Born August 4, 1958, Brian Voss grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, where his father took ownership of a bowling center when Brian was 6. As he said in a 2002 interview, "Bowling has been part of my life for as long as I can remember." After his family moved to Colorado, Voss struggled to pay for college while working at a bowling center, before deciding to enlist in the U.S. Army. He served two years as an Army electronics technician in the Seattle, WA area, where he also had the opportunity to participate in intramural bowling and refine his game while winning multiple All-Army championships.
PBA career
Voss won his first PBA tour title in 1983. In the title match, Voss and challenger Pete McCordic tied after the standard 10 frames with an unusually low score of 176. Voss took the championship in an extra 9th/10th frame roll-off. The 1980s saw him win his only major title, the 1988 PBA National Championship. Also in 1988, he earned a then-record $225,485 and was named PBA Player of the Year. Voss enjoyed his best career stretch from 1987–1998, winning at least one title in 12 straight seasons. It was during this time that two well-known catchphrases caught on: "Don't cross the Voss!" and "Voss is Boss!". Voss suffered a broken wrist at the beginning of the 1999 season, and the streak ended. He has collected over $2.4 million in career PBA earnings, and currently stands fifth all-time in that category. He was known for exceptional versatility, being able to bowl well on multiple oil patterns. According to pba.com, Voss was "a threat to win any event in which he entered." Voss lost his PBA Tour exemption following the 2006-07 season, but was reinstated as an exempt player for 2009-10 under the PBA's new "Golden Parachute" rule. In that season, at age 51, Voss won his 25th PBA Tour title—a mixed doubles championship with Diandra Asbaty. With the win, Voss bowled as an exempt player for the 2010-11 PBA Tour season. This made him the oldest exempt player on tour at that time. On August 3, 2016, a day shy of his 58th birthday, Voss won his first PBA50 Tour title at the Dave Small's Championship Lanes Classic in Anderson, Indiana. He won his second PBA50 Tour title on May 2, 2018, at the Mooresville Open in Mooresville, NC.
Personal
Early in his career, Voss developed a sort of "playboy" reputation because of his poster-boy good looks. In fact, he became a devout family man. Unlike most bowlers, who stayon the road between stops of the grueling PBA tour, Brian routinely flew home to his wife and two sons in the Atlanta area, even if only for a couple of days. After living for many years in the Atlanta suburbs, Brian moved to Centennial, Colorado. He currently lives in Cornelius, North Carolina, having been given an opportunity to teach bowling in the area.
