Earl Anthony

Earl Roderick Anthony (April 27, 1938 – August 14, 2001) 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.

In 1963, he bowled three PBA summer tournaments in the Pacific Northwest to get a feel for what it would take to successfully compete on the tour.

Though he did not cash in any of the three events, he had succeeded in learning how much he would need to improve before he could entertain any idea of going out on the PBA Tour full-time.

In order to prepare himself for the tour Anthony practiced between 300 and 350 games a week, up to eight hours day, and often without any pins (in order to save money).

After six years of diligent practice, Anthony began his professional bowling career in January 1970 as a 31-year old rookie.

He led that season's first tournament going into the televised finals at Crestview Bowl in Wichita, Kansas, but lost the championship match to Skee Foremsky, finishing in second place.

Anthony won the first of his 43 PBA titles on June 7, 1970, when he defeated Allie Clarke at the Heidelberg Open in Seattle, Washington.

The PBA later added ABC Masters titles as PBA titles, giving Anthony at least one PBA title in 15 consecutive seasons (1970–84).

Six of his titles were achieved by a pair of improbable "three-peats" in the PBA National Championship, the first three from 1973 to 1975 and the other three from 1981 to 1983.

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 (now USBC Masters) titles—are the second most all time, tied with Pete Weber and five behind Jason Belmonte.

Anthony is one of only three bowlers in history (with Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Norm Duke) to have reached the 40-title plateau on the PBA Tour.

He is also one of three bowlers (with Williams Jr. and Pete Weber) to earn at least 50 combined titles between the PBA Tour and PBA Senior Tour (now PBA50 Tour).

Never brash or flashy in a crew-cut and plastic-frame "marshwood" style eyewear (which he abandoned for more modern frames later in his career), Anthony was dubbed "Square Earl" by fellow pro bowlers.

Anthony had also won the Masters in 1977.

Anthony missed some time on the PBA Tour during the 1978 season after suffering a heart attack in June of that year.

Less than three months later he was back on Tour, finishing third in the Waukegan (IL) Open.

Earl also finished runner-up to fellow lefty Mike Aulby in the 1979 PBA National Championship.

His final PBA title was a major — the 1983 Toledo Trust PBA National Championship (until his 1984 ABC Masters title was added retroactively in 2008).

After a nine-month layoff, Anthony won his second ABC Masters tournament in 1984, which at the time was not part of the PBA Tour.

Anthony joined the PBA Senior Tour in 1988 and accumulated another seven titles there, giving him 50 total PBA titles.

By 1988 Anthony had 25 career 300 games.

Sadly, not one was on television in the United States; he did, however, bowl two televised 299 games, leaving a solid 9-pin on the last shot in one and a 6-pin on the other.

Although he didn't drop to the floor like Don Johnson, Anthony would remark about the 9-pin on a PBA telecast years later, saying, "to this day, I can't believe that pin stood."

Earl Anthony did shoot a televised 300 game on national TV in a PBA Tournament in Japan in front of over 50 million viewers.

After retiring, Anthony moved to the broadcast booth as a color commentator and operated a bowling center in Dublin, California.

Anthony was born in Tacoma, Washington to Earl Anthony and Laura Davis.

He was a minor league baseball pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles organization before his days as a professional bowler.

He was also an excellent golfer, achieving a near-scratch handicap at the age of 60.

He once set the course record at Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville, California with a scratch score of 64.

He was married to Susie Anthony; and had a son, Mike, and two daughters, Tracy and Jeri.

That stood as a PBA record until Walter Ray Williams Jr. won at least one PBA Tour title in 17 consecutive seasons (1993 through 2009–10).

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 (along with Dick Weber) for having increased bowling's popularity in the United States.

A new biography of Earl (focusing more on his bowling career but with a few personal insights) was published in October 2019 by Luby Publishing.

Compiled by sportswriter Barry Sparks, it is titled Earl: The Greatest Bowler of All Time.

Anthony's bowling career began when he hesitantly joined his company's bowling league, West Coast Grocery, after serving in the United States Air Force.

In his first season bowling, Earl achieved an official league average of 165.

By his third season, his average had surged to 217.