 Earl Anthony, 1979 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Earl Roderick Anthony |
| Born | April 27, 1938 Tacoma, Washington |
| Died | August 14, 2001 (aged 63) New Berlin, Wisconsin |
| Years active | 1963-1997 |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Bowling Information | |
| Affiliation | PBA |
| Rookie year | 1970 |
| Dominant hand | Left (stroker delivery) |
| Wins | 43 PBA Tour (10 majors) 7 PBA Senior Tour |
| Sponsors | Brunswick |
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. 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.[1] He is widely credited (along with Dick Weber) 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 (now USBC Masters) titles—are the second most all time, tied with Pete Weber and five behind Jason Belmonte.[2][3]
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.[4]
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.
- ^ All-time title leaders at www.pba.com
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (16 August 2001). "Earl Anthony, 63, Bowling's First $1 Million Man, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ "PBA Hall of Fame: Earl Anthony". Professional Bowlers Association. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ Goldstein.