Walter Ray Williams Jr. facts for kids
Williams in 2016
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Deadeye |
| Born | October 6, 1959 San Jose, California |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | Ten-pin bowling, Horseshoes |
| League | PBA, NHPA World Tournament, PBA50 Tour |
| Turned pro | 1970 (horseshoes) 1980 (bowling) |
| Achievements and titles | |
| National finals | 47 PBA Tour (8 majors) 16 PBA50 Tour (3 majors) 1 PBA60 Tour 7× PBA Player of the Year (1986, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2010) 3× PBA50 Player of the Year (2012, 2013, 2019) 9 World Horseshoes titles |
Walter Ray Williams Jr., born on October 6, 1959, is an amazing American athlete. He is a professional bowler and also a champion at horseshoes. He has won more titles than anyone else on the PBA Tour, with 47 wins! He has also earned over $5 million from bowling.
Walter Ray has been named PBA Player of the Year seven times. This is a record he shares with Jason Belmonte. He even won this award three years in a row, from 1996 to 1998! He also holds a record for winning at least one PBA Tour title for 17 years straight, from 1993 to 2010.
He was one of the bowlers featured in the documentary A League of Ordinary Gentlemen. As of June 2022, he was the top title winner on the PBA50 Tour, with 16 titles. He has also been named PBA50 Player of the Year three times. Walter Ray has bowled 110 perfect 300 games in PBA competitions.
In December 2016, Williams became the first player to reach 100 total PBA titles. This includes wins from the PBA Tour, PBA Regional Tour, PBA50 Tour, and PBA50 Regional Tour. Only one other bowler, Pete Weber, has achieved this. Walter Ray's total is now 131 titles. He stopped competing on the regular PBA Tour in 2021. However, he still bowls in PBA50 Tour, PBA60 Tour, and PBA Regional Tour events. He has the most combined Regional titles ever, with 67 wins.
Williams is also a nine-time world champion in horseshoes. He won three junior titles and six men's titles.
Contents
Bowling Achievements
PBA Tour Success
Walter Ray Williams Jr. has been named PBA Player of the Year seven times. He won this award in 1986, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, and 2010. In 2010, he passed Earl Anthony for the most Player of the Year awards in PBA history. Jason Belmonte later tied his record in 2022. Williams has also won a record eight Bowling Writers Bowler of the Year awards. He has earned more money than any other bowler on the PBA Tour.
He was the first bowler to earn over $2 million in his career in 1997. After winning the U.S. Open in 2003, he became the first to earn $3 million. He then became the first to earn $4 million in 2008. Williams also set a record for the most money won in a single season. He earned $419,701 during the 2002–03 PBA season. This record was later broken by Kyle Troup in 2021.
On September 24, 2006, Williams broke Earl Anthony's record of 41 PBA regular tour titles. He won his 42nd title at the Dydo Japan Cup. Anthony's title count was later changed to 43 in 2008. By then, Williams had 44 titles, keeping his lead. Williams is known as "Deadeye" by PBA fans. He first got this nickname in horseshoes. He threw 45 ringers out of 50 in a junior tournament when he was just 10 years old.
In the 2007–08 season, at 48 years old, Williams had the second-highest average in PBA history for a single season. His average was 228.34. Only Norm Duke's 228.47 from 2006–07 was higher at the time. Jason Belmonte later broke this record in 2012–13 and again in 2017. As of 2019, Williams has bowled 110 perfect 300 games in PBA competitions. This is second only to Parker Bohn III's 114 perfect games.
When he won the 2009 Motor City Open, Williams extended his record. He had won at least one PBA Tour title for 17 seasons in a row. This was two years longer than Earl Anthony's streak. Williams' streak ended when he did not win a title in the 2010–11 season.
World Championships
In August 2008, Williams joined Team USA. He competed in the FIQ World Men's Championships in Thailand. This was the first time professional bowlers were allowed to compete. Williams was the most successful bowler there. He won four medals: Gold in Masters, Gold in Singles, Gold in Team, and a Bronze in Trios.
Retirement from PBA Tour
On March 17, 2021, Williams announced he was retiring from the national PBA Tour. He made this decision after being eliminated from the World Series of Bowling XII. He said he would continue to bowl in PBA50 Tour and PBA Regional Tour events.
PBA50 Tour Career
After turning 50, Williams decided to join the PBA Senior Tour in 2010. This tour was renamed the PBA50 Tour in 2013. He planned to bowl in a limited number of events.
