Three's Company

A hotly contested season ended in a draw: Ryan Shafer, Norm Duke, and Chris Barnes share BOWLING DIGEST'S top honor

SOME OF THE BAD JOKES about butterfly ballots, hanging chads, and vote-counting procedures in Florida still linger. Yes, the 2000 presidential election was tight. And the results may forever be in question. But there was another race that went down to the wire last December that was even tighter, although the U.S. Supreme Court wasn't needed to settle the outcome.

BOWLING DIGEST studied the performances from the super-competitive 2000 PBA season, bit the bullet, and declared its Men's Pro Bowler of the Year to be ... three people.

That's right. There's no waffling here. No recounts. No army of lawyers to draw up reams of documents for countless court appeals. No concern about electoral colleges or insufficient transition time or danger of congressional action.

Three bowlers were of such high caliber, we decided they should share our top honor. So the winners are Chris Barnes, Norm Duke, and Ryan Shafer.

Heck, there could have been a case made for a few others as well, such as Walter Ray Williams Jr., Parker Bohn III, Robert Smith, and Jason Couch. But, hey, a triumvirate of winners is unprecedented as it is.

"To keep up with players like Norm and Ryan, that's a nice feather in my cap," says Barnes, whose yearlong dominance obscured the fact that he didn't win a title. "It's incredibly flattering. You strive to be the best of the best. A tri-best of the best is pretty good for me."

"I'm always gracious of magazines and people finding my talents worth an honor, and I feel the others feel the same way. It means they appreciated our efforts," says Duke, who also was selected by his peers as the PBA's Chris Schenkel Player of the Year in tight voting, ahead of Shafer and Barnes. "I don't think any of the three recipients have too many areas we're not pleased with."

Being a player of the year was something Elmira, N. Y., native Shafer says crossed his mind as soon as he won the Orleans Casino Open on January 21 in Las Vegas, ending 14 otherwise mostly successful years that hadn't produced a victory. "I knew we were having a shorter schedule this year," Shafer says, "and it would be easier to maintain that level over 18 tournaments [plus the ABC Masters] than 25. And the money was higher in Las Vegas [$25,000 for first place] than others, so it was a good start toward being player of the year." Shafer adds that winning an award such as BOWLING DIGEST'S Pro Bowler of the Year "gives you confidence to know that what you accomplished will prompt your peers to look at you as being player of the year-caliber."

What did the three do to deserve such an honor? Plenty.

Despite not winning a tournament, Barnes led the tour in average (220.93), was second in earnings ($127,115), cashed in 18 of 19 events, and finished in the top 24 17 times and the top five 10 times (two seconds, two thirds, three fourths, and three fifths). Duke won three tournaments (Brunswick Pro Source Classic, PBA National, MSN Open), led in earnings ($143,325), cashed in 16 of 17 events, was fourth in average (218.77), finished in the top 24 13 times, and added a second-place finish and two thirds to his three wins. Shafer won two tournaments (the Orleans Casino and Wichita Opens), was second in average (219.50), cashed in 15 of 19, was third in earnings ($125,400), had 13 top-24 finishes, and earned a second-place finish, two thirds, a fourth, and a fifth.

"Last year [1999] I averaged higher," Shafer says, "but conditions were easier for some reason. To average 219 in more difficult patterns, I'm pretty proud of that."

Doing so well but not earning a title was somewhat bittersweet, Barnes says, but "I'm very pleased with how I played week in and week out. Some of the statistics point out that [my season] was one of the better years on the tour. A couple shots I had could have gone either way and changed the whole deal. In Tucson [the Microsoft Network Open] if I got a second strike in the 10th, I could have won, but I lost to Duke. I left a shaker 7-pin."

Don't think for a minute Barnes enjoys reliving the angst of coming so close to a victory and still falling short. "Everybody's dream growing up is to win the Tournament of Champions," Barnes says. "I was a shot away from that, too."

At the Track/Canandaigua Wine Open in New York in October, Barnes made it to the semifinals, had a first-ball strike in the 10th frame of his match against Patrick Healey Jr., and needed a strike on the second ball to win and earn a shot against the ultimate winner, Williams--but he didn't get it. "I threw probably one of the best shots I ever threw and rung a 10-pin," Barnes says. "That's the kind of crazy things that went on for me on TV."

Barnes was the PBA Rookie of the Year in 1998 and in 1999 won two tournaments, at Erie, Pa., and Portland, Ore. He is noted for a fluid motion and fine execution that produces incredible power. The 5'11", 185-pound righthander was the collegiate bowler of the year at Wichita State and twice was named amateur bowler of the year for his performances with Team USA. He is married to another standout bowler, Lynda Norry, a full-time PWBA player who was the women's amateur of the year in 1997 and won the WIBC Queens tournament in 1998.

"All of us are somewhat a product of our environment," Barnes says. "Being from Wichita State and then going through the Team USA program taught me to be successful in different conditions. I stay in pretty good shape. I have certain workout programs. The game has changed since the advent of [reactive] resin balls. You don't have to create a lot of speed. There is more finesse now than there ever was."

