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Charge Forward Podcast
Episode 11: Bob Learn Jr. – Embracing Possibility, Crafting Champions, and Living Life in Strikes
Hey Team!
In this episode of the Charge Forward Podcast, I’m joined by the legendary bowler and coach Bob Learn Jr., AKA "Mr. 300" for his record-setting achievements in professional bowling. With roots in Erie, Pennsylvania, Bob's passion for the sport blossomed early on and propelled him to a celebrated career filled with perfect games and multiple PBA Tour titles. Throughout his journey, the unwavering support and encouragement of his wife, Stacey, have been vital. Bob speaks fondly of Stacey, whose steadfast belief in him and the power of a "mindset of possibility" have guided him through life's ups and downs.
Our conversation dives into Bob's evolution from a top-tier player to a dedicated coach, sharing invaluable lessons on resilience, positivity, and making the most of every opportunity. Bob’s “anything is possible” mindset has been a critical cornerstone in his career and life, fueling his relentless pursuit of growth and success. We explore the excitement of his trick shot exhibitions, bringing joy to audiences of all ages, including memorable performances at events like Bowl Fest in Las Vegas.
Bob also opens up about the challenges and rewards of building a successful college bowling program, coaching Team USA, and the deep emotional investment in mentoring the next generation of bowlers. We discuss how his unique bowling style and inspiration from legends like Dick Weber and Marshall Holman have shaped his approach to the game. This episode isn't just about bowling; it’s about embracing change, building champions, and living with purpose.
Whether you're a bowling enthusiast or looking for inspiration, join us as we explore Bob's remarkable journey and his exciting new ventures.
Follow and Connect with Bob Learn Jr.:
Instagram: @BobLearnJr
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Thank you
Jim Cripps
You are the cap for whatever goes on in your store, in your company, in your district, in your household. However excited you are, what you believe is possible, whatever that threshold is. Hey, team, jim Cripps, here with the Charge Forward podcast, coming to you from Nashville, tennessee, here at HitLab Studios. I have a special treat for you today. A world-renowned coach just finished up with Team USA, got some big things in the works and he's had an amazing career life here to tell you all about it Mr Bob Learn, also known as Mr 300.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Hey Jim.
Jim Cripps:Thanks for having me on. Absolutely, so we go. I'm not going to say way back, because I think if you say way back, we got to talk about.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, that would age us, that would age us.
Jim Cripps:And we'd have to be talking about when you started your career on tour. But I think you've lived just an amazing life already and you've got stuff cooking that's just going to blow people's minds. We're not going to spoil it for you, it's going to be at the end. And I mean just crazy. And I will say this I was introduced to you 20 something years ago Not to date is too much, but my dad, right after I started bowling around 2000, he sent me a recording of a video and it had you and Parker Bond and had Johnny Patraglia and several others on it and it was just kind of all the things about bowling. And of course it showed the clip of you there in Erie just dominating that day and you seemed larger than life. I mean, it was just. I would have never believed if we, if we fast forwarded 20 years later number one, that we would have bowled together several times, that we would become friends, that you know all that we would become friends, that all these things would have transpired. What was?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:it several years ago that got you into bowling. Well, it's a pretty simple question. I grew up in Erie, pennsylvania, an area known for its snowfall, and so in the winter there's a few things to do but be inside, and I grew up very close to a bowling center. My parents bowled, and when they got me started I was fascinated by it.
Jim Cripps:I love it and I remember you telling me that once you started bowling like you just wanted as soon as you got out of school you wanted to get to the bowling center that you had that kind of urge to get better and to do that every day. I mean, if you will kind of describe that, passion.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I mean it was bad really First time I bowled. You know that's all you think about putting spin on that ball and making it do some crazy things. Even at a young age I was drawn to that and my parents got me started in league at eight years old and that would be on a Saturday morning and Monday morning. I would be a poor student because all I could think about is Saturday getting back to the lanes and have my three games and try it again.
Jim Cripps:That's great. Now, did you practice a lot in between?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, not early on, but as time allowed. As I got a little older, I certainly got as much in as I could In the early days. I had to wait week to week for my opportunity to get there on Saturday. Oh, that had to seem like a lifetime. It did, it did. So. I was a poor student, but I was daydreaming about this opportunity and that dream has never really waned at all. I still feel the same way. I look forward to the next opportunity and, you know, that dream has never really waned at all. I still feel the same way. I look forward to the next opportunity and I really do think it has a lot to do with the fact that each time you go out there, it's a different, it's a different thing. It's not the same every time, absolutely.
Jim Cripps:Now I know we're skipping ahead just a little bit, but you know a lot of people struggle with the, the kind of the transformation between player and coach. Was that seamless for you, or did that go? How did?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:that go. It was seamless. It's something that I was always interested in doing helping others be better. Right, I felt like I wish I would have had a little bit more of that to draw on as a child doing what I did. But I certainly could pass on what I became known for and the information I had to offer. I felt I could really help others doing that. Gotcha Now, did you have a coach as a kid, just a Saturday morning kind of a you know, don't miss the head pin kind of guidance. But you know, I coached first, not bowling, but with my kids growing up little league, baseball, softball, anything that they were involved in. I became at least an assistant coach to it because I couldn't always be there but I would always be involved. I love it.
Jim Cripps:Now, throughout this, whether we're talking about when you were on tour or when you became a coach have you had a motto or kind of the code that you live and teach by, that type of thing?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, not really a model, but certainly all things are possible. I think it's a mindset All things are possible. And it kind of draws off of our sport because it's an ever-changing environment and there's good and bad times within the competition and you always have to be positive. You know times within the competition and you always have to be positive, being an opportunist, you know when it arrives to you right and then just be determined to work through those tough spots. And I think you know that's really where I think that's really carried me through a lot of things in life is that all things are possible through a lot of things in life.
Jim Cripps:is that all things are possible Now? Was that instilled in you from an early age or did you develop that and did that help you kind of strike out on tour?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, honestly, it wasn't there in my youth. I kind of felt that it was the opposite of that and I really you know it's a tough answer but an easy one at the same time. My mother grew up very poor and had a lot of baggage with that that she carried through life and she was a hard worker, she was smart and she had so much potential. I saw the potential in her but I certainly saw how that held her back because to a certain level she was comfortable and then she felt like the rest wasn't for her. And I saw that and I learned from it. Even at an early age. I was very aware of it and you know I wanted to be different than that. I wanted to believe that you know, things can happen and you know we'll talk about that a little bit, I'm sure, when we talk about my wife. Stacy Certainly helped, you know, helped that happen.
Jim Cripps:Absolutely, Absolutely. You know and we'll dive deep into spouse selection and how important that is just in life but it's the people that are around you that really help you shape into the person you're supposed to become.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah you talk about it takes a village. I mean that's just a great way to say it because it does. It's not one person, it's not one person, it's not two people. There's a lot of people that are part of your life at a certain time in your life that help you know, develop you as a person, and things that you draw off from you know and can relate to. When things are a little rough, you can kind of go back and go. You know, I remember, you know this happened or this person said this, and you draw from it.
Jim Cripps:Well, I think understanding that is probably one of the main reasons that you're such a great coach. And you know, when we first met, we were talking about 2007, I believe it was and we were going to bowl a bowl fest event. You were working for USBC back then and putting these events on. They were a trick fest event. You were working for USB-C back then and putting these events on. They were a trick shot show. And they had called me because of my unique style. That's well put and I never will forget and I'm so thankful for this.
