Curtis Defeats Anthony in Rolloff to Win His First Title

A guy named Darrel Curtis, who once averaged 144 as a member of his meat-packing plant team, won his first senior title Thursday at the AMF-HPL Senior PBA Open at Palomar Lanes, beating Earl Anthony, professional bowling’s third all-time leading money winner.

That it happened at all was improbable. That it happened the way it did was almost unbelievable.

Curtis, a 57-year-old left-hander from Kent, Wash., was the third seed in the five-player television finals. En route to the championship match, he defeated Carlsbad’s Lee Taylor and second-seeded Dave Soutar of Leawood, Kan.

Anthony gave Curtis his chance when he spared in the 10th. Curtis took advantage, striking twice.

On his final roll, Curtis needed only eight pins to win the tournament’s $8,500 first-place purse. And he had rolled strikes on the previous five shots.

His ball started out with its usual dip toward the left gutter and then came back toward the pocket. But it kept going.

When the collision was complete, seven pins were on their backs. Three others--the four, six and 10--stood defiantly in their original positions.

“I was surprised,” Anthony would say later. “I figured he’d at least hit the pocket.”

The match was tied. Both bowlers had rolled 244s. Until Curtis saw Anthony inquiring about a re-rack, he thought he had lost. Curtis sat down and then whispered to his wife, Sandy, that leaving three pins in the 10th frame was no way to lose.

The two-frame rolloff began with a strike from Anthony.

Curtis stepped up and left a 6-8 split. The crowd groaned.

But then he did something that is unusual. Particularly for a bowler who has never won a tournament. Particularly against a Hall of Famer. Curtis threw a perfect ball, one that grazed the right side of the six-pin and sent it scooting over to knock over the eight. And then he bowled three strikes in a row.

Anthony left a pin standing on the next roll and that clinched the victory for Curtis.

Curtis had a simple explanation for his failure in the 10th.

“I aimed that ball,” he said. “It was probably one of the few balls that I aimed. I tightened up a little bit.”

And he was so close to victory.

“I couldn’t believe that all these years I’ve wanted to win a title and then I made a shot like that,” he said. “It just wasn’t a very gutsy shot.”

He made his gutsy shot a few minutes later on the split.

“I knew what I had to do,” Curtis said, “but I wasn’t very sure I could do it.”

Remember, Curtis was only an average recreational bowler before he went to the library and bought an instructional book authored by Don Carter. He joined the PBA in 1981. Thursday was only his fourth appearance in a television playoff.

“This was far and away the best showing I’ve ever had,” he said. “And I feel awfully good about it, if anybody wants to know.”