures "Kingpin" and "Greedy."
"Rob Stone is an up-and-coming star at ESPN, and we're excited about adding him to our broadcast team this season," said PBA Commissioner and CEO Fred Schreyer. "Our goal is to offer the most compelling and entertaining programming possible every Sunday afternoon, and we think Rob will help us achieve that goal."
Stone made his PBA debut Sunday, Oct. 21, with the finals of the season-opening Dydo Japan Cup. His first live PBA telecast will be this Sunday, Oct. 28, when the finals of the USBC Masters air at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN live from the Milwaukee Brewers' Miller Park.
Bowling Highligths News will have the opportunity to meet Rob next weekend at the Etonic Championship tour stop at AMF Thruway Lanes in Cheektowaga near Buffalo.
The qualifying round starts Wednesday November 7 and continues through Thursday. On Friday November 8 the Rounds of 32, 16 and 8 take place with the four finalist being named for the Sunday November 11 live ESPN finals that can be seen on ESPN from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Bowling Highlights News will bring you full coverage of this first of two tour stops in New York State