Jim Cripps:You didn't cut me any slack, and what I mean by that is, for a lot of people, the fact that I bowled backwards was enough. And as soon as you saw me bowl, the next question was what kind of trick shots do you have? And back then I was struggling. So I was so putting so much effort into being taken seriously that the idea of doing a trick shot was so foreign. And you said, jim, I mean every great bowlers got trick shots. And so I mean in my head I was like, okay, if I ever get invited to do this again, I'm going to have trick shots.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:And you did when you came back, you had uh, more than one. Uh, really, really cool. You definitely spend time on it and I realized that, you know, it really came from the fact that we thought what you did was unique enough that it should be showcased. Right, because it was a draw for people and if you were able to throw some trick shots, you could do things that no one else doesn't trick shots because of your style, and that that would be a great draw and it would just bring more people. Uh, you know, attention to bowling and that's what it was all about.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, the bowl fest was about, you know, just bringing more attention to the sport well, and you know the pressure that I see especially, especially in trick shots, and I get that. I think the same is true under the lights, when it comes on. When the tour comes on TV, you know, on the weekends is nobody comes to see things tried. They come to be amazed. And and again I think it's whether we're talking about trick shots or whether they're talking about the pros bowling. You know they're on TV, they want to be amazed, and that's what the draw is. Uh, no different than us watching our, our favorite, uh, you know, home run sluggers or or whatever the sport, and so I took those trick shots very seriously.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, you know, I met a gentleman named Andy Verapapa who was known for trick shots uh, still to this day and a lot of the stuff that he did was in the fifties and sixties.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Uh, that's still in black and white out there and still amazing shots. And I had lunch with him and he was like 93, right before he passed, uh, in long island, and uh, I just asked him about his trick shots, how he did this, how he did that, and in our conversation he says you know, son, uh, it to me, people expected me to throw strikes if I did an exhibition. But if I shot 220 or 230 or 240 those are bigger scores back then, um, you know, they probably really wouldn't remember that because it was expected. But when I threw a couple balls, uh, you know, with one hand or one in each hand, you know something they would remember forever and just remember that. You know, with one hand or one in each hand, you know something they would remember forever and just remember that. You know, if you're in a position to be able to get in front of people, create some trick shots, do some things that will amaze them.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, well, I think my favorite part and I've said this in interviews before my favorite part about doing trick shots is, when you do a trick shot, that look of wonder that a child has. You see that on adults, true, and it's almost completely erased once somebody reaches teenage years. But when you see a 40, 50, 60, 70, 80-year-old person have that same look of wonder and disbelief that you see on children, it changes you and that's why I love trick shots there and I really look at it as that's the gift that you gave me in the sport of bowling, because without that push I would not have well, you know, with the social media today, it's all about seeing something you haven't seen before that amazes you and people you know, with social media today, it's all about seeing something you haven't seen before that amazes you and people get likes for that.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:We just didn't have social media back then. We just had to do it live and, like you said, it had to be good when you did it or it wasn't meaningful. So you want to be practiced at it.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, well, you know, and I think that's a that's a trust thing too, because you know we all have our pinnacle moments and you know, for me, a lot of people would think it would be the world's first 300 backwards. And don't get me wrong, I needed to check that box and it was a great day. But the pinnacle for me was Valentine's day, 2009, bowling with you guys in Vegas. And it's because Bowl Fest happened to be between the Masters, so the Masters was was it the Masters or the Open? The Open, the Open. So it was the day before the finals.
Jim Cripps:And so you had everybody that made their money, made their living in bowling, was in that building, and the guy that didn't fit was me, and I can remember we were practicing and a little bit of a crowd started building up of professionals, and to you it was nothing, and to Brian Voss it was nothing.
Jim Cripps:You guys had seen me bowl a lot of professionals, and to you it was nothing. And to Brian Voss it was nothing. You know you guys had seen me bowl a lot, and to have these other guys and ladies, you know, stop and pay attention, because you know that that's the who's who of bowling, and so you know we go live the next night and the first three trick shots were missed because I won't name names. But there was another act there and they didn't let us practice. And, um, you know, you can't miss trick shots in front of a live crowd. And so, number four, I'm up, and after that we just started knocking down trick shots, one after the other. The bowling gods were looking down on us with favor that day too. But it was just an amazing night. We had a lot of fun.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, you know, the thing about trick shots is most trick shots that we're trying to do in front of crowds aren't allowed in a bowling center. So you can't do too much of that in front of anybody. The bowling center, knowing that you're there for that reason, will allow you to do them, but you can't practice them out and have people try to copy it. Yeah, you know. So that makes a little difficult. So, yeah, when we get to these locations we need to have a little time to practice, because we really don't get a lot of time to perfect it. Uh, we've done it in the past, but you still need warm-up for it, you do.
Jim Cripps:And so, to come into that cold and you know, a couple of trick shots missed, a couple of people that don't normally throw trick shots. You know we, we had talked about that and you know I, I again, I'm very thankful for the fact that you kind of put that task on, task on me, that I needed to come with trick shots, and so I was ready and we had a lot of fun. I mean it was. I can remember being on cloud nine after we hit all those trick shots just back to back, to back to back.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, I mean, you know, even as, uh, someone who does trick shots, to see someone else do a different trick shot, it's like wow, he just did that, you know. So it's. It's just an amazing thing, even for myself, who does trick shots, to see someone else do something different. Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Jim Cripps:Now, it has not been just easy, clear sailing through your career and all these things. You've absolutely had some bumps along the way and you know, one of the main spirits of the Charge Forward podcast is our guests have a default to charge forward and to get through it. What would you say is one of the biggest things that you had to overcome or had to push through your career and transition to coaching?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I mean, I don't think we have enough time to talk about that. Sports, you know that is sports, right? There's an ebb and flow of positive and negative things that happen to you, but to persevere through that, I mean it is the power of positivity. There is really no other recipe for it. You believe that things can get better and you're optimistic, eternally optimistic. That's certainly something that I feel. I am, uh, definitely optimistic.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:No matter what, there's something good to draw from, and it may. You may have to go down a little ways and find something so small, but it's positive that you want to focus on. And if you start thinking about the negative and oh well, you know what was me and and everything then you're going to go down that rabbit hole and that's not where you want to be, you know, right? So I've not met too many people that have found success by thinking negatively, right, but I love being in a room of positive people. It's so easy to pick out what's wrong with something, but I want to be around people that say this is how we fix it. Yeah, let's be a part of this, the positive.
Jim Cripps:Absolutely Now, and I don't know what the numbers are, but how many people would you think that you have certified to become a bowling coach to this point?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I don't know what the number is either. I mean, it's a lot of people and it's not enough. It's not enough. No, I want to get as many people as I can in that field, because it helps grow the sport. How many people have you been in front? How many people have you coached? Thousands, but still not enough enough. Looking for the next opportunity.
