Walter Ray Williams Jr. won his record seventh PBA Player of the Year award.

also caught the attention of the mainstream media. Like Kulick, Smallwood’s

story starts at the 2009 World Series of Bowling in Detroit. Laid off from General

Motors since just before Christmas 2008, Smallwood heard about the World Series coming to his home state and decided to take a shot at the pros. The 32-year-old started practicing to get ready for the PBA Tour Trials in May of 2009, and the effort paid off with a third-place finish and an opportunity to showcase his stuff at the World Series. After a bowling well

enough to make the TV show for the Scorpion Championship, Smallwood really showed his stuff in qual- ifying for the finals of the PBA World Championship. The wait between qualify-

ing and the actual finals was two long months, and fac- ing the prospect of bowling against reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott, as well as hot up-and-comers Bill O’Neill and Rhino Page, Smallwood was humble in say- ing, “I won’t say this has been a dream month for me, but it has exceeded expectations. I was hoping to come out of here maybe in the top 15 in

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