Steve Hoskins

{{short description|American professional ten-pin bowler}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox professional bowler

|name=Steve Hoskins

|birth_date={{birth date and age|January 9, 1969}}

|birth_place=Woburn, Massachusetts, U.S.

|height_ft =

|height_in =

|years_active=1989–2004

|rookieyear=1989

|affiliation=PBA

|championships=10 PBA Tour (2 majors)
1989 PBA Rookie of the Year

|hand=Right (power stroker delivery)

|sponsors= Track, Vise Grips

|website=

|nickname=

}}

Steve Hoskins (born January 9, 1969) is a retired professional ten-pin bowler who was a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He won ten titles on the PBA Tour, including two major championships. Originally from Woburn, Massachusetts, Hoskins started bowling at age 4 when his family moved to Tarpon Springs, Florida in 1973.{{cite web |title=Carsalesman was once a PBA star|url=https://www.greglindberg.net/carsalesman-was-once-a-pba-star/ |website=greglindberg.net |date=April 23, 2009 |access-date=March 27, 2025}}

Hoskins joined the PBA Tour in 1989 and won PBA Rookie of the Year honors that year. After three trips to the televised finals, including runner-up finishes in 1990 and 1991, Hoskins won his first PBA Tour title at the 1993 Quaker State Open. He would successfully defend his title at the same tournament in 1994. He went on to win a total of ten PBA Tour titles in an eight-season stretch.{{cite web |title=Steve Hoskins (career stats at mcubed) |url=http://mcubed.net/bowling/zzstevehoskins.shtml |website=mcubed.net |accessdate=March 27, 2025}}

The 1997 season provided his most shining moments. On October 15 of that year, he rolled the PBA's 12th-ever televised 300 game in the semifinal match of the Ebonite Challenge, defeating Walter Ray Williams Jr. He then went on to win the tournament in the next match, besting top seed Rick Steelsmith with a clutch double in the tenth frame to earn $21,000 plus a $10,000 bonus for the perfect game.{{cite web |title=1997 PBA Ebonite Challenge 2 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRaDJ7B8CD0 |website=youtube.com |accessdate=April 2, 2025}} Less than a month later, he won his first major title at the Bayer/Brunswick Touring Players Championship, defeating Danny Wiseman in the championship match to earn his largest single paycheck ($40,000) to that point of his career.

He won a second major at the 1999 Touring Players Championship. His final title was on November 1, 2000, at the Lone Star Open. His final televised finals appearance (of his 31 career top-five finishes) was on March 2, 2003, at the PBA Odor-Eaters Open.

Hoskins spent a year as PBA President (2003) and retired after the 2004 season to spend more time with family and children.{{cite web |title=In Retrospect: The Steve Hoskins Interview |url=https://bowl.com/news/in-retrospect-the-steve-hoskins-interview |website=bowl.com |date=August 7, 2009 |access-date=March 27, 2025}} He ran a used car dealership and operated a subprime lending company in Hudson, Florida for many years after. He made a brief comeback on the PBA50 Tour in 2019.{{cite web |title=Podcast: Steve Hoskins Discusses His Surprise Return to Pro Bowling |url=https://bowl.com/news/podcast-steve-hoskins-discusses-his-surprising-return-to-pro-bowling |website=bowl.com |date=March 4, 2019 |access-date=March 27, 2025}}

In 2017, he was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame for superior performance.{{cite web |title=Bryan Goebel, Steve Hoskins, Mike Scroggins Elected to PBA Hall of Fame |url=https://bowl.com/news/bryan-goebel,-steve-hoskins,-mike-scroggins-elected-to-pba-hall-of-fame |website=bowl.com |date=December 9, 2016 |access-date=March 27, 2025}}

For much of his career, Hoskins was sponsored by Track bowling (later a division of Ebonite International).