Jim Cripps:Well, and you know, one of the things that I thought was, looking back on it, I don't know that it was that interesting, but I just don't know how often it had been done before. This would have been 2008 or 2009, during one of those events, obviously, where everybody was there. It may have been Vegas and I thought it was interesting that you took that opportunity to certify these professional bowlers as a group, take them all through coaching as a way to get a lot of coaches certified and continue to grow the sport. How did that kind of come about?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:continue to grow the sport.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:How did that kind of come about?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, I knew that I was able to influence a lot of people because of my background as a professional athlete right, I guess, become more believable in some of the things I was saying because I had more insight in certain aspects of the sport. So when I worked for USBC, I had a budget that I could use toward, you know, anything promotional, and I felt strongly that I should be spending all of it, at least in the early years there, in trying to get other people like myself certified to go out there and make impressions on others. And so I offered different levels of certification and paid for it, also gave them some presentation materials to be able to go out there and do it, and then asked them just to do their part, which was just a couple events a year. And if we did that, times how many people that were getting certified I'll be at 50, 60 at a time we could have impact and we did have impact. And so, again, it's about being positive influence and in our case it's in the sport of bowling.
Jim Cripps:You know, I think probably using just slightly different words, but I think you and I both use kind of the same lens is is it good for the sport of bowling? And anytime I was asked to do an event or, you know, speak at something or do those things, I would try to use that lens, because it was real easy for people to say that I was bad for the sport. And so you know, I worked really hard to try to be accepted and then also to check that box for being good for the sport and I think a lot of the things, well, I mean pretty well everything you've done throughout your career, whether it was as a professional on tour or just an advocate for the sport or a coach. Really, I think that's the lens that you use, coach, you know, really, I think that's that's the lens that you use.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, if I lived by other people's opinions, yeah, I don't think I'd get as nearly as far as I've gotten. Um, because you fall under their belief system, right. Who they believe you should be falls in line with, uh, you being a little bit less than they are in a lot of cases, and not on by end of that at all, right, uh, I'm going to be who I believe I can be, be the best version of me at all times. So, opinions though, I do listen to them, uh, you know, I don't. I don't really take it in and live my life by it.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, absolutely. Now you've done some amazing things, most recently just back from coaching Team USA.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:How'd that go Well. You know, it's always amazing working with the best athletes in America, getting to spend time with them, certainly be able to draw off of some of my past experiences as a player as well for team USA, uh, but we had a lot of success, uh, getting to see them in those moments where they are tested and then, uh, come through with flying colors, if you will. Um, it's amazing and I love being part of those moments. And, as a coach now I I still get to be involved in those moments because, as a coach now, I still get to be, you know, involved in those moments because I am throwing every shot as they are right, I'm living through every shot.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I told them, you know, at the end of our days that are 14, 15 hours and their days are half of that, because we have different divisions competing uh, they are even saying I, I'm beat. I'm like you should throw every shot of every player. You're throwing just your own, but I get it because you're putting everything you have into it. But as a coach, you're really wearing it on your sleeve the whole time. But I enjoy it, you know. It's meaningful, it's impactful and to be a part of it is just it makes you feel alive.
Jim Cripps:It's one of those things that is exhausting but also gives you fuel. Yes, absolutely yeah.
Jim Cripps:So at the end of the day, you're just, you're completely wiped out, 100%. You know, one of my favorite things about having done those events with you guys, you know, which has now been 15 years ago, which is seems crazy, but the, it was the after event when we all went to dinner, you know, you, you got every. You know Carolyn, you've got, uh, carmen, yourself, brian, balls, like just all these amazing people that have done amazing things in the sport. And to hear you guys tell stories and, you know, just kind of blow off steam, to me that was beyond the actual. You know, throwing the ball and getting the result and seeing the crowd, that to me was my second favorite part, because just the experiences of everybody, I mean you're kind of getting to live a little piece of that.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:It's my favorite part as well. You know as much time as I can get in a room and talk about things and tell stories. I mean that's just. That makes it, you know, just an awesome experience, even for someone who's been part of it, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a sport that hasn't always got full respect, and certainly during the 90s we were at our apex and we had a lot of people watching us on TV when we proceeded to Wide World of Sports, which is a great program. Everybody sat on Saturdays and watched bowling prior to that, and you know, when that went away, things changed dramatically. So we talk about the good old days and they truly were because of where bowling was at that time.
Jim Cripps:Well, you know, as an optimist, you know I feel this way. We haven't talked about this, but I feel like every opportunity that we have in order to positively impact bowling, we're, we're, we're trying to give it that chance to have have a new heyday. And, you know, I think one of the big things that I saw you do is, you know, you, you went into a college that did not have a program and built the program from the ground up and within just a couple years, uh, had had real success.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:so, if you will kind of kind of walk us through how that opportunity presented itself and and in the experience, when you uh, when you first met me, I was part of the coaching department at usbc and um, part of what we saw positive in our sport was the fact that college programs were growing and high school was kind of supporting that, because high school bowling was growing In fact, the fastest growing sport in both high school and college and we put an importance on what that meant for our sport. So when I left the department, my ambition was that I wanted to be part of this movement, and college was certainly something that I was interested in. When I left USBC, I went to Michigan and ran a training center as well as was involved in sales with a company in Michigan, but my eyes were always set on the right college program. The program that I did end up reaching out to, it had been established, but it was very small, right, it hadn't really had a lot of success. It had some success, but it was like the kind of program I wanted to be a part of.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I didn't want to go in and manage a program that's already known and already able to recruit whoever to keep them strong, but I really wanted to go in and find people that were under the radar, grow them as players, as people, and be able to build something special. And that's really what we got to do there. We went from 13 active players when I arrived and there was actually some good talent sitting there. They just needed help. My wife helped quite a bit in this endeavor.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:We ended up building up to 48 kids in a program, having five teams that traveled in conference events and then, of course, tier one events and whatnot. We traveled with just varsity, but it didn't take us long to start winning and I knew that I was in the right space, that I was able to take all this experience that I had as a player as I gained into coaching a world that I could actually have an impact in this arena. And you know, we were number one in the country when the program closed and that's a whole nother story in itself, but we were number one. So we came a long way, which was fulfilling, and I have such great connections with my players. They still reach out weekly, if not daily, so it's great to have that kind of impact on other people's lives.
Jim Cripps:Well, and it's not just a blip in time. I mean, you, you've, you've been out of that program for over a year now.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah.
Jim Cripps:And still you talk to those players daily, weekly. You know you're part of their life, You're part of it. You changed the direction for many, or possibly all of them.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, I certainly instilled belief in oneself Possibly all of them. Well, I certainly instilled belief in oneself, you know, made them believe yeah, initially we weren't that team, but getting them to believe that we were and then walking in and realizing that in fact we were that team for people to be and people looked at us like that For them to see that transformation in themselves. Yeah, you know, it was amazing and I think I know, I should say I know, uh, from conversations with them, that they appreciate that time that we had together, uh, that they felt that it really trans, it was transformational for them.
Jim Cripps:Do you think that the one of the reasons that that's suchational for them? Do you think that the one of the reasons that that's such a big part of what you bring to the table as a coach is that mindset shift? Because you had to have that mindset shift yourself?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Oh, absolutely. I mean, I came from a small town, um, in an area that no one had ever gone out on tour, and made it up until you know I was an adult player. Then a few of us went out and had success. But when someone you know you're talking to says, well, you can't go out there with those people, no one from here ever has going back to people's opinion and say, no, I'm going to work hard, I'm going to make this happen and go out and do it and then prove it to yourself, that, in fact, that you, you, you did it because of the power of positive thinking and hard work that you can make, that that that's a recipe for success for anyone.
