Doug Kent PBA Player Of The Year

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) announced today season-ending awards for the 2006-07 Denny’s PBA Tour campaign. Doug Kent has been named the Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year, Billy Oatman earned the Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year award and Richard Wolfe was voted the Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award winner.

Kent (Newark, N.Y.) was named the PBA Player of the Year for the first time in his 18-year career. He had a career-year, capturing two titles in a season for the first time and leading the Tour with a career-best $200,530 in season earnings. More importantly, both of Kent’s wins in 2006-07 were Majors, making him just the sixth bowler in PBA history to win two Majors in the same season.

The nine-time titlist captured the first Major of the season, winning three matches en route to the title in the 2006 United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Masters at the Wisconsin Exposition Center in Milwaukee, Wis. Kent, who became the first No. 3 seed ever to win the Masters, defeated 2005-06 PBA Player of the Year Tommy Jones in the first match of the stepladder finals and amateur George Lambert IV in the semifinals before knocking off top-seeded Jack Jurek in the title match, 277-230.

Later in the season, Kent captured his second career PBA World Championship, defeating Chris Barnes, 237-216, for the title in the 2007 Denny’s World Championship at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids, Mich. The win made Kent the first player since Walter Ray Williams Jr. in 2002-03 – and just the sixth in Tour history – to win two Major championships in one season.

In addition to his two titles, Kent also posted one runner-up finish, falling to Pete Weber in the title match of the 2006 Etonic Championship. Kent’s three championship round appearances were his most since the 2001-02 season, and he went 6-1 in those three TV appearances with a 234.57 average. He finished fourth in the PBA World Point Rankings and ranked 10th on Tour with a 222.43 average.

Though it did not count toward official PBA titles or earnings, Kent also captured the season-ending Motel 6 Roll to Riches special event, taking home the winner-take-all $150,000 top prize. He defeated Norm Duke, six-strikes-to-three, in a special Race to Six Strikes title match.

“This is what I set out to do 18 years ago. Winning Player of the Year is the one goal you always have and you always think ‘wouldn’t it be amazing to just win it once,’” Kent said. “After I won the Masters it just helped me relax the rest of the year and I didn’t have to worry about anything. The year itself was already a success because of the money, and I was just able to bowl and didn’t have to think about any of the outside things.”

With his Denny’s World Championship win, Kent also earned a four-season exemption through the 2010-11 season, which has forced him to adjust his career plans.

“Going into last season, it was definitely going to be my last season. I was done,” Kent said. “I thought I’d still bowl some of the Majors I was eligible for, but I had seriously contemplated it being my last year. Now I just renegotiated a two-year contract with my ball company so after the two years we’ll see where it stands.”

Duke (Clermont, Fla.) was second in the PBA Player of the Year voting, winning a Tour-high three titles despite withdrawing from eight events during the season. Pete Weber (St. Ann, Mo.), who won two titles including his fourth career U.S. Open crown – which was his record-tying eighth career Major title – finished third. PBA World Point Rankings leader Wes Malott (Argyle, Texas) finished fourth.

The 41-year-old Oatman (Chicago) became the first African-American and the oldest bowler in PBA history to earn PBA Rookie of the Year honors, surpassing C.K. Moore who was 39 years old when he won the award in 1996. Oatman led all rookies in points – finishing 37th in the 2006-07 PBA World Point Rankings to regain his exemption for 2007-08 – as well as earnings ($46,145) and match play appearances (7). He finished second among rookies with a 216.14 average.

Oatman, who also became the first left-handed bowler since Moore to win the award, nearly won a title in his first career television appearance, finishing second to Jason Couch in the 2007 Motel 6 Classic in January.

“It’s an honor. I feel really good to be able to put a smile on my mom’s face and my fiancé’s face, and to be able to celebrate with all my friends who rooted for me and supported me through everything,” Oatman said. “To be in the same breath as George Branham III, Curtis Odom and Rod Pasteur, and to be an inspiration to the African-American youth is what I really wanted to do by coming out on Tour. They were great bowlers and great people, and right now because of the window of opportunity I have, I want to take the ball and run with it.”

Oatman was lucky to be on Tour at all in 2006-07. He finished 11th in the 2006 Denny’s PBA Tour Trials, one spot shy of an exemption, but Ritchie Allen deferred his exemption later in the summer due to an injury, and Oatman was next in line. The switch made him the first African-American to earn an exemption since the Tour switched to an all-exempt format in 2004.

“I feel like the Ferris Bueller of the PBA Tour. You only get one life so you have to live it with everything you’ve got,” Oatman said. “Once I got the exemption that wasn’t the end. That was just the beginning and I understood how important it was for me to not just be there but to succeed. I worked really hard on my game and worked even harder on my mental game so I could succeed against the competition. I wasn’t satisfied with just being there.”

Andrew Cain (Scottsdale, Ariz.), who became a PBA member in January, finished second in the voting. Cain nearly made history by becoming the second bowler in Denny’s PBA Tour history to win a title in his first career event when he finished fourth in the 2007 Dick Weber Open. Edward VanDaniker Jr. (Essex, Md.) finished third.

Wolfe (Vienna, Va.) was awarded his first career PBA Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award. The 40-year-old has bowled on Tour for 17 years, with last season marking his second as an exempt bowler. He earned his exemption for 2006-07 by finishing ninth in the 2006 Denny’s PBA Tour Trials.

“It was a pleasant surprise to hear from Mr. (Fred) Schreyer. That was very cool,” Wolfe said about hearing the news from the PBA Commissioner and CEO. “I’ve been on the ballot a few times and never won, so it was a nice surprise. I guess you get older and get a little calmer. I have always looked up to Mike Aulby, who won the award a couple times, and I’ve always admired his attitude.”

Though Wolfe finished just 51st in the PBA World Point Rankings to miss out on an exemption for 2007-08, his experience helped him keep a positive attitude all season.

“You just go about it quietly and try to do your business. I tried to be professional throughout it all,” Wolfe said. “It’s a long haul and I just tried to keep my cool and tell myself things can turn around in one tournament. Obviously you hate to not make the Tour, but there is a silver lining and the fact that your peers vote for this award makes it pretty cool.”

Riga Kalfas finished second while Parker Bohn III, Mike Edwards, Jack Jurek, Kelly Kulick and Marv Sargent also received votes.

Steve Nagy, a member of the USBC and PBA Halls of Fame, is the namesake of the PBA’s Sportsmanship Award. The award is given annually to the PBA professional who demonstrates the highest degree of sportsmanship on Tour.

The PBA Player of the Year Award is named after long-time television play-by-play announcer Chris Schenkel. The late Schenkel provided commentary for the PBA on ABC for 36 years and was elected to the PBA Hall of Fame in 1976. The Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year Award is named after PBA Hall of Famer Harry Golden, who served as the PBA Tour’s Tournament Director for 29 years before retiring in 1990.

The PBA Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are voted on by PBA members and the media after the completion of the 2006-07 season. The Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award is voted on by PBA members who competed in at least half of the events during the 2006-07 Denny’s PBA Tour season.

About the PBA
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) features the best bowlers in the world competing in National, Regional and Senior Tour events. The organization has more than 4,000 members spanning 13 countries, and nearly one million viewers tune-in to watch the Denny’s PBA Tour every Sunday on ESPN throughout the season. PBA sponsors include Ace Hardware, Bayer, Brunswick, Columbia 300, Denny's, Discover® Card, Etonic, Flomax, GEICO, Go RVing, H&R Block, Motel 6, Pepsi-Cola and the USBC, among others. For more information on the PBA, log on to www.pba.com.