Norm Duke

Standing 51st in points and with his Tour exemption in jeopardy, he put together a furious finish by winning two majors in the final five weeks of the season.

Norm Duke (born March 25, 1964) is an American professional bowler who previously competed on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour and now competes on the PBA50 Tour.

He has won 40 titles on the PBA Tour, including seven major championships, and another six titles (two of them majors) on the PBA50 Tour.

A member of both the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame, Duke is one of only three players in history to reach 40 career PBA Tour titles.

In 1983, not even one year after becoming a professional, Duke won the Cleveland Open in North Olmsted, Ohio, and became the youngest player ever to win a PBA Tour title, at 18 years and 345 days.

On that day, Duke started from the No. 5 seed and worked his way up the stepladder, defeating the other four bowlers to take the championship, including a victory over the legendary Earl Anthony in Duke's first-ever televised match.

Duke made multiple TV Finals appearances every season from 1990 through 2015.

Duke would not win his second title until 1991, but his career took off from there.

He won two titles in the 1993 season, including his first major at the ABC Masters (now known as the USBC Masters).

Norm completed perhaps his best season in 1994, winning five titles including his second career major, at the Tournament of Champions, and also winning PBA Player of the Year honors.

He was also the winner of the PBA Player of the Year award in 2000, capturing three titles that year, including his third career major by winning the PBA World Championship.

Duke became a member of the USBC Hall of Fame in 2002, and was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in January 2009.

Duke currently owns 40 PBA Tour titles, including seven majors: one ABC Masters, one PBA Tournament of Champions, two United States Opens, and three PBA World Championships.

By virtue of having won each of these four majors, Duke is one of only three bowlers in Tour history to complete the career Grand Slam, along with fellow Hall-of-Famer Mike Aulby and all-time major titles record holder Jason Belmonte.

He has bowled 73 perfect 300 games in PBA competition, including the 16th televised 300 game in PBA Tour history on January 5, 2003.

Duke is a member of the Storm pro staff.

A native of Mount Pleasant, Texas, Duke resides in Clermont, Florida, with his wife Karen.

The two have a son named Branden.

The 2007-08 season started slowly for Duke, as he battled illness on top of a series of injuries through the first half.

On February 24, 2008, he won his second career PBA World Championship to lock up a 2008-09 exemption.

Then on March 30, he won the U.S. Open and joined Mike Aulby and Billy Hardwick as the only bowlers to ever complete the coveted PBA "Grand Slam," in which a PBA bowler wins the U.S. Open, World Championship, Tournament of Champions, and USBC Masters at least once in a career.

He is also one of only eight bowlers in history to complete the PBA career Triple Crown, in which a player wins the PBA's "original" three majors (U.S. Open, Tournament of Champions, and World Championship).

Duke began the 2008-09 season by, again, winning the PBA World Championship.

Continuing on his success from the previous season's sweep of the final two majors, he accomplished something never before done by any professional bowler: win three consecutive major tournaments.

The streak ended when he failed to make the TV finals for the 2009 Tournament of Champions.

On April 5, 2009, Duke narrowly missed an opportunity to become just the fifth bowler to repeat as champion at the U.S. Open.

He qualified as the #1 seed, but was upset in the final by Mike Scroggins, 191–173.

Duke's career PBA Tour earnings eclipsed $3 million in the 2011-12 season, making him just the third PBA bowler at the time (along with Walter Ray Williams Jr.. and Pete Weber) to surpass the $3 million mark in career prize money.

Parker Bohn III has since also joined the $3 million club.

Duke's career earnings have now topped $3.8 million (as of 2022).

Duke eventually did win a second U.S. Open on February 27, 2011.

Duke's 37th title on the PBA Tour came in 2012 at the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs.

He joined the PBA50 Tour (formerly PBA Senior Tour) in 2014, while continuing to compete in selected events on the standard PBA Tour.

His 38th title on February 15, 2015 put him in sole possession of third-place on the PBA's all-time titles list.

His 38th title on the standard PBA Tour came in the 2015 Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship, where he partnered with Wes Malott for the win.

(He made only one TV finals appearance in 2016.) He has won at least two titles in a season nine times, including a career-best five titles in 1994.

The diminutive Duke (he stands 1.65 meters, or 5-foot-5) is known for his exceptional versatility.

He is generally thought of as a stroker, either throwing the ball relatively straight or playing a hook shot from the extreme outside of the lane.

But he has also shown the ability (especially earlier in his career) to swing the ball out toward the gutter and bring it back like a cranker when necessary.

This gives him the advantage of being able to score well on most of the PBA's multiple oil patterns.