Jim Cripps:Yeah absolutely Well, and you know I'm going to skip ahead just a little bit and I'm going to address everybody and say this next part please pay attention to this. It is just incredibly impactful for your life, bob. How important is it to have the right partner, to have the right spouse that supports you, that you live this life with all the way.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I mean, it's everything for me. I can speak on that. Going back to what I said was a difficult answer was to talk about some of the thoughts that I was dealt. You know, growing up and the fact that it's not for us, you know, it's not going to happen, you know, and kind of pigeonholing, thinking. Well, my sister worked in a salon and I came home for a haircut and there was this new girl in the salon and I asked my sister who this new girl was and if you could ask her if she was busy, because I think I want to meet her and see if she'll cut my hair for me. And I met this girl named Stacy and we went on a date the next night and, well, it changed my life.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Um, she's been such a great support. She. The first thing she said to me is like um, you throw this ball, amazing, and why haven't you done more in a sport? And I'm like, wait, what? Uh, no one had ever quite said it to me like that. And her belief in me in all things sense, and following whatever path I was taking and believing in that and supporting that has been amazing, and it's not easy to find someone like that. She has supported me from day one.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:The other is she gave me purpose. We had a family and that never, let me say, I quit Right, because it was having that whole, you know package that you needed to drive you because you couldn't give up, you had to keep going. You had to keep going and work harder and. But she always supported that. And she, in fact, would be like what are you doing? Today? I'm like well, I thought I'd take the kids. Well, don't you have to practice? You know like, no, go, practice first, we'll be okay, we'll wait to get back.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:And you know I had a pretty strong regimen as far as how much time I put uh into it and she didn't want that to change. Even when I became comfortable on tour and made quite a bit more money, she's like no, that's what got you there. You can't now just kick back, go. I made it because you're gonna fall right back. So she saw that and she made me work harder than uh. You know I wanted to simply because I want to be with my family more, and, and she understood that. But she said, no, you're doing this for us, you're going out there and you're doing this for us, so you are taking care of your family.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, no, I love it, and I think we think very similar in that regard, because I do think it is, the most important decision of your life is who you choose to spend your life with and the life that you build together, and so good, bad or ugly, you know, it is that important and I think we both got just incredibly lucky. You know, the heavens shined out on us and we found the person we were supposed to be with. My favorite story of you and Stacey is that day in Erie 1996. You're crushing it, but she reminded you that there was more on the table. Oh yeah.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well you're referring to the day that I broke all the records on. Abc Sports, which still stands today. I love it. And going back to, like you said, a device moment, I had just pulled a perfect game, the first game in front of my hometown crowd, on a $100,000 bonus right. And of course I'm just like, oh my God, what a hundred thousand dollar bonus Right. And of course.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I'm just like oh my God, what a great moment. Blah, blah, blah. And you get caught up in that, uh, because you're so excited about what just happened. Then we went out of, uh, commercial break and started our next match and I had not struck twice on the same lane, starting our match. And we went back to commercial break and she's like what are you doing? What do you mean? What am I doing? I just pulled 300 and 100,000. I mean, this is great.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:She goes no, no, you need to figure this out because you're not here just for that. You've always wanted to win in your hometown. You need to figure something out because you didn't strike twice on that lane. And I sat and I thought about it and I'm like, wow, okay, so I just threw perfect game, but I do need to make a change, it's evident. Okay, so I made a choice to a ball. Actually that wasn't working that well in practice, but I knew that it was going to give me the ball motion I needed now and came out and struck out that game to win by a pin 269 against my 270. So it was at the right time. Nine against my 270. So it was at the right time.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:And maybe look at really what the big picture was versus the moment that I was living in. So, yeah, it had. I would never have had all those records if she hadn't kind of set me straight in that moment. But I think, historically, when it has been done on television, that was the end for many. They didn't win the next because you know, you have a lot going on in your mind, you're not as focused as you needed to be.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:But she reset my focus and as the day went on, I was put into some pretty unique situations where I had to really prove myself in a 10th each game and it couldn't have been really a better day to be able to prove yourself as an athlete. In fact, chris Shankle, who was the voice of the PBA and a you know broadcast room, he said to me and he had covered sports of you know, I mean every sport yeah, he was well-known, and he came up to me and goes, bob, he goes. That is the greatest and most impressive individual performance that I've ever seen in sport. And I'm like what Chris Shankle just told me this, uh, and I'll never forget that.
Jim Cripps:I love it. Uh, again, I. I think it's one of those things that goes back to the people that really care about you, hold you accountable, and you know, obviously Stacy is an amazing partner, you know, and and she held you accountable at the right time. There wasn't a moment to waste, because that was going to be a dog fight all the way to the end and but you were up to the task and I think a lot of that was mindset, A lot of that was the training regimen. You know, I remember having a conversation all those many years ago and he said you know, I was, I was bowling a minimum of 20 games a day, and that blew my mind. But then, at the same time, if you look at what kind of pressure you are under when you are on tour, how many games you're going to bowl and you've got to, you can't be exhausted in that. You've got to be at your peak.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Right, we do 50 in a in a four day period-day period of competition, which is worse than just going out there and throwing it right as far as taxing, because it's mental as well. Yeah, so you're conditioned to do what you do. It doesn't matter what sport you are, you need to condition yourself in that, right? Yeah, and so, yeah, I can. Honestly, today, today I could still bowl 20 games in a day. You know, I'm 62 and I don't have any problems doing that because it's been my whole life. Yeah, uh, training like that.
Jim Cripps:So but you've also stayed in pretty good shape too. You know, part of it is just the training regimen you've had, but also, I mean it's a conscious effort, because there's plenty of 62 year olds out there that are not in anywhere near the shape that you are, and for them to go out and bowl a couple games would be something, but I think, just pretty much any sport. If you wanted to go out and do it, you wouldn't have any hesitation.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:No, not at all. No, in fact, you know where we lived in Pennsylvania. We had a nice property and we had a lot of things going on. We had a lot of friends coming over and we had a lot of activity volleyball. We had a regulation, you know, court set up at our backyard. We lived on a golf course and we had a lot of space behind it. So, you know, we did, we did to stay active all the time.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:And if someone asked me today hey, you want to go play volleyball? Yeah, absolutely, I would jump in. I'm like, of course, and I wouldn't quit until they quit. You know. And you know, my kids are the same way. You know, they've trained, I guess, under that same belief system that all things are possible. And you know, my daughter's a softball player. They won states in Pennsylvania, which is the first state title for our school.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:So, you know, but she never, you know, thought any other way than, yeah, we can do this, you know, and she was big on that and she's very successful in life. She's a head fashion designer in New York city and, uh, she never looked back. She believes that all things are possible. And my son is really successful and, uh, believes all things are possible and we just don't live in a space of negativity. You know, and what do you draw? That's that. It's good for that, right. So I think probably the greatest gift is the fact that not only was I introduced to more positive people, but then I was able to actually make that something that I get to pass on to my kids.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, absolutely. I mean because that's why we do these things right. And don't get me wrong, there's a selfish part of it. We want to experience life. We do these things right, and don't get me wrong, there's there's a selfish part of it. We want to experience life. But as soon as you become a dad, then it becomes about how do I, how do I best represent to inspire them to live the best life they could possibly have? Right? And I remember us having that kind of conversation before I had kids. You know, I can remember us. This was in Albuquerque, I think, 2007. And I think Brittany was just about ready to graduate high school. Yep.
