Make no mistake: Walter Ray's the greatest - Opening Frame

Bowling Digest, Oct, 2003 by Brett Ballantini

AS WE MOTOR TOWARD THE new PBA season, let's take a moment to review the carnage Walter Ray Williams Jr. left in his wake in 2002-03. We can call this pause a moment of awe.

Even by his lofty standards--I mean he'd won five prior Player of the Year awards--Williams had a season for the ages. He crushed the single-season earnings mark Mike Aulby set in 1989 ($298,237), bettering it by more than $100k ($419,700). What's overlooked is Williams amassed his record earnings eight fewer events than Aulby (29 vs. 21).

The 2002-03 season also marked the 14th year Williams topped $100,000 in earnings--the most in PBA history. "Deadeye" possesses five of the top 10 single-season earnings in PBA history and is the tour's all-time earnings leader, having surpassed $3 million last season.

Williams also rolled a couple of record 10s in 2002-03. It marked his 10th consecutive season of topping $100,000 in earnings, a PBA record. And in winning three events, Williams also extended his streak of seasons with at least one title to 10. He now owns the fifth-longest such streak in history, (Earl Anthony holds the top spot with 14 straight seasons with at least one title).

Which leads to the Williams-Anthony debate. Walter Ray could have avoided the debate entirely with a well-timed career slide, but no. Having now pulled even with Anthony at six in what many would say is the only category that matters--Player of the Year awards--Williams is in the process of becoming the greatest bowler of all time.

It's tough to make comparisons--or at least draw conclusions--between players of different eras in any sport. So saying that Williams is definitively the tour's all-time greatest is a specious argument. There's no head-to-head record to draw on, and the technology of the game has changed to such a degree that the only thing left unchanged in crossing eras are the 10 pins on the deck.

That said, the two legends have cut a similar record. For example, Williams joined the PBA's millionaire's club in 1993, at age 34, in his 13th PBA season and in his 360th event. Anthony also made his million in his 13th year, in 1982 at age 43,332 events in.

One comparison that does bridge the eras tilts in Williams' favor, however: clutch performance. Both Anthony and Williams were better than .500 bowlers in the glare of the TV lights. And neither bowler is among the all-time greats in TV winning percentage, not by a long shot. But Williams entered 2002-03 will an edge over Anthony in championship-round play, winning at a .535 clip vs. Anthony's .517, and padded that record with three titles, three seconds, and three thirds.

Forget for a second any debate over which era sported stronger bowling fields week-to-week, or what effect the high-rev technology of today has on scoring and winning. Let's just assume we're working on a relatively level playing lane, and Walter Ray boasts an edge in the clutch.

That slim margin is enough to earn Williams our nod as the all-time best. And what's more, "'Deadeye" isn't done yet.