Williams made his PBA Senior Tour debut on May 3, 2010. He won the Miller High Life Classic just three days later. In June 2010, Williams had a chance to become only the second bowler to win both the USBC Masters and USBC Senior Masters. He made it to the final but lost to Wayne Webb. Williams bowled enough on the Senior Tour to be named 2010 PBA Senior Rookie of the Year.
In 2011, Williams again had a chance to win both Masters titles. He finished second, losing to Dale Traber. Williams won two Senior titles in 2012. He also earned his first Senior PBA Player of the Year award that year.
He won three PBA50 titles in 2013 and earned his second PBA50 Player of the Year award. In 2014, Williams won the USBC Senior Masters. This made him the second bowler, after Dave Soutar, to win both the USBC Masters and USBC Senior Masters. On June 11, 2017, Williams won his second USBC Senior Masters. This made him the only player to win both the USBC Masters and USBC Senior Masters twice.
At 59 years old, Williams started the 2019 PBA50 season with three wins in a row. This included the PBA50 National Championship. These wins gave him three major titles among his 14 PBA50 Tour titles. These wins also tied him with John Handegard for the most PBA50 Tour titles ever. With a third-place finish in a later event, Williams secured his third PBA50 Player of the Year award.
The 2020 PBA50 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Williams then won the first event of the 2021 PBA50 Tour season on April 13. This win gave him 15 PBA50 Tour titles, making him the all-time leader. Williams extended this record to 16 by winning the 2022 PBA50 Odessa Open on June 26.
Amazing Achievements
Williams is known for many great achievements in bowling:
- He holds the record for the highest spare percentage in a season (88.16% in 2004–05).
- He also has the record for converting all single-pin spares (100% in 2005–06).
- He has the most career television appearances (182 through 2012).
- He made the most television appearances in a single season (15 in 1993).
- He holds the record for the most consecutive seasons winning at least one PBA Tour title (17 seasons).
- He has made the most final match appearances (92 through 2009-10).
- He bowled the most games in one season (1300 in 1993).
- He is tied for the most 300 games in one tournament (4 in 1993).
- He has won the George Young High Average Award and Harry Smith Points Leader Award eight times each. This is the most for both awards.
- He is the only PBA player to convert the difficult 4-6-7-10 split on television. This is also known as the "Big Four."
- He is the oldest bowler (50) to be named PBA Player of the Year (2009–10 season).
- He was the first player to reach 100 total PBA titles in 2016.
- He is the only player in history to win the USBC Masters and USBC Senior Masters twice each.
- He bowled a 300 game using a two-handed style at the 2019 River City Extreme Open.
Later Career and Legacy
Many of Williams's titles came later in his career. 17 of his 47 titles and 6 of his 8 major wins happened after he turned 40. His most recent PBA Tour title, the 2010 USBC Masters, was won after he turned 50. In the 2009–10 season, Williams led the tour in every major statistical category. He was first in earnings, average, match play appearances, and overall competition points.
Williams once said about his long career:
As long as I feel good and stay competitive, I’ll keep on bowling. I don't want to be out here if I'm not competitive; I'd be too frustrated. When I can't compete, when it isn't fun, I'll retire. I have no issue with that. But I feel like I'm still doing pretty well.
He was named "Male Bowler of the Decade" for 2000–2009 by U.S. Bowler magazine. He won his seventh PBA Player of the Year award in 2010. This made him the oldest player ever (at 50) to earn that honor.
Walter Ray is a member of the USBC and PBA Halls of Fame. He is also in the World Horseshoe Pitching Hall of Fame. He was also a two-time past president of the Professional Bowlers Association.
In the 2008–09 season, the PBA celebrated its 50th year. A group of bowling experts named the "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years." Williams finished second on this list, right behind Earl Anthony. On an ESPN show in 2009, Nelson Burton Jr. said the vote was close. Anthony was chosen as #1 because he had more major titles at the time. Williams said:
I feel Earl's record is better than mine because it was more condensed. Earl bowled 14 years and 400 or so events. I've bowled well over 600 by now, maybe 700. I feel very pleased to be No. 2."
On December 10, 2016, Williams reached the final match of the PBA Shark Championship. A win would have made him the oldest player to win a regular PBA Tour event. However, he lost to François Lavoie. John Handegard still holds the record as the oldest PBA Tour champion.