Jim Cripps:And looking at going into college and those types of things, and I remember you just lighting up about talking about her and Brandon, both just all the things they had going on, and I wasn't a dad yet so I didn't you know I could it in in the way that you talked about them. But I think it's something that you have to feel at first person before you really understand. It gives your life purpose.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:It does, it does. Um, it's not just about you, right? Uh, there's a great responsibility goes along with that, but yeah, it's. If someone said you know what, what's one thing that you can say that made you feel successful in life? It was my family. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Jim Cripps:Well, and I think that's also why you have such a passion for coaching, because I know, at least for me, when I'm coaching someone in the most passionate space that I work in, it's almost like I'm parenting that person. And I think you've found the same. Oh, for sure.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, I mean well one. You're trying to get them to believe in themselves and you're trying to draw off of how you want to talk to your own children, right, Want them to believe that all things are possible, they can achieve this. And the great thing is when you see them starting to blossom because you have instilled that thought that made them believe they could be better than they are, and that they see that success. And the greatest payback is that you do see the smile, you do see them light up. You know it makes it worthwhile. For sure, when I wake up I can't wait to do it again because I know I have another opportunity for it.
Jim Cripps:That's right and you know, I think, the calls that you get from your, you know the kids that you coach through college and other other programs you you get to see, you get that feedback. You know, for me one of the things that I attacked when I uh was was running a big company here in Nashville is I taught my team members how to manage their money and about a month and a half ago I got the 11th phone call that a team member had paid off their house. That's awesome and you know, much like you. Changing someone's mindset that's kind of what I was doing in that space is changing their mindset that they can own a home, that they don't always have to have a payment, that you can do this. And you know, once you give that person hope in one area of their life, it carries through to the others. So you're, you're teaching that, yes, in the sport of bowling, but they're, they're going to grow that mindset so that they believe anything's possible.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Right. I mean that it's okay for them to be successful. That's another piece of that, you know, because a lot of people do get to a level of comfort and it usually is extended from what they knew growing up and it kind of puts them in that space and that's okay if they're happy, but without realizing that that becomes a comfort and that there's more for them if they want it and believe it in the fact that it's okay for you to be more successful than that.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, performance matters and I think people in sports understand that. And the further you're removed out of sports, a lot of times it's missed. And so I think that you know youth sports is very critical. To teach that piece. Yeah, you know, and you know this kind of gets into our things. We think, but do not say segment. But you know it's okay for performance to matter and you know we've kind of watered this society down a bit to where everybody wants a participation trophy and nobody wants to keep score and all these things. And at the end of the day you don't want to get to the end of your life and have accidentally ended up with a participation trophy. You want to have lived and be able to kind of hang your hat on these pinnacle moments that shaped your life. Yeah.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:That you got to do things you never initially dreamed that could happen. Yeah.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:That you were able, like you said, not looking to just stop there, but there's other things that you never dreamed possible and going out there and achieving those things and, yeah, I mean you can't say enough about that. You know, I had people from my hometown when I first moved away and I love living there and I loved everybody there. I'm a people person and I enjoy talking to people and knowing more about who they are and what makes them tick. But when I left there, I had a lot of people going. You moved away, like you can't leave. I'm like you moved away, you can't leave.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I'm like what do you mean? I can't leave? They're like, well, you don't care about it. I'm like it has nothing to do with it. There's places I want to go and I can't get there. If I stay here, I have to go somewhere else to make it happen, and I really thought that was strange. But it goes back to being comfortable, wanting to be around people. You really have to be able to separate yourself from that and go. If I'm going to get there, I'm going to have to be uncomfortable for a little bit to achieve that, and I think that's where a lot of people get stuck is they don't want to be uncomfortable. Nobody wants to be uncomfortable, nobody.
Jim Cripps:Nobody wants to be uncomfortable, nobody. Everybody wants to be in their comfort space, but you have to get uncomfortable if you're going to choose something else. That you obviously goes right back to not believing. And you know, maybe it's way. I think you had one student that was a long way from home and you know first time away all the things. I mean that's scary for that guy, but what?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:an experience to step into.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:That's where mama learn came in right being that mother figure for many of them and you know know, showing love, you know truly love, caring about them, making sure that they're getting their work done, you know, because we can't keep them around if they're not getting their work done. That's right. And Stacey was very much the same with our own kids. Like no, you need to study, you need to do this. She's very black and white in how she operates.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I run more off of passion and she's more black and white. And how she operates, I'm more. I run off more off of passion and she's more black and white, which balances us Right. That's right and keeps me in check a little bit, because I do anything for anyone. She goes hey, I know you're like that and I love you for that, but there's a you guys, you know you got to give yourself a little bit more time for yourself and for us. You know, and and in, uh, in any event, uh. She showed that to them. They felt that from them. They appreciated that because she again was mom and made it more comfortable for them.
Jim Cripps:Oh yeah, and she was integral in that college program. I mean to put credit where credit is due, and I know you, you talk about her all the time she made that thing. I mean she stepped credit where credit is due, and I know you talk about her all the time she made that thing. I mean she stepped in, started helping, coaching all the things. She not only mothered them, but she coached them too.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, absolutely, you know, and I've had a number of people not a few, a number that have said man, your wife supports you like no other, you know. And I said she does, she does, we're, we're a team, you know. And uh, I still call her a girlfriend after all these years. Uh, but uh, you know, I, I just can't imagine life without her.
Jim Cripps:Oh, no, absolutely not. And and I think that's the key is, you guys are a team and you know that was one of the reasons Emily and I we got married kind of late in life is. As I was kind of going through early life, my parents were a great team. They still are today, and it's not one of those things where they're not great individuals. They're both great individuals. They don't have to have each other, but they are better together than they are apart, and I think you and Stacey are the same way For sure, like it's the yin and yang. It's it's. You know she's more black and white, you're more fueled by passion, but together you've built this amazing life, raised two amazing kids. Now you got grandkids in the mix. You've raised a college program. You've raised a college program. You've helped so many others live out their dreams on tour and you've got some big boy exciting things coming up too.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Another chapter. Another chapter.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, one heck of an adventure. So do we want to share with everybody today what that looks like?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Sure, all right, and you talk about getting out of your comfort, right?
Jim Cripps:Well, it's way outside the comfort zone.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, so through this sport I've gotten to travel the world and, oddly enough, there's one state I haven't been in yet, which is Maine. Okay, but I've been to so many countries through this wonderful sport. This wonderful sport, I was given an opportunity recently to become national coach for United Emirates Arab Emirates, and so I'll be living in Dubai. I accepted it. I was there four years ago. Wonderful place, it's really an amazing place, so I knew what I was signing on to, but it gives me a whole nother experience now, not just as a Team USA coach and working with the best in our country, but now I'm getting experience at an international level coaching, which will be a whole nother dynamic in itself and it honestly will fill, I guess, my resume because I've done all these, know, all these other things. But that was one left and, yeah, I'm going to go for it and I'm excited for it. I know the very first event that we have is only two weeks into. When I arrive, we'll be in Cairo for like 11 days. So I get to see the pyramids and who wouldn't want to see that? Right? And it's going to take me to many places that I haven't been yet and to be able to work with people I haven't worked with yet and then inspire, hopefully, a whole nother group of people to be, you know, more in love with this sport.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Grow the sport In the country, country. They certainly are about trying to grow sport. Uh, they have success in the program. They've had success ed a friend of mine, mika koivinemi from originally from finland, but he's lived in the states for many years, uh, leaving that program after seven years. Okay, so I know it's been in good hands that I can go in, but that even even talking to you know, mika, he's like hey man, they're looking for you to go in and do your thing and bring new things to the program. So don't don't really, you know, think about what I've done be you, go in there and and make the changes happen.
