Shannon O'Keefe

Shannon O'Keefe (born Shannon Rondeau^[1] on January 27, 1979) is an American female professional bowler and bowling coach now living in Shiloh, Illinois,^[2] who has competed in the United States and internationally. She is a 14-time member of Team USA (2005–present)^[3] and a six-time World Champion (2007 Singles in Monterey Mexico, 2011 Trios and Team in Hong Kong, 2013 Doubles and All-Events in Las Vegas, 2015 Team Champion). O'Keefe has eight titles on the PWBA Tour, including two major championships,^[4] and was named the 2018 PWBA Player of the Year.^[5] Since 2014, she has also been the women's bowling coach at McKendree University.^[6]

O'Keefe is a member of the following pro staffs: Hammer, Vise Grips and High 5 Gear.^[4]

Bowling career

O'Keefe began competing on the PWBA Tour in 1998, and was runner-up for the Rookie of the Year award in 1999. The PWBA Tour ceased operations in 2003 but has since been resurrected in 2015. Shannon was one of several previous PWBA members to re-join the tour.^[7] She is one of three players (with Liz Johnson and Danielle McEwan) to have won at least one title every season since the re-launch.^[8]

After giving up her professional status shortly after the original PWBA folded and waiting to regain her amateur status, O'Keefe won the New York State Queens Title (twice) along with three Rochester, New York Queens titles. She earned a spot on Team USA in her first attempt in 2005, and has been a member for the last 14 years. After moving to Texas in 2008, she won the Texas Bluebonnet Queens three times in a four-year span (2011, 2012 and 2014).

Other bowling highlights include a fifth-place finish in the 2007 USBC Queens Tournament, and a runner-up finish in the 2007 U.S. Women's Open. She bowled a 299 on television in the U.S. Open quarterfinals, and at the time tied a record for the most consecutive strikes in a row on television (18 over two games). She finished in fifth place in the 2011 U.S. Women's open, and in third place at the 2012 U.S women's open. O'Keefe has won numerous gold, silver and bronze medals in international competition as a member of Team USA. She was an exempt bowler in 2009 in the PBA Women's Series, which was sponsored by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). She made the quarterfinals of the 2009 PBA Women's World Championship,^[9] which was the first women's World Championship under PBA sanction.

In 2010, against mostly male competitors, O'Keefe won a PBA Regional Tour title at the PBA Southwest Region Del-Mar Lanes Challenge.^[4]

O'Keefe was part of Team USA in 2011—the team that went to the WTBA World Women's Championships in Hong Kong and took home gold for the United States in the team event for the first time since 1987.^[10]

On August 2, 2015, Shannon won her first PWBA title in the Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles championship, teaming with PBA player Bill O'Neill to take the top prize.^[11] In the 2015 U.S. Women's Open, O'Keefe qualified as the #1 seed but had to settle for her second runner-up finish in this tournament, as she was defeated by Liz Johnson in the September 6 final by a single pin, 190–189.^[12]

O'Keefe won her first PWBA singles title, and second PWBA title overall, in the Nationwide PWBA Sonoma County Open on May 26, 2016. Qualifying as the #2 seed, she defeated Singapore's New Hui Fen in the semifinal match before besting Kelly Kulick in the finals.^[6] Later in the 2016 season, O'Keefe led the Pepsi PWBA Lincoln Open wire-to-wire (from opening round of qualifying through to the finals) and captured her third PWBA title on June 26.^[13] On July 31, 2016, O'Keefe and Bill O'Neill repeated as champions at the Striking Against Breast Cancer Mixed Doubles championship, giving O'Keefe her fourth PWBA title, and third of the 2016 season.^[14]

On August 6, 2017, O'Keefe won her fifth PWBA title in the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Open, defeating Colombia's Clara Guerrero in the final match.^[15] The win qualified O'Keefe for the season-ending Smithfield PWBA Tour Championship, which she subsequently won on September 6 by defeating Kelly Kulick in the final match. This was O'Keefe's sixth PWBA title and first career major.^[16] O'Keefe finished the 2017 season ranked third in points (behind Liz Johnson and Kelly Kulick), and second in match play appearances with 10 (one behind Liz Johnson).

O'Keefe won her seventh PWBA title on May 5, 2018 at the PWBA Sonoma County Open, winning a high-scoring final match over England's Verity Crawley, 268–266.^[8] On May 22, O'Keefe won her eighth PWBA title and second career major at the USBC Queens in Reno, NV.^[17] Shannon was named PWBA Player of the Year following the second-to-last tournament of the 2018 season, having mathematically eliminated all other players.^[18] In addition to her two titles (one major),^[2] she led the Tour in final round appearances and earnings.^[5]

Coaching career

In her first year as head coach of the McKendree University women's bowling team (2014), Shannon led her team to an 11th-place ranking in NTCA. In 2017, her McKendree Bearcats won both the NCAA Women's Bowling Championships and the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships.^[19] In 2018, McKendree again made the finals of the NCAA Women's Bowling Championships and USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships, but had to settle for runner-up finishes in both events.^{[20] [21]}

Other Accomplishments

Prior to her bowling success, O'Keefe was a first team all-American centerfielder in softball, while attending Portland State University. She had a .411 batting average as a freshman, with 15 outfield assists. As a 15-year-old, she was among the final 160 women competing for a spot on the 1996 Team USA Softball Team. O'Keefe was recognized at the Oregon Hayward Awards in 2007 as a finalist for "Professional Woman Athlete of the Year".

Personal

Shannon did not start bowling until age 16 when, as she said in a 2007 interview, "My little brother bowled in a league...I went to pick him up, got there early, and saw some really cute boys." She soon joined her brother's league and fell in love with the sport. She met Bryan O'Keefe at age 20 when the two were bowling at the 1999 Super Hoinke tournament in Cincinnati. He became her coach, mentor and eventual husband. Bryan is currently the men's bowling coach at McKendree University, where Shannon coaches the women's team.^[1]

Shannon says she loves playing golf and "watching football for the first eight weeks of the season, (until) I realize the Buffalo Bills are still terrible and I lose interest." While she and Bryan lived in Greece, New York, they were Bills season ticket holders.^[1]

References