Duke probably empathizes with Barnes' failure to win a tournament this year and Shafer's failure to win until this year. Duke, a 5'5", 123-pound righthander, was just 17 when he joined the tour in 1982, bowling in five tournaments. The next year, he played in 31 events and won $42,000, including a victory in Cleveland, and said to himself, "Yeah, I could make a living at this." However, when things got tough from time to time, "I learned a very slow, hard lesson that maybe it's something I couldn't do," Duke says. "There were three, tour, maybe five times I wondered if I could really do this."

During a seven-year stretch, from 1984 to 1990, he had a few lucrative years but was winless. "I almost packed my bags every day," Duke says. "One year was like what Chris Barnes went through this year. I was on 11 TV shows and didn't win. Something always beat me. It was a learning experience--and a humbling one."

Of Duke's 19 career titles through the 2000 season, 18 came in the last 10 years of an 18-year career, as did the bulk of his $1.6 million in earnings. He won the ABC Masters in 1993 and the Tournament of Champions in 1994, also the year he was named BOWLING DIGEST'S Men's Pro Bowler of the Year and Player of the Year by his fellow PBA members. Duke wound up with his third career "major" championship when he won the PBA National on February 19, 2000, in Toledo, in a title battle featuring two Clermont, Fla., bowlers--the other being Couch.

"I'd like to win the U.S. Open," Duke says of the BPAA-sponsored major. "And I'd like to win some majors more than once. That would be my No. 1 goal, and I'd really like to take a run at 2001 Player of the Year."

Duke, who moved with his wife to Clermont (near Orlando) from his native Texas because they liked the area, had faced Couch in the final two games of match play at the PBA National and lost both. In the title game against him, he needed eight pins in the 10th frame to win and got exactly that.

"Major titles have taken a front seat to all other tournaments," Duke says, "and as a result I have played well in all of the others. The confidence that you get in winning any tournament is very important. It says you are good enough not just to compete, but to win."

In his victory at the Brunswick Pro Source Don Carter Classic in Dallas on January 30, 2000, Duke nipped Steve Jaros by a pin, 267-266, for the title. Jaros had led after every round. "I've been trying to win in Dallas for about 19 years, but I have never bowled well in front of my family and friends," Duke said after that tourney. "I bowled in this center as a kid and to win today means more to me than even I realize at this moment. I always felt like I let everyone down when they would come to watch me bowl in Dallas ... but not this year."

At the MSN Open in Tucson, Duke edged Barnes, 236-228, in the final match to take the $20,000 first-place check. Barnes was fourth in the Dallas event and wound up fifth in the National.

Shafer, meanwhile, went into the 2001 season with a burden lifted off his shoulders: that first victory (at Las Vegas) in a 14-year career, then a follow-up win in Wichita last July, proving he could do it again. "I wasn't hounded by it," Shafer says of the no-win yoke, but "people said a status you don't want is to be the leading money winner without a title. I was regularly in the top 10 in points and top 20 in earnings. I was bowling well, but just hadn't won. It was a big relief to win. It wasn't outside pressure to win--it was inside."

Besides the two victories, making the TV show in the tournaments at Albany and Canandaigua stood out for Shafer "because people from my hometown could come up and watch," he says. "They watched the TV show live, and it was good to have support like that." Shafer is proud of the consistency he had in 2000. "I don't think people realize how hard it is to bowl like that every week. Now I have more respect for Walter Ray Williams. Each week he performs at a high level. Some people do it one week, fall off, and do it again. There's wear and tear on your body and a lot of mental strain."

Much like Duke, Shafer sometimes doubted himself during his long winless streak. "I was one phone call away from packing it in," he says. "I was worn down. I'd get depressed. But in the back of your mind, you think you can bowl well."

Shafer's low point came in 1993, when he finished 17 consecutive tournaments without cashing. He turned to his brother-in-law, Wes Pye, who works for Storm, who in turn got in touch with Jeff Mraz in Akron, and Mraz ended up sponsoring Shafer. That financial support, albeit brief, shook Shafer out of his funk.

"It's a good living it you're bowling well," Shafer says. "There's a little hidden money there, from pro-ams and TV incentive money. If you are performing well and have credentials, you are in more special pro-ams. Don't let anyone tell you if you're in the top 10, you can't make a good living. But there's no reason [making good money] shouldn't go down the line to the top 25."

Shafer, whose career earnings entering 2001 were $645,000, had to defeat an all-time PBA great--Mike Aulby--to earn that Orleans Casino Open title. It was the PBA's 41st visit to Las Vegas, but its first tournament at The Orleans Hotel, Casino and Bowling Center.

Shafer qualified as the tournament leader in the tour's new eight-man championship-round format and beat Aulby in the title match, 211-202. "The lane conditions didn't suit my game, but the balls happened to work perfectly," Shafer says. "I drilled a Puma and it was dead-right-on. I went from the middle of the pack to the lead and stayed there. Then I was leading the tournament.

"I had a new outlook that I had never had before. I felt since I had the lead, now I had to win. You have a different mindset. You only have to bowl one game and you know it. And beating Mike Aulby, that was pretty special, too, because he's as tough as they come on TV."

"That monkey [of no victories] on my back was getting old and heavy," Shafer said after his win. "I'm a lot lighter now that he's finally gone. The greatest part of all this is that my parents will be able to come watch me bowl at the Tournament of Champions."

Despite fine showings over his career, including some $200,000 in winnings from 1997 to 1999, the lack of a tournament victory had kept Shafer out of the T of C. But when the 2000 Tournament of Champions came around last November, Shafer had two victories in his pocket. His Wichita Open triumph at Northrock Lanes on July 1 thrust the 1987 PBA Rookie of the Year into the player of the year race. He was the tourney qualifying leader and defeated Bob Learn Jr., 217-205, in the title match to earn a $15,000 check.

"You don't get too many chances at something like player of the year," Shafer said after winning in Wichita. "I certainly don't want to focus on it, but it's in the back of my mind."

The match against Learn went down to the final frame, with Shafer, bowling first, going into the 9th frame needing three strikes and a nine count. He got four strikes in a row; Barnes finished in fourth place.

"I didn't feel I had very good timing," Shafer says. "The lane conditions were set up well for me. By the time I got my timing, everything clicked for me. I struck out to win. That's one of the most difficult things to do."

Four months later, Shafer finished second in the Tournament of Champions. "If you win it, it changes your career," he says. "I almost accomplished that."

Shafer has had to battle diabetes since he was 19. It is a disease that forces its victims to maintain a regular diet, which Shafer says can be tough to do on tour. "I've never been hospitalized for it," he says. "I'm self-medicated. I try to watch what I eat. Sometimes it's tough. Some areas don't have nice restaurants. You try to go to the store and get some fruit. With squad times being what they are, sometimes you're bowling when you should be eating." Occasionally, he has to eat on the lanes. "I hate to do it, but if I have to, I will," he says. "But it screws with your blood sugar."

Barnes started bowling at age six in Topeka, Kan., and by age seven was in a junior league. His father was a bowler who was big on basketball. Chris liked basketball and baseball, but he says he only would have been good enough to play in college at the Division II level. So, when he went to Wichita State, he decided to go out for the bowling team.

"My first year I was the 15th-best player," Barnes says of the WSU program, perennially one of the best in the country. But the university had three teams, and on the third team he still bowled more than 100 games in competition over nearly three months. Coach Pat Henry helped him, and Barnes went from 15th- to fifth-best the next year and moved to the first team.

When Barnes started out on the tour, one of his goals was to be rookie of the year. Another was "to go on to being one of the best players the second year." He did that, and the third year--except for the lack of a victory--put him solidly among the cream of the crop.

"I've been keeping flattering company the last couple years," he says. "I was a step behind Parker and Jason last year [1999], and to keep up with people like Norm and Ryan this year is a nice feather in my cap. Ryan is the most underrated player on the tour, week in and week out. He hardly misses any match play."

Barnes doesn't see himself competing, though, against the Dukes and Shafers and Williamses. Instead, he says, "The goal is to conquer lane conditions. As far as head-to-head matchups, it's how you beat different [oil] patterns."

Duke says much the same thing. "My style is that I have many styles," he says. "I've applied myself into being able to manipulate a bowling ball to my advantage. I am versatile on many conditions. That's my strength."

Whereas in the past power bowlers were the most successful, the emergence of so many varying styles of balls has changed the game. "Equipment is a factor," Duke says. "Now we have to be more nimble and be able to adapt. You have to go in every day with an open mind, completely open to change. You try not to rely on a certain set of tools without adding to your repertoire."

Shafer started out as a power-style bowler but hurt himself playing basketball, forcing him to change his style to where he doesn't bend his knee much on the delivery. That has resulted in more hook.

"When I first went out on tour I was just a cranker," says Shafer, whose father used to be a bowling proprietor. "Now I have become what I would call more of a `power tweener.' I still get decent revs on the ball, but not like Kelly Coffman or Robert Lawrence. The only thing I don't like about my game is it's forced me to set up in an uncomfortable manner to throw what I want."

Whatever their styles, Barnes, Duke, and Shafer certainly know how to make them work well. And based on their consistency throughout their careers, it wouldn't be surprising to see all of them--and who knows how many others--in the running for our 2001 Player of the Year award.

BOWLING DIGEST'S MEN'S PRO BOWLERS OF THE YEAR

2000   Chris Barnes
       Norm Duke
       Ryan Shafer

1999   Parker Bohn III
1998   Walter Ray Williams Jr.
1997   Walter Ray Williams Jr.
1996   Walter Ray Williams Jr.
1995   Mike Aulby
1994   Norm Duke
1993   Walter Ray Williams Jr.
1992   Dave Ferraro
1991   David Ozio
1990   Amleto Monacelli
1989   Mike Aulby
1988   Brian Voss
1987   Pete Weber
1986   Walter Ray Williams Jr.
1985   Mike Aulby
1984   Mark Roth
1983   Marshall Holman
1982   Earl Anthony

COPYRIGHT 2001 Century Publishing
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group