Jim Cripps:What an incredible compliment from him. Yeah, you know, to not say, say, hey, this is how I've run it. You know a lot of people would pat it right, yeah. And he's saying, no, you're next, they need you on it.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah yeah, yeah, so I'm, I'm excited, um, I know it's uh quite a ways from home. Um, I will be able to come back and forth and my kids have already said to come visit Uh, so you know, um, we'll see how long I can endure that. Um, I don't. It'll be moments of loneliness, of course, being separated, but, uh, in today's world you can't keep connected. So that's right, uh, it makes it easier than ever. Yeah.
Jim Cripps:Well, and I, you know, one of the things that I've noticed about you over the last whatever, almost 20 years is, whether you feel it or not, I feel like you've never met a stranger. I mean, you can walk into a room and literally you're just one conversation to the next and got a couple new friends, and so I think, especially with the size of the American population there in Dubai, I think it's going to be like a second home.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, there's a lot of expats who live there. There's certainly, I think it's 300,000. So there's many people that you get to meet while you're over there. And I've already had three reach out to me that I was unaware that spend time there and they're like, yeah, I'm going to come, I'll see you, we'll get together. But I'm like, okay, this makes it better, right, yeah, it's, it's been a wonderful life and I know there's more that I can, that I can reach for here, and and I'm just looking to embrace that I'm going to miss a lot of people from this area.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Um, columbia, tennessee, is a wonderful place, um, and so is, you know, erie, pennsylvania and in florida, where I've lived and, uh, I've enjoyed every bit of that. But you're right, um, I really don't feel like I've ever met a stranger. There's always something to talk about, there's always something to connect to, yeah and uh, oddly enough, when I was a kid I was shy. I was shy, but it goes back to believing, you know, that I was good enough. Yeah, and at a certain point I came out of that shell and certainly, going out on tour when I was young opened me up to that. That. Wait, you know this is. There's a whole different thing out here, because you had a lot of people that believe they were. Yeah, could be. Oh yeah.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:And and were because of it. So, yeah, but I went from a very shy person to, yeah, meeting any, any and everyone, and and connecting yeah.
Jim Cripps:Now to connect a little bit for our bowlers out there that are watching, your style was way different when you came on tour than than than the other guys out there, and I think we talked about this a few years ago. You kind of felt like it led to why you were able to play for so long and so, if you will kind of shed some light on that, you know you were, you were not the norm when you came out.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, the sport you know you were, you were not the norm when you came out. Well, the sport, you know, was taught a certain way. Um, and I didn't fit that mold. Um, I was always felt, you know that legs are important in every sport and I was definitely a leg player, I use my legs a lot and, um, it's just like if you're throwing a baseball and you're not stepping into the throw, uh, you know you're not powerful and that weighs ounces.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:And here we are with a 15 or 16 pound ball. Yeah, and they're teaching or telling me not to use my legs. I thought that was absurd. I'm like, no, I, I definitely need to use my legs. And so, yeah, people looked at like this is really weird or different.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:But I was really trying to emulate one of the players I knew growing up, marshall holman, who really brought a lot of energy to the sport, and the only difference was he held the ball down and had his opposite hand on that to support the weight and mine was just holding on to it with one hand. But, honestly, similar situation as far as posture, footwork, swing, all that was very close if you compare it, even though it looked different because I was just holding it with one hand and, in fact, our sport with two-handed bowling being, you know, the way of the world now. In fact, the last camp I had with the youth at USA men's camp, 16 of the 18 were two-handed. Wow, that's a big change, yeah, and everyone goes oh, two-handers, you know they're doing this to the game, this and that. Well, I hate to tell you, but I might be one of the only one-handed bowlers that actually existed, right, because I never even had my second hand on it. So we were all two-handed bowlers to a certain point in our sport, in our game.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:But yeah, I was talked down from that. In fact, people tried to change me. That helped me in coaching, because I was not looking to make someone fit a mold, but to make them a better player than what they were doing, what they do. Yeah, certain things have to be in place, but you don't need to look like that person. In fact, let's look at it for what it is. You can find the best players ever and they all look different. So why are we trying to put them into this one little box, try to make them look the same? It doesn't make sense.
Jim Cripps:Sure, Well and I mean that's across any sport, that's across anything is when you, when you get to that elite level, they're not going to fit the mold. There will be some that do, but there's always going to be these nuances. And so for us, in any sport, to really just clamp down on somebody and go no, that's not how you do it. Now, obviously, some things, I mean I wouldn't tell somebody to go learn how to bowl backwards. That's probably not, uh, not the direction to go. But you know these nuances, coaches are there to help improve, but not necessarily flip it on its head Right.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, look at the Fosbury flop. What did that do to the sport? Right, you have this guy who would have been laughed at. What are you doing Until he could achieve greater heights? And they go wait a sec, wait a sec. He's doing something here, much like two-handed when it was introduced. Like what is this? This is a joke, right? Yeah, but as we see it, it's more efficient and we see that efficiency finding its way to the top of our sport. So you know, going back to people's opinions, yeah, guided by opinion or belief that you know what you to people's opinions, yeah, guided by opinion or belief that you know what you're doing is correct.
Jim Cripps:Yeah Well, and you've got to live your life in, in your belief.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:You have to own it, yeah.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, and and own the bad too. I mean that's, that's one of the things. A lot of people don't want to take ownership for their life, so they allow the opinion to push them around, so that then they have something to blame it on you are so right with that comment I mean, you are spot on with that um, what do you think is something that you would throw into that?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:things we think, but do not say category well, in our sport, I mean, there's there's negative things that you can pick up, and so many people will promote the negative If it was like this, if it was like that. Well, that's the easy stuff. It's obvious. We all see it, we can talk about it. But what I want to know is how can we change it, how can we make it better? Yeah, so I keep that in my head, but I would love to just, you know, say it more to people like hey, listen, we see it too. You're not the only one. And don't take pride in speaking out on it, because you're just stating the obvious. Yeah, take pride in doing something positive to change it.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, and change is hard and getting people to accept change is hard. We've noticed that because there's actually something you and I are working together on to try to help bowling in, and that's in the merchant services or credit card processing part of of the bowling proprietor space and trying to get them to understand that they can save money to put back in their business or they can use that, they can leverage that, uh, through a program that we have at charge, forward solutions in order to fund their youth programs. And everybody's just so stuck in their head that they're resistant to change. And you know, it's kind of one of those things we're. We're over here going, hey, we're willing to help, we want to be great for bowling, we want to help you grow bowling specifically in your youth programs, but to keep centers open and still it's, it's like pulling teeth, it's a no brainer.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:What you're doing is awesome and, uh, I think some people are just not motivated enough to go. It's going to take a little bit of work to figure out, but the upside is great and it's it's like a no, it's just a no brainer because they're really not having to put that much work in it, cause I mean, quite honestly, you're doing the work right, you just need the information to work with.