In his later career, Williams started trying a two-handed "shovel style" delivery. He began using it in some PBA50 tournaments. In July 2019, he bowled a 300 game in qualifying using this two-handed approach.
Through 2019, Williams had bowled in over 1,000 PBA tournaments. From 2016 to 2019, he bowled in at least 34 PBA events every year. He earned over $110,000 in three of those four years.
Horseshoes Career
Walter Ray Williams Jr. has won six Men's World Horseshoe Pitching titles. In 1989, he was invited to pitch horseshoes at the White House with President George H.W. Bush. After he switched his throwing hand from right to left, he finished second in the 2005 World Horseshoe Pitching Championships.
Personal Life
Williams graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 1984. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and a minor in mathematics. He has said that if he wasn't a successful bowler, "I would have gone to work for NASA."
Williams and his first wife, Paige Pennington, lived in Oxford, FL. They adopted a daughter named Rebecca in 2007. They later divorced in 2017. He now lives in Oxford with his second wife, Fancy Allen. Besides bowling and horseshoes, Williams also enjoys golf. At one point, he had a very good golf handicap of two.
Williams' Career PBA Tour Titles
Among Williams' 47 career PBA Tour titles, eight are major championships. He has won the PBA World Championship three times. He has also won two U.S. Open crowns, two ABC/USBC Masters titles, and a Touring Players Championship. He was just one Tournament of Champions title short of completing a career "super grand slam."
He has also won 16 PBA50 Tour titles. This makes him the all-time PBA50 titles leader. He is one of only five bowlers to win at least 10 titles on both PBA national tours. Williams is also the only player in history to earn at least 60 combined titles between the PBA and PBA50 Tours.
Standard PBA Tour Wins
- 1986 True Value Open
- 1986 Fair Lanes Open
- 1986 Hammer Open
- 1987 Miller Lite Classic
- 1987 Hammer Open
- 1991 Oronamin C Japan Cup
- 1993 Flagship City Open
- 1993 Columbia 300 Open
- 1993 Northwest Classic
- 1993 Oregon Open
- 1993 Tucson Open
- 1993 Greater Grand Rapids Open
- 1993 Paula Carter's Homestead Classic
- 1994 Showboat Invitational
- 1994 Touring Players Championship
- 1995 Rochester Open
- 1996 Track Synergy Open
- 1996 Showboat Invitational
- 1996 Brunswick Johnny Petraglia Open
- 1996 Rochester Open
- 1996 Greater Harrisburg Open
- 1997 Columbia 300 Open
- 1997 Brunswick Johnny Petraglia Open
- 1997 St. Clair Classic
- 1998 Storm Flagship Open
- 1998 BPAA U.S. Open
- 1998 Brunswick Long Island Open
- 1998 Bay City Classic
- 1998 National Finance Challenge
- 1999 Tucson Open
- 2000 Track Canandaigua Open
- 2000 Brunswick Johnny Petraglia Open
- 2001–02 PBA National Championship
- 2001–02 Greater Cincinnati Classic
- 2002–03 Greater Detroit Open
- 2002–03 U.S. Open
- 2002–03 PBA World Championship
- 2003–04 Earl Anthony Classic Presented by Storm
- 2003–04 ABC Masters
- 2004–05 Uniroyal Tire Classic
- 2005–06 Denny's PBA World Championship
- 2006–07 Dydo Japan Cup
- 2007–08 Motor City Classic
- 2007–08 Great Lakes Classic
- 2008–09 Lake County Indiana Golden Anniversary Championship
- 2009–10 Motor City Open
- 2009–10 USBC Masters
PBA50 Tour Wins
- 2010 PBA Senior Miller High Life Classic
- 2011 PBA Senior Mark Roth Allentown Open
- 2012 PBA Senior Don Carter Memorial
- 2012 PBA Senior Northern California Classic
- 2013 PBA50 Sun Bowl in The Villages
- 2013 PBA50 Northern California Classic
- 2013 PBA50 South Shore Open
- 2014 USBC Senior Masters
- 2014 PBA50 Treasure Island Resort & Casino Open
- 2016 PBA50 Pasco County Florida Open
- 2017 USBC Senior Masters
- 2019 PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Open
- 2019 PBA50 National Championship
- 2019 PBA50 Mooresville Open
- 2021 PBA50 Lightning Strikes Open
- 2022 PBA50 Odessa Open
PBA60 Tour Wins
- 2023 PBA60 Tristan's T.A.P.S. Memorial
