Walter Ray Williams Jr.: The PBA's All-Time Title Leader
47 PBA Tour titles, eight majors and seven Player of the Year awards: the career of record holder Walter Ray Williams Jr., who has also won world championships in horseshoe pitching.
Tina Mendo
Walter Ray Williams Jr.: the PBA record holder
Walter Ray Williams Jr. holds the record for the most PBA Tour titles: 47 wins between 1986 and 2010. He was named PBA Player of the Year seven times, also a record, and he is the all-time leader on the PBA50 Tour. Outside bowling, he has won world championships in horseshoe pitching.
47 PBA Tour titles
Williams won his first PBA Tour title at the 1986 True Value Open. On 24 September 2006 he won the Dydo Japan Cup, his 42nd title, and moved past Earl Anthony's mark of 41 wins. His 47th and last title on the regular tour came at the 2010 USBC Masters, at the age of 50.
The record does not come from one dominant stretch. It spans more than two decades of changing lane conditions, ball technology and opponents.
Eight major championships
Among his 47 titles are eight majors:
- 1994 Touring Players Championship
- 1998 U.S. Open
- 2001–02 PBA National Championship
- 2002–03 U.S. Open
- 2002–03 PBA World Championship
- 2003–04 ABC Masters
- 2005–06 PBA World Championship
- 2009–10 USBC Masters
Seven-time PBA Player of the Year
Williams was named PBA Player of the Year in 1986, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2010. No other bowler has received the award more often. His first and last awards are 24 years apart.
“Deadeye”: accuracy and horseshoe pitching
Williams is known for accuracy and consistency on the lanes. His nickname “Deadeye” goes back to horseshoe pitching: as a ten-year-old he is said to have thrown 45 ringers out of 50.
In horseshoe pitching he has won nine world championships – three as a junior and six in the men’s division. Few athletes have reached world-championship level in two different precision sports.
PBA50 and PBA60
Williams retired from the regular PBA Tour in 2021, but he continues to compete in the PBA50 and PBA60 events. With 16 PBA50 Tour titles, he leads that tour as well. His own view on longevity: “As long as I feel good and stay competitive, I’ll keep on bowling.”
What bowlers can take from his career
Walter Ray Williams Jr. shows how far accuracy and a repeatable delivery can carry a bowler: the same approach, the same timing, the same release, game after game. That kind of consistency also depends on equipment you know well – a ball drilled for your hand and your own bowling shoes with a predictable slide.
Further reading: Earl Anthony · Jason Belmonte and the two-handed style