Author Topic: walter ray williams, jr. (Read 12995 times)

DON DRAPER · « **on:** August 30, 2008, 12:58:09 PM »

if there were any doubts about who the greatest bowler is i'd say they were answered this week at the world tenpin bowling association men's world championships. not only has walter ray won 44 pba national titles and been pba player of the year 6 times now he has also won the singles title and the masters title at the world tenpin bowling championships. the only major tournament he hasn't won is the pba's tournament of champions......even at the age of 48 i wouldn't count him out.

LuckyLefty · « **Reply #16 on:** August 31, 2008, 10:36:15 PM »

I go with the Brick man and Charlest!

Perfectly explained.

In an interview I believe in Bowler's journal Walter Ray said as much himself.
He believed Earl had such a lead on other players records by such a great margin he thought no one would touch him so he lost the fire. A much higher winning percentage for Earl.

Very similar to Jack Nicklaus to Tiger. When Jack retired with 18 majors and the next closest active player had 7(Watson) and the next most was Jones with 13...he thought no one would touch him.....Along came Tiger(who may be damaged beyond repair(who knows).

REgards,

Luckylefty
PS...from Walter Ray's site...

Walter Ray..."who is the greatest?"
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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 8/31/2008 10:37 PM

thegame · « **Reply #17 on:** August 31, 2008, 11:11:40 PM »

Here is my opinion on WRW. By far, the most accurate bowler we have on tour right now. Walter Ray and Earl Anthony bowl 10 matches against each other, they probably split, maybe one of them wins 6 out of 10 just by a bad break or so in one of the matches. That being said, Walter Ray also leaves the most corner pins of anyone on tour. The thing is, he will miss one 10 pin out of 100....maybe!!! Also, he probably stays away from splits more than other players because of his above average ball speed, accuracy, and the part of the lane he is usually playing. What does all of this break down to? Walter Ray is not the most exciting player to watch, doesn't have the greatest carry percentage in the world, and you wouldn't necessarily teach his mechanics to an up and coming bowler, but if you gave me one guy right now to win a match for money, I take Walter Ray with Norm Duke a very close second.

RHWestar57 · « **Reply #18 on:** August 31, 2008, 11:40:29 PM »

Actually charlest, it was Whitey Ford who beat it.
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A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.

Life is like a bottle of jalopenas. What you do today, may come back to bite you in the azz tomorrow!

charlest · « **Reply #19 on:** September 01, 2008, 01:20:13 AM »

quote:
Actually charlest, it was Whitey Ford who beat it.
--------------------
A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.

Life is like a bottle of jalopenas. What you do today, may come back to bite you in the azz tomorrow!

Thanks. I knew it was someone good and who was in a lot series.
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."
Unofficial Ballreviews.com FAQ

JoeBowler · « **Reply #20 on:** September 01, 2008, 07:33:22 AM »

Who is/was better? No way to determine.

But Earl lovers always seem to forget a couple facts.

One is that Earl knew he wasnt good enough to be out there and chose to stay home until he had developed his skills and I believe he was 27. Walter chose to stay on tour and hone his skills there.

Second was that Earl came out when every lefty that had a pulse could cash. Some tournaments the top 15 qualifiers were left handed. Because of the inequity of the sides of the lane the PBA had to create a lane maintence crew.

Was Earl the class of the left handers? Definitly. Greatest ever? An emontional arguement that can not be settled.

LuckyLefty · « **Reply #21 on:** September 01, 2008, 08:19:34 AM »

Earl had a family and kids and a steady job.

Walter Ray may have had a wife at the start....I don't remember.

REgards,

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

zone72 · « **Reply #22 on:** September 01, 2008, 10:56:30 AM »

Everyone have the best in his mind, i just look at the fact. For these world tourament, u need to play short and long oil. (trust me, these long oil pattern is a hell). U need to beat other best bowlers from different country.
When WRW get the gold medal from these two event, i would say he is the best right now.

« **Reply #23 on:** September 01, 2008, 11:20:50 AM »

Walter Ray still gets my vote, but he's not the most exciting personality so some people don't like him.

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Lane Carter, Strike Zone Pro Shops - Salt Lake City, Utah
Brunswick Amateur Staff

Brickguy221 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 01, 2008, 11:43:37 AM »

quote:
but he's not the most exciting personality so some people don't like him.

Lane, I'll agree with that part. I bowled with him as one of my partners in a Pro-Am once and thank goodness I never got paired with him again in any Pro Ams I bowled in after that one. He had the personality of a fence post.
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"Whenever I feel the urge to exercise I lie down until the feeling passes away."

Brick

SVstar34 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 01, 2008, 11:49:32 AM »

Walter Ray Williams Jr. has withstood the test of time, so far. He is going to keep bowling til his best is not at the top of everyone else's game. Earl Anthony, Mark Roth, Dick Weber, and WRW Jr. are some of the best bowlers to ever be in the PBA/ABC. Those would be my top 4 for now. I personally would love to see Randy Pederson bowl an entire season on tour to see how well he could do, but then we'd be stuck with Rob Stone being the only one talking.
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My Arsenal:
Twisted Fury
Raw Hammer Pain
Blue Vibe

BowlingWolf · « **Reply #26 on:** September 01, 2008, 12:33:29 PM »

Some old timers that didn't have the benefit of PBA competition for very long due to being too old when the PBA was inaugurated, certainly merit consideration as the top bowler of all time, such as Andy Veripapa and Bill Lillard.