Jim Cripps:That's right. Well, it was born out of, you know, the youth program in Clarksville actually is, you know, and like most youth programs, it's the same kids that they get to come around with the 50-50 bucket or the same fundraising program every week and it just wears everybody out. And it's not that they don't care about the youth program, it's just they bowl three nights a week and they've been hit up all three nights and it's already expensive enough to bowl all three nights and to have new equipment and all the things. And so it was really kind of born out of that space of okay, how else could we look at this? How could we automate the fundraising so that it didn't cost the proprietor any money, so that it didn't you know it. It kind of automated the, the funds coming into the youth program and we've really we've got an amazing program. It's just getting people to listen long enough to understand just how great it is. And so I'm excited to keep working with you on that front, uh front, to really try to make an impact.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Absolutely Looking forward to keeping that going, even from afar. That's right.
Jim Cripps:That's right. You know, one of the big things that we've obviously talked about quite a few times throughout this is getting that mindset right. Getting that mindset right. What is something else outside of mindset that you think that, regardless of whether we're talking about the sport of bowling, another sport or just in daily life, what is something somebody can can take from our conversation and go. You know what I'm going to plug that in in order to make my life better.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, I mean, nothing happens without action, right, that's right. So if I, if I want to get up, if I'm hungry, I have to get up and go grab some food, right, that's right. But that's easy because we're hungry and we need something, well, you need to be hungry, right, to go do something different, to be able to grow, uh, but you have to. You can only get that through action. To sit there and hope that it happens, I mean, it's just not the right recipe for success. It takes action. And you know it, we've all heard it action speaks louder than words.
Jim Cripps:When it goes back to that accountability piece, because if I'm expecting it to come to me, then I have somebody else to blame, whereas if I take control of it, taking that action and taking on that accountability puts me in a better spot. Good, bad or ugly, I may fail, but if I learn something along the way, I'm more likely to get back up and try again. And you know, I think throughout your entire career you have charged forward right into the storm in order to come out better on the other side.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, and when you're saying that, it does remind me of some of the conversations I had with my college kids. You know I would always tell them you know, if you don't own every shot, good or bad, you have to own the bad ones to grow. You can't grow unless you accept that to grow from. If you're perfect in everything you're doing, there is no growth, and so people would like to blame others for their space that they're in.
Jim Cripps:That's right. We actually do not have time to dive deep into this one, but the next time I have you on, I want us to talk specifically to bowlers out there and give them a nugget on surface, because I did not. I still don't fully understand surface, but when you were teaching your college team, I came out and we, we had a couple of chats and I learned more about bowling ball surface in just our couple conversations than I, than I have in the last 20 X years, and I think that is just a critical piece that more people need to know and understand. It's the greatest tool in your bag, that's right.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Need to know and understand. It's the greatest tool in your bag. That's right, it really is. Um, we can buy bowling balls all we want. Of course, practice makes the bowler better, but once you are better, better ball motion makes the the bowler better, and so that's where surface comes in yeah, it's those tweaks and you understanding it well enough in order to do it is the difference, absolutely.
Jim Cripps:Now I noticed your shirt there. We've got some mutual friends. We both love the guys over at Brunswick, so I think we give them a big shout out today. They've been with you the whole way, right.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:They have. They supported me in my bowling and they certainly support me in my coaching. They know that that's really where my love is now. Even though I'm still competitive in what I do on the lanes, they see the greater benefit in what I'm doing is going out there and making other people better.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, absolutely it's the impact. It's the impact that you have better. Yeah, absolutely it's the impact. It's the impact that you have and, uh, and I'm thankful for great people like brian graham. Uh, over there, you know, hidden, leading the way, it doesn't help that we have lots of people.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, that's right. That's right, bugsy, another oh yeah, absolutely.
Jim Cripps:um, now let's just say hypothetically, we're gonna going to have a bowling challenge on TV. Everybody is going to be watching. It's our job to make sure that we put together the right team so that as many eyes as possible get on it. You're captain of the team who?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:are your four bowlers? Well, I mean, if you're drawing to today's crowd. Anybody and everybody. Yeah, I mean my dream would be able to pull the grades from each you know Era, Each era.
Jim Cripps:Okay.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:So who are we putting on the team? Well, dick Weber, I mean, because he had such an impact in my life yeah, being on the same staff and traveling and seeing him work with people and whatnot. So, dick Weber, for sure. Mark Roth, marshall Holman one of those two would have to be on my team, going through up until the two-handed. Walter Ray is one more than anybody and still has, and I feel like he doesn't get full respect for that. But who wouldn't want that guy on your team when you need one?
Jim Cripps:Well, and I think that is from a. You know, I don't want to say he's a quiet player, but he gets it done and he steps off the lane and I think, especially at that time, the TV ratings needed somebody with more pizzazz. And it was kind of one of those things where walter get up there and his pizzazz is making the shot over and over and over and over and making it look easy.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah you know, but for some it's easy. Every time he bulls me, I know that, but then, yeah, then you had someone like norm Norm Duke, who did play to the crowd, who people fell in love with, but hadn't won as much as Walter, yeah, and yet they look at him as being one of the greatest ever because there was that appeal, right that?
Jim Cripps:showmanship Yep, yeah, so who's the last?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:one on the team. Well, I mean, belmonte has had such an impact on the sport that I'd want him on my team because he's been able to do so much. And let's be honest, he's been very successful on the lanes, but more successful in social media, yeah, something that a tool that we never had to build on when we were at, you know, in our you know in our career, where we're drawing people, uh, to the sport. He's been able to be really successful in that, and so yeah for what he's done for the sport.
Jim Cripps:Absolutely and seems like he's got a good balance on it all and and that you know, got a, got a growing family and you know obviously having to split time, you know in the States and abroad, and then obviously there and then Australia, which you know in the States and abroad, and then obviously there and then Australia, which you know. You guys traveled quite a bit Europe and Japan, et cetera, throughout your career too.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, it's a long trip, right? So he makes that trip all the time and that's amazing. Yeah, it really is. He's done more traveling than anybody to play on tour.
Jim Cripps:That's right and that's that's that drive, that's that passion for it and at the same time he's you know, I've never met his wife, but I'm sure she's she's got to be an amazing sport system in order to get out there and do that.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, there's, you know. Think about being on tour and even though he's traveling continents um, I'm just traveling, you know, from my home base but there's a lot of lonely time for our spouses. They're home, they're taking care of things, they're taking care of the kids and we're out doing what we're doing, providing for them, yes, but talk about an amazing person that will go through that and support what you're doing and yet still having to deal with everything while you're out there doing what you love yeah, and then not make you feel a certain way about it when you get back, though you do, you know, I mean well, you do.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I always felt guilty.
