Earl Anthony

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Earl Roderick Anthony (April 27, 1938 - August 14, 2001) was a left-handed American professional bowler. He amassed a total of 41 PBA National Tour titles, a record that was broken by Walter Ray Williams on September 24, 2006. His 10 Major titles (6 PBA National Championships, 2 Firestone Tournament of Champions, and 2 Masters) are the most of any bowler. He also won seven PBA Senior Tour titles for 48 total PBA Tour titles. He was also a 6 time PBA Player of the year. Dick Weber said Anthony had the greatest speed control of any bowler in the world. He was the first bowler in history to amass $1 million in career earnings.

Earl Anthony's final PBA title was in 1983 at the Toledo Trust PBA National Championship.

Later, after a nine month layoff he came out of retirement and won the 1984 ABC Masters.

After retiring he spent many years in the broadcast booth as a color commentator for ESPN and NBC Sports.

In 1981 he was voted into the PBA Hall of Fame. In 1986 he was voted into the ABC Hall of Fame.

In 2000 he was voted "Bowler of the 20th Century" by a broad margin over his peers in a nation wide vote.

He was a minor league baseball pitcher before his days as a professional bowler. Earl was also known as an incredible golfer achieving a near scratch handicap at the age of 60. He once set the course record at San Ramon Country Club with a scratch score of 64.

The Earl Anthony Memorial Scholarship Fund was established through funding by the ABC Championship Tournament (now USBC), in order to provide scholarships to young bowlers. It is administrated by the Young American Bowling Alliance.

Earl Anthony died in 2001, succumbing to head injuries suffered after falling down a flight of stairs.