As far as those that enjoyed PBA success, I would rate "The Machine" (aptly dubbed for his consistency and accuracy) Earl Anthony as the best of all time, due to his superior winning ratio to tournaments bowled (it's not even close), with Walter Ray second, Mark Roth closely behind him in third place, Pete and Dick Weber tied for fourth place, Parker Bohn in fifth place, and Norm Duke tied with Don Johnson for sixth place.

Incidentally, no one was ever more dominant and more feared during his prime years than Mark Roth. During the 1978 season he amassed 8 titles (still a record), and in the following year compiled another 7 titles (second most ever for a season, his record also), for an astounding 15 titles in 2 consecutive seasons, and these feats were accomplished when some of the greatest bowlers of all time were his competition, such as Earl, Don Johnson, Marshall Holman, Dick Ritger, Nelson Burton Jr., etc.

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Regards,
BowlingWolf

chitown · « **Reply #27 on:** September 02, 2008, 11:08:33 AM »

quote:
earl anthony, unfortunately he was left handed, he at least hit his mark.. everybody has their opinions, he would be one of mine and walter would be theirs above..

It would be difficult to find anyone to agree with you about WRW's accuracy. WRW is one of the most accurate bowlers the tour has ever seen. His accuracy is why he wins every season on tour.

quote:
if earl bowled with the equipment WRW had/has he would have been unbeatable..

Earl was just about unbeatable during his prime. Although EA was on tour before WRW they both did bowl against each other during the same era. WRW won using the same type of equipment EA used.

quote:
as long as WRW can pull the ball and not get penalized for it like a lot of the bowlers that have to play deeper, he will still win tournaments.. I give cudos to him for being around as long as he has and still winning , but they still want him to win so the PBA will let it happen.. give earl all the toys and reps.. no questions asked earl wins!!
smile and be happy, have fun, go bowling!!! slashrr69

WRW will play what ever part of the lane needs to be played to win. If he's on a pattern that gives him more room while playing direct then maybe his competition should play more direct. Normally a bowler has to be more accurate when playing direct. Usually a bowler plays a deeper inside line because the pattern has opened up and the deeper line gives them more miss area.

The PBA doesn't set up patterns to give WRW an advantage. WRW has one playing direct and or deep inside lines. WRW still wins tourney's because he's a great bowler and is very accurate.

quote:

give earl all the toys and reps.. no questions asked earl wins!!
smile and be happy, have fun, go bowling!!! slashrr69

[/quote]

WRW won tourney's that EA was in. WRW played against EA while they were on tour together. WRW has adapted to the changes in equipment through out the years.

EA was a great bowler and one of the best ever. I don't think you can anoint one bowler as the best to ever play. I would have to say that both WRW and EA were a force on tour and always were a threat to win.

Jorge300 · « **Reply #28 on:** September 02, 2008, 01:56:19 PM »

A little off topic, but certainly relevant, is the fact that Team USA was, until this year, an AMATEUR competition. Even if this was around during Earl's career and during the prime of his career, he wouldn't have been able to bowl in it. So is it really fair to compare WRW to EA based on these gold medals, I don't think so. In fact I think it still should be an amateur competition personally.

And my vote for the best of all time: Mark Roth. He was at the time second in wins behind Earl, set the record for most wins in a season with 8, followed by a season with 7 wins. And most of all, he changed the game of bowling. He ushered in the era of the true power players. Of course, I think the greatest baseball player was Lou Gehrig as well. Numbers almost as good as Ruth's in power, better then Ruth in average, all while playing in over 2100 straight games, the last of which he did with the beginnings of a neromuscular disease that killed him. He also is the first player in baseball history to have his number retired. Another tidbit, numbers were assigned by batting order, so Ruth was 3 and Gehrig was 4, Gehrig was actually the cleanup hitter behind Ruth.
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Jorge300

Nbgiant25 · « **Reply #29 on:** September 13, 2008, 02:58:19 PM »

quote:
Earl Anthony was comparable to Babe Ruth.
(No competition within spitting distance)

WRW is comparable to Hank Aaron.
(He outlasted everyone, while still performing better.)

While I remain totally impressed with Walter Ray,
no one bowler impressed me more than Earl Anthony.
--------------------

While I respect your choice of Anthony as the greatest ever, I've got to disagree with your logic...

I am a huge baseball fan, and in my humble opinion, Babe Ruth played the majority of his career in an era of mediocrity. He didn't face the caliber pitching that we have seen in the last 30 years, which includes not having to face specialized relief pitching, nor were the ballparks (with the exceptions of a few, like the Polo Grounds) as difficult to hit the ball out of.

If anything, this comparison could be used against Anthony to show that the game was simpler at the time, in terms of competition and technology.

I think one thing that gets overlooked is that Americans tend to put heroes at such levels as to place them above reproach, without objectively looking at the differences in the sport over time. Comparison across time is almost impossible, but if a comparison has to be made, I'd be more willing to err on the side of modern players being able to outperform due to the accumulated knowledge of the sport. Its not a knock on the older generation, its just a fact of life...

slashrr69 · « **Reply #30 on:** September 13, 2008, 03:10:34 PM »

dude
crawl back under your rock.. the game today is ten times easier then it was back then.. I would take all the them there old generation bowlers(as you put it) against any and all the newer guys coming out today... anytime sir!!!

Author Topic: walter ray williams, jr. (Read 12995 times)

DON DRAPER

walter ray williams, jr.

LuckyLefty

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thegame

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RHWestar57

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charlest

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JoeBowler

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LuckyLefty

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zone72

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Brickguy221

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SVstar34

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BowlingWolf

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chitown

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Jorge300

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Nbgiant25

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slashrr69

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