Earl Anthony Biography

1938-2001

American bowler

Utterly without personal flash or pyrotechnics, Earl Anthony became the overwhelmingly dominant professional bowler of the twentieth century. Sporting a crewcut and horn-rimmed glasses in an age of permed hair and gold chains, Anthony was "Square Earl" to some. But the near-mechanical consistency of his form and the deadly accuracy of his shots earned him a more fitting tag: "The Machine." There was no better bowler in the 1970s and early 1980s than Earl Anthony. He was

Earl Anthony

named Bowler of the Year from 1974 through 1976, and again from 1981 through 1983. He led the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour in scoring in five separate years. Over the course of his stop-and-start career—he retired four times—he won an unequalled forty-one titles on the regular PBA Tour, including six PBA national championships and two Tournament of Champions titles; he reached the championship round—the so-called top five—in PBA tournaments 144 times, more than anyone else. He later added seven wins in the PBA Seniors Tour. He was the first pro bowler to amass more than $1 million in career winnings. "He was a tremendous guy," Dick Weber told Harry Page of the San Antonio Express-News. "He was a fierce, fierce competitor and everybody feared him. He had a simple game, and he could adjust to anything on the left side. I really admired what he did with a bowling ball. There was none like him. He was the greatest speed-control bowler ever to play the game."