You probably saw it.  You probably discussed it out here!

I missed it!

I just read yesterday while lolligaggin around the bowlin alley waiting for our league checks.

Walter Ray when interviewed I felt gave a very accurate assesment of his career versus the great Earls.

I note he stated his wins were achieved by bowling in over 600 events while Earl's were established in less than 400 events.

He went on to say....(I paraphrase) that Earl's were achieved and there was a such a great spread between Earl and all the other players that Earl quit early feeling he didn't have anything to prove.  I felt that Walter then went on to say.....if Earl had ever thought that someone would push his win record that Earl would have kept bowling and pushed his win total that much higher.  But at the time no one was even in the 30s when he retired.

I thought it was a realistic and somewhat humble interview where Walter while not denying his greatness(He knows why shouldn't he?) was very accurate in describing his actual place as probably the second greatest bowler of all time.

Great read....have you scanned it?

REgards,


Luckylefty
PS I was particularly interested in Greg Hoppe's take on this......anyone else too!


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Open the door...see what's possible...and just walk right on through...that's how easy success feels..

Edited on 5/9/2008 9:47 AM

Whatever WRW is like in person, he's always seemed quite humble regarding any comparison with Earl Anthony.  He's happy he broke the record but he's always downplayed the "greatest ever" bit.  I think when he won #40 or 41, they were making a big deal out of it on the telecast but he didn't run around screaming about how much better he was than Earl.  He knows his place, but like all of the greatest athletes in any sport, he knows he doesn't need to tell anyone.

SH

Gregg,

I relayed as best I could my interpretation of what Walter said.

There WAS quite a bit of talk in the article about him being the best in the world in two sports!

Is HE the greatest bowler ever.  In light of his statements any strong feelings he still is.....THE GREATEST Bowler EVER??

REGards,

Luckylefty
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Open the door...see what's possible...and just walk right on through...that's how easy success feels..

To say someone is the greatest ever at any sport is quite a statement and i think the title gets thrown around too much. However, it is especially hard for me to slap this label onto anybody who bowls today given the current state of the "juiced-up" bowling ball. I am definately not taking anything away from Walter Ray Williams Jr. . He is a great bowler and you could make the arguement that he succeeded in the non-juiced era. However, i think there is just too much power in a ball to credit the overall skill of a bowler in today's game.