PBA Xtra
2005 PBA World Championship Patrick Allen Defeats Loschetter, 235-210 Loschetter’s fi rst brush with a PBA Tour title introduced him to all the elements that would charac- terize
the close calls to come. His oppo- nent in the title match of the
2005 PBA World Championship happened to be the hottest hand on tour at the time: Patrick Allen. Allen won three titles in all that year en route to PBA Player of the Year honors. “At that time Patrick was just on fi re,
and I kind of came out of nowhere. Nobody knew who I was,” Loschetter recalls. “I was just trying to make it on tour, so the fact that I had a nice check coming was exciting. It was a fun match, and I was never really bitter about that one. I was just happy to be there, and I thought I bowled a good game. I left pretty happy with my performance.”
2006 PBA Ace Hardware Championship Norm Duke Defeats Loschetter, 275-221 The 2005-06 PBA Tour season was one in which Hall of Famer Norm Duke would win more than $211,000 dollars in earn- ings. And yet, he won just a single PBA title that year, and he did it at Chris Lo- schetter’s expense. “I was really starting to fi gure out TV a little bit more, and I thought I had a great opportunity,” Loschetter says. “Everybody wants to beat a Hall of Famer like Norm or Walter Ray for their fi rst title, but I was still pretty happy that day, and I felt like I threw a good game.”
2007 PBA Great Lakes Classic Walter Ray Williams Defeats Loschetter, 276-204 All-time PBA titlist Walter Ray Williams Jr. may “only” have won two titles in the 2007-08 PBA Tour season, but he still posted six-fi gure earnings and averaged nearly 230 for the season. The 2007 PBA Great Lakes Classic marked the second consecutive PBA Tour title match in
which Loschet- ter learned that old lesson about being careful of what you ask for, because you just might get it. If he dreamed of beat- ing a Hall of Famer for his fi rst PBA Tour title, Williams was happy to give him a chance at Spec- trum Lanes in Wyoming, Mich. If posting a score of 276 can be described as giving a guy “a chance,” that is. “At that tournament I thought, ‘Man, this is the time to win that title and beat Walter Ray.’ It would have been such a cool experience. But he just kept strik- ing,” Loschetter says. “I think he shot a seven or eight-bagger at me. It was getting a little hard to swallow, because it was another 270. I started to wonder, ‘Why does this keep happening to me?’ And ‘Why can’t a 220 or 230 game be enough?’ It was still an honor to bowl for a title —how many people can say they’ve done that?”
2008 PBA Viper Championship Brad Angelo Defeats Loschetter, 256-214 By 2008, Loschetter would have taken
CHRIS LOSCHETTER
Loschetter’s runner-up fi nishes through the years CLOSE CALLS AND SHORTFALLS:
his fi rst PBA Tour title against anybody, Hall of Famer or not. And in Brad Angelo, fi nally, he faced a guy who knew what it was like to stand in his shoes, a guy still looking for that fi rst PBA Tour title after years of toil. Surely Angelo understood, and surely this was the most vulnerable opponent Loschetter had faced for a title. Or so he thought. Angelo was not interested in lifting weights for anyone else that day; he was interested only in lifting his own. And he did. Convincingly. “At the time Brad hadn’t won either,”
Loschetter says. “He was kind of in my shoes. I thought this was going to be the best chance I had. I led the tourna- ment; I bowled probably the best I’d ever bowled in my life that Friday night block. I thought that was going to be my time. I bowled a good game, but I missed a spare early in the game, and Brad rattled off like six in a row. He complete- ly deserved to win that match, but that was the hard- est one because I felt like it was going to be my time, and it wasn’t.”
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