Jim Cripps:There's always going to be that, but. But knowing that they're supporting you and that this is a team effort changes the way it feels long term yep, yep, yeah.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, whenever we were having dinner and things were running along and I needed to make a phone call home, guess where I was at, that's right. And everyone's like why didn't you hang out with us? I'm like I'd rather hang out with my family.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, you know nothing personal guys. Absolutely All right. We have a little bit of fun with this one kind of tagging along with the bowling team. I think I probably know the answer, but who's going to commentate this bowling team in order to get the crowd fired up, in order to raise as much money as possible for charity?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Well, I did speak on the voice of bowling in my mind, but you have to throw Bo Burton in with that, because that was the team when we were on ABC Sports. So Chris Shankle, bo Burton, I think they balance each other very well.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, absolutely. What an amazing team there.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yes.
Jim Cripps:That's great. I'm going to change it just a little bit. If you had to pick a doubles partner today to go out and bowl one event, who would you want to bowl with?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Wow, that's a tough one.
Jim Cripps:And I'm going to. I'm going to make it even tougher.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Throughout history, anybody, alive or otherwise, you know, I never got to see Don Carter bowl, but he was obviously amazing. He had an unbelievable streak prior to the tour starting in 1958. And so I never got to see him on the lanes, never got to compete against him, but he had to be just an amazing player and so to be able to spend time on lanes with, you know, dawn. As a choice for a man, you had marion ledwick and, uh, honestly, judy sutar or judy oddsley was her name. She was a phenom. Uh, in her teens she bowled professionally. Yeah, so there's, there's, there's a number of players that you could choose, but I would just think someone I haven't had a chance to compete with yet. Yeah and uh, you know, not many people know this, but don carter was the first million dollar athlete. He had the first million dollar contract in any sport.
Jim Cripps:I did not know that.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:That was in bowling.
Jim Cripps:That's huge. That's huge. Yeah, I did not know that. You know, one of the things that strike me is a lot of times you when to make that call, like you're talking about, when you called Stacy. But I think you do that with your friends too, even those you haven't talked to in a long time. And the reason I say that is after we did that event in 2009 in Vegas I guess it was 2012 I got asked to be the grand opening entertainment with Johnny Petraglia down at Disney's first bowling center and we were on, I think, 75 channels.
Jim Cripps:Basically, we just went lane to lane to lane. I threw one ball, he threw one ball and whatever they got was what they got. And, of course, they all wanted strikes and they wanted trick shots and you name it. They wanted all the things. And out of the blue, you know, I'm headed back to Nashville and you gave me a call and said hey, I heard you got to bowl with my good buddy, johnny, down in down in Disney. I heard you did great and I needed that phone call. I you know it was uh, my dad had gone down there with me that week not too, not too different than this week and actually got an infection and had to be flown home to have emergency surgery, and so he actually missed being there for for the event when when Johnny and I went live and then kind of repeating that this this week. So I think it's just opportune timing that we were supposed to be in the studio today well, I always appreciate uh time in front of you, man.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Uh, we do speak. You know the same language. Uh, and again, being around positive people you know I can't spend.
Jim Cripps:I can't not enough time spent around people like yourself well, I think we get to choose who we spend our time with most of the time, and I think the we get, the more selective we are with that, because we go. You know what. I've only got X number of days. I don't know how many days that will be left on this planet, but I'm not going to spend it with somebody that that pulls the energy out of me. It's that, um, it's that creative energy that that creates more, creates more when two people with a positive mindset or positive energy between them. It creates, and so we're both better for it. I agree, I love it. How do you want to be remembered?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Certainly as someone who cared, you know, truly there for the right reasons. I think it's not something I'm, it's not a concerted effort, it's just who I am and I just feel like that I made a difference. Right, I received a lot from this sport. I really did beyond my imagination.
Jim Cripps:What a big adventure. Yeah, I mean it's still ongoing. I mean you got a huge adventure in front of you, but I mean it's still ongoing. I mean you've got a huge adventure in front of you, but I mean, how many years has it been? I know that's going to put a time on it.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:From when I started the tour. Yeah. Well, my first time out was in 1982. There you go, so it's been a long time and a great experience. Yeah, there was a few bumps, certainly when we lost ABC Sports. That was a tough one for our sport in general. But man, everything that's happened positive, and then really my feeling is again, not a concerted effort so much, but giving back to the sport that gave me so much.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, and I see that I think everybody does see that that is looking and paying attention to what you do on the lanes and kind of behind the scenes. A lot of the manuals and things that got updated in the early 2000s at USBC, I mean mean, it's got your fingerprints all over it, yeah, that was a great experience to be able to go through and uh bring it forth.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:You know, uh, into the modern game being part of that process, something I truly wasn't. I never thought I'd be that excited about writing things you know and where commas matter, you know, like let's eat mom, grandma, or let's eat grandma you know one of those things it matters in a manual and how it's written, how it's spelled out, so people's interpretation is correct.
Jim Cripps:I think it also tells the person reading it whether or not the person creating it cared, and so you had an opportunity to reshape that for the future, and I think that's arguably one of your biggest contributions, aside from all the things that everybody would already notice. But this is in the manuals. This is what people are reading that are studying to be the next coaches, or to understand it.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, I had to take a lot of pride in the time we put into that. Certainly it was a unique opportunity. I've been very blessed in being able to be part of different facets of the sport and I don't take that lightly.
Jim Cripps:No, I know you don't, and I think that's also why you're good at it is because you know the impact that it has downstream and you're creating it with them in mind, and I think a lot of times, maybe out of ego, people create it with them in mind, as opposed to the end user and what it does long term. Yeah, so, bob, what are you most excited about the future?
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah, right, I mean, what does the future hold? You know you talked about career. Career is something that, as a player, you're not thinking about. You're thinking about the next week, the next performance, and then at some point in time, someone says something about a career and to me that makes me think that I'm done doing that right, because that's marked an era of who I was, because that was my career. But I feel like my career is still happening and it's only because I'm looking for the next best thing to do.
Jim Cripps:Well, I think you're still evolving into the person you're supposed to become, and I think all too often people settle for who they are versus for who they're supposed to be. And once you settle, once you get into that rut, it takes a lot more effort in order to get out of it and take action. And I think it's because you've been taking action the whole time, understanding that this is going to evolve. Bob is going to evolve, stacy is going to evolve, bowling is going to evolve, whereas a lot of people are very resistant to that, and it's because they have this closed mindset of it's supposed to fit in this box or it's supposed to fit in this lane and you know it's change that keeps it interesting and, you know, causes new bowlers to come to the sport.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:Yeah Well, we live in a world of change, right, absolutely. So you can adapt, or you can struggle, or you can go away.
Jim Cripps:Yeah Well, good deal, Bob. Thank you so much for coming in and spending some time with me today. Well, thanks for having me, Jim.
Bob Learn Jr. - Mr. 300:I really appreciate the opportunity.
Jim Cripps:Well, and you know, one of my, one of my favorite things is the fact that we are friends that cherish that friendship as well All these many years later. Perfect team, you heard it here on the charge for podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Mr Bob Learn Jr Mr 300, and hearing about his experiences on tour and mindset and just how he has shaped this life into what an adventure it has been and what it will be. I hope you're as excited about the future as we are here.
Speaker 3:Until next time, Charge Forward about the future as we are here. Until next time. Charge Forward Team. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode of the Charge Forward podcast. Look forward to other amazing guests and until next time I'm your host, Jim Cripps. Special thanks, as always, to Nick Heider and the creative team at HitLab Studios here in Nashville, Tennessee. Special thanks to our sponsors, Sense, Custom Development and Charge Forward Solutions. Please be sure to like and subscribe.