Tacoma bowler became a legend

Earl Anthony, a bowler from Tacoma who elevated the sport to its greatest heights in the 1970s and early 1980s, died yesterday at a friend's home in suburban Milwaukee. He was 63.

The left-hander was a fixture on ABC telecasts, hosted by Chris Schenkel, on the way to becoming bowling's greatest winner of all time. He had 41 victories on the National Tour. He was six-time Professional Bowlers Association player of the year and in 1982 became the first bowler ever to exceed $1 million in career winnings.

After leaving the Tour, he added seven senior titles in the late 1980s and the 1990s.

Anthony was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs at the home of Ed Baur in New Berlin, Wis., yesterday morning.

"He may have had a heart attack and fallen down the stairs," Baur told The Associated Press. An autopsy is scheduled today. Anthony suffered a heart attack in 1978.

Anthony had lived in recent years in North Plains outside Portland. He had become an avid golfer.

Anthony was born in Kent on April 27, 1938. He was raised in Tacoma, where he attended Lincoln High School before enlisting in the Air Force. He didn't start bowling until he was 21, when he joined a company team while working for West Coast Grocery as a truck driver and warehouseman. He also was a talented semipro baseball pitcher.

Anthony competed in three pro bowling tournaments in 1963, failed to win any money and returned home. He tried the Tour again in 1970 and became a standout, winning his first national tournament that summer at Ballinger Lanes in Shoreline. With his crew cut and glasses, he became a familiar figure on Saturday television. When the 1970s ended, he was selected bowler of the decade.

Sports Illustrated ranked Anthony as this state's No. 2 athlete of the 20th century, behind NBA guard John Stockton of Spokane. It has been argued that no sports figure from Washington made a bigger impact in a national sport than Anthony.

In the 1990s, Anthony was a bowling commentator on TV.

Jeanne Naccarato, a Women's International Bowling Congress Hall of Fame member from Tacoma, recalled yesterday how fans enjoyed being around Anthony. She toured with him in Europe in 1987 and said, "He was great to work with because he was so good with the public."

Anthony bowled more than 600 perfect games, 33 of them in Tour events. He once rolled 57 strikes in a row in practice and 22 straight in competition. He was one of the most accurate bowlers of all time, and one of the most cerebral.

Don Carter, a fellow PBA Hall of Fame member, once told an interviewer, "Earl has the best on-the-lane speed control of anyone I've seen. He is able to adjust to lane conditions quickly. ... He might have a bad game but he has the ability to come right back and have a good one. He doesn't just bowl by instinct. He knows what he is doing all the time."

Yesterday, Dick Weber, another Hall of Fame member, said, "Earl was a great bowler, a great man and a great friend. We will miss him terribly."

Anthony moved to Dublin, Calif., outside Oakland, in 1978. He bought two bowling centers. He sold one in 1994.

"He was a gentleman and a legend," said Jamie Celotti, general manager of Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl, last night. "He was wonderful to work for and popular with everyone he came in contact with."

Anthony is survived by his wife, Susie; son, Mike; and daughters, Tracy Nelson and Jeri Voyles.