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TRACK SIGNS WALTER RAY WILLIAMS JR. TO PRO STAFF
Sep 24, 2010
One of the most renowned bowlers in history, Walter Ray Williams Jr., has inked a deal with Track bowling.
As of Sept. 1, 2010, the 47-time Professional Bowlers Association titlist is a member of the Track professional bowling staff, joining Mike Fagan and Mitch Beasley.
“The company I represented last year did not offer to renew my contract at the end of the season,” Williams said. “I had heard some really good things about Track equipment last season and the equipment coming out of Ebonite International. You want to go to a company with good equipment so you can be competitive.”
At age 50, Williams said it is a surprise to him to be still competing at this level.
“Way back when I first started on the tour, I never expected to be competing at 50,” he said. “I always figured I’d retire at 40; that was the age guys used to retire. But, when I hit 40, I kept on thinking ‘I still have two more years in me,’ and here I am.”
Named PBA Player of the Year for the 2009-2010 season for the seventh time, he doesn’t have plans to go anywhere as long as he can be competitive.
“To be Player of the Year at 50 is unbelievable,” he said. “I plan to continue on tour as long as I’m competitive and with Track, I believe I can continue to be competitive. I can make a little money at it and I enjoy it. I go out with the goal of winning. There is a lot of good competition out there; I respect the younger players and I like giving them fits.”
When asked, most of the players on tour would like to give Walter Ray Williams Jr. fits right back if they could choose.
“It’s a two-way street to have that target on your back,” Williams said. “To be the person everyone wants to bowl and to beat is flattering.”
Williams has a few players that he considers his chief competitors, among them is Columbia 300 pro staff member Chris Barnes.
“Most people consider Chris Barnes to be the best player on tour; the most versatile and accurate,” Williams said. “I enjoy bowling against him and beating him. He’s gotten my card a few times, too. There are certain players you go up against that you really pay attention and bring your best.”
Although Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Cal-Poly Pomona, he said the science plays very little into his game.
“Physics goes into everything we do. Do I calculate everything I do, every angle? No,” he said. “Bowling is more an art form than a science. A ball can be designed to do something in particular, but there are too many variables to make it an exact science. My mathematics gives me a better advantage when it comes to choosing the right ball and the right angle. That’s where Track comes into play.”
Williams did not come from a family of bowlers. His dad would watch bowling on television, he said, but he cannot recall ever having seen his father bowl.
“I got started bowling through horseshoes,” he said. “I was a national champion at 12. One day after horseshoes we went bowling and I loved it; I joined a league and wanted to bowl all the time. It was frustrating to only be able to bowl once a week.”
One of seven children, he didn’t get to the lanes as much as he would have liked so Williams picked bowling back up in high school.
“It was offered as a PE class and I remembered that I liked it, so I signed up,” he said.
Although he did not attend college on a bowling scholarship or bowl for a college team, it was during that time he decided he wanted to be a professional bowler.
“Bowling intrigued me,” he said. “If you had asked me at 12 what I wanted to be, I would have told you a professional horseshoe player.”
A six-time world horseshoe pitching champion, Williams said that the sport has helped his bowling game; in fact, a few years ago he would have said he was a better horseshoe player than he was a bowler.
“Now, I would have to say I’m a better bowler than a horseshoe player,” he said.
The most intriguing aspect during his 30 years in the PBA, has been watching the sport evolve, Williams said.
“It’s been amazing to watch the game progress,” he said. “I can’t wait to see the next generation.”
Williams, who is currently recovering from hernia surgery, was named 2010 PBA Senior Tour Rookie of the Year on Sept. 21, yet another honor to add to his list of achievements.
“I was going for Senior Tour Player of the Year,” he said. “But some of the tournaments overlapped and I couldn’t make some of the tournaments. Hopefully, Track will propel me to Player of the Year for both. Being Player of the Year would be awesome, but I don’t expect it.”
But, if he did another statistical sweep of the regular PBA tour and the Senior tour, it wouldn’t hurt Track bowling’s feelings at all according to Track Brand Manager Paul Figliomeni.
“We are incredibly excited to have Walter Ray as a part of the Track team,” Figliomeni said. “We have an up-and-coming superstar in Mike Fagan with us now, Mitch Beasley has been a integral part of the Track brand on tour, now with Walter Ray we have high aspirations for this season.”
— Track Bowling Balls & Bowling Equipment - Track is a brand of Ebonite International, Inc. Based in Hopkinsville, Ky., Ebonite International is a privately-owned company that services bowling centers, distributors and retail outlets domestically and internationally. In addition to Track, the company’s consumer product brands include Hammer, Robby’s, Columbia 300, Ebonite and Powerhouse™; its commercial product brand is Ebonite Bowling Center Direct.
