Kulick, O’Neill, Williams Nominated
For 2010 "Best Bowler" ESPY

PBA Tournament of Champions winner Kelly Kulick of Union, N.J.; U.S. Open champion Bill O’Neill of Southampton, Pa., and 2009-10 PBA Player of the Year Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., have been nominated for ESPN’s “Best Bowler ESPY” for 2010.

ESPN announced nominees in a wide variety of categories Thursday. Fan voting is underway now through 11:59 p.m. Eastern on July 10 at espn.com/espys. Use the scroll-down list to locate the “Best Bowler” category and click on the image of your favorite player to vote.

The ESPY winners will be announced during the 17th annual ESPYs, televised live on ESPN at 9 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, July 14. Saturday Night Live star Seth Meyers will host the gala from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.

Kulick, who also won the 2009 PBA Women’s World Championship and 2010 USBC Queens and U.S. Women’s Open, has been nominated for the first time. O’Neill, who also won the PBA Chameleon Championship and finished second to Williams in the PBA points race, also is a first-time nominee. Williams, who raised his all-time PBA Tour title total to a record 47 with two more victories last season – including the 2010 USBC Masters – is a six-time “Best Bowler” ESPY winner.

The ESPYs, co-presented by Capital One and Castrol EDGE, will present “best athlete” and “best team” awards in 37 categories, all selected by fan voting. In addition, Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, who is battling cancer, will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance; the Arthur Ashe Courage Award will be presented to the family of the late Ed Thomas, the Parkersburg, Iowa, high school football coach who was killed by one of his former players, and the “Best Comeback Award” which will be presented to Kim Clijsters, the first unseeded tennis player ever to win the Women’s U.S. Open.

ESPY BEST BOWLER AWARD WINNERS
2009 – Norm Duke
2008 – Norm Duke
2007 – Norm Duke
2006 – Walter Ray Williams Jr.
2005 – Walter Ray Williams Jr.
2004 – Pete Weber
2003 – Walter Ray Williams Jr.
2002 – Pete Weber
2001 – Walter Ray Williams Jr.
2000 – Parker Bohn III
1999 – Walter Ray Williams Jr.
1998 – Walter Ray Williams Jr.
1997 – Bob Learn Jr.
1996 – Mike Aulby
1995 – Norm Duke