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Earl Roderick Anthony was an American professional bowler who amassed records of 43 titles and six Player of the Year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. For over two decades, his career title count was listed as 41. The count was amended to 43 in 2008, when the PBA chose to retroactively award PBA titles for ABC Masters championships if won by a PBA member at the time. He is widely credited for having increased bowling's popularity in the United States. He was the first bowler to earn over $100,000 in a season (1975), and the first to reach $1,000,000 in lifetime PBA earnings (1982). His ten professional major titles—six PBA National Championships, two Firestone Tournament of Champions titles, and two ABC Masters titles—are the second most all time, tied with Pete Weber and five behind Jason Belmonte.
The PBA Tournament of Champions is one of the five major PBA bowling events. It is an invitational event and the only PBA Tour major that does not have any open field. All participants must meet qualifications to be invited.
The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Regional professionals, a small percentage of the bowling membership competes at the national and international level, forming the PBA Tour. Founded in 1958, the PBA Tour has been in continuous operation since the inaugural 1959 season.
Marshall Holman is an American sports broadcaster and retired professional ten-pin bowler. He was known for his flamboyant, fiery demeanor and his success on the PBA Tour from the mid-1970s to the end of the 1980s. He is one of only 17 players in history to reach at least 20 career PBA Tour titles. Holman was sponsored by Columbia 300 and Nike.
Michael William Durbin is a retired American professional bowler and bowling broadcaster, and is a member of both the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Halls of Fame. Durbin won 14 PBA Tour titles in his career, including three major championships.
Dave Davis was an American professional ten-pin bowler who was a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). He grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and resided in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida in his later life before moving to Lake Placid, Florida. Davis is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame.
George N. Pappas is an American former professional bowler from Charlotte, North Carolina, who has also served as an official in the PBA. He won ten PBA Tour titles between 1970 and 1984, including one major championship in 1979. He was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1986 and the USBC Hall of Fame in 1989. Pappas was ranked #33 in a "Top 50 Bowlers of the Last 50 Years" poll conducted by the PBA for its 50th anniversary season (2008–09).
This is a recap of the 1970 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 12th season, and consisted of 35 events. Dave Soutar had the most titles on the 1970 Tour (5), but it was Nelson Burton, Jr., winner of four titles and the George Young High Average award, who claimed the Sporting News PBA Player of the Year award.
This is a recap of the 1973 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 15th season, and consisted of 33 events. Don McCune amassed six victories during the year, winning PBA Player of the Year honors along the way. McCune became known on tour this season for chemically softening his bowling balls to give them extra hooking power. The practice, which was completely legal at the time, was soon followed by several other bowlers in what would later be dubbed "The Year of the Soaker". This eventually led to new ABC and PBA rules related to altering bowling ball surfaces, while prompting bowling ball manufacturers to develop new, softer cover stocks.
This is a recap of the 1974 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 16th season, and consisted of 31 events. Earl Anthony won back-to-back majors among his six victories during the year, easily winning PBA Player of the Year honors. Anthony also joined Mike McGrath as the only PBA players to successfully defend a PBA National Championship.
This is a recap of the 1975 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 17th season, and consisted of 34 events. Earl Anthony became the first PBA player to win seven titles in a season since Dick Weber (1961), while also gaining an unprecedented "three-peat" in the Brunswick PBA National Championship. As he did in 1974, Anthony easily won the player vote for the PBA Player of the Year award. In another historic "first," Anthony earned $107,585 in 1975 to become the first bowler to collect over $100,000 in a single season.
This is a recap of the 1976 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 18th season, and consisted of 35 events. Earl Anthony added another "first" to his résumé, becoming the first player to win three PBA Player of the Year awards. Anthony again dominated the tour with six victories and topped the $100,000 season earnings mark for the second straight year.
This is a recap of the 1977 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 19th season, and consisted of 36 events. Earl Anthony's string of three consecutive PBA Player of the Year awards was snapped by Mark Roth. Roth won four titles on the season and made numerous other top-five finishes to lead the Tour in earnings.
This is a recap of the 1979 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 21st season, and consisted of 34 events. Following up on his eight titles a season ago, Mark Roth captured another six titles in the 1979 season, winning his third straight PBA Player of the Year award to match Earl Anthony's record of three POY crowns. Roth also averaged 221.699 during the 1979 season, to date the highest tour average in PBA history.
This is a recap of the 1980 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 22nd season, and consisted of 34 events. Wayne Webb broke the six-season Earl Anthony-Mark Roth stranglehold on PBA Player of the Year awards, as he achieved the honor on the strength of three titles, including the Firestone Tournament of Champions major. Webb was also the Tour's leading money winner on the season.
This is a recap of the 1981 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 23rd season, and consisted of 33 events. 1981 was a season of "fours" for Earl Anthony. He won an unprecedented fourth PBA Player of the Year award, and captured his fourth PBA National Championship among his four titles on the season.
This is a recap of the 1982 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 24th season, and consisted of 34 events. Despite turning 44 years old during the season, Earl Anthony continued to roll through PBA opponents, winning another three titles. He topped his own records by winning a fifth PBA National Championship title along with his fifth PBA Player of the Year award. When Anthony won the ARC Alameda Open early in the season, it gave him at least one PBA title for a 13th straight season, topping the old mark of 12 straight seasons with a title set by Don Johnson. At this same tournament, Anthony also became the first player in PBA history to top the $1 million mark in career PBA Tour earnings.
This is a recap of the 1983 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 25th season, and consisted of 35 events. Earl Anthony registered his second career "three-peat" at the PBA National Championship, giving him six titles in this event overall. Anthony won one more title on the season and collected his sixth career PBA Player of the Year award.
This is a recap of the 1984 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 26th season, and consisted of 34 events. With Earl Anthony now retired, it was the bowler with the second-highest career wins, Mark Roth, who stepped up to take his fourth PBA Player of the Year honor. Roth won four titles in 1984, upping his career title count to 31, and won his first major title at the BPAA U.S. Open. Roth had previously qualified for the TV finals in ten major championships without winning. Adding to his accolades, Roth also became the PBA's second career millionaire when he took the title at the Greater Detroit Open, and he capped the season by winning the Angle Touring Players Championship.
This is a recap of the 1986 season for the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It was the tour's 28th season, and consisted of 32 events. Walter Ray Williams, Jr. won his first three PBA titles on the season, and also won the player vote for the PBA Player of the Year award. This despite the fact that Steve Cook won four titles, including a major at the BPAA U.S. Open. Newcomer Tom Crites took the title at the Toledo Trust PBA National Championship.
References
- ↑ "Annual PBA Money Leaders". HickokSports.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
- ↑ "1978 Firestone Tournament of Champions". PBA.