JBT'S 50 GREATEST!
In honor of our 1000th tournament on December 8th, (which anyone who bowled in any of the previous 999 may bowl in- click here for details), we have created a list of the 50 greatest JBT bowlers of those first 1,000 events. Many hours were spent discussing candidates, and dozens that we left off could easily have made the list. Only a bowler's JBT results were considered (but it was still a difficult- and fun- discussion to compare bowlers from different seasons, conferences, etc.). Comment about the list on our facebook page, 'Junior Bowlers Tour Southwest', which is where new bowlers are revealed weekly!
Here's who has been revealed so far:
honorable mention) Jakob Butturff... Since the new season, all this superstar has done is win seven titles to dominate the early part of season 17, and bring his career title total to twelve.
There were dozens of others considered and weighed, but here's #50-1:
50) William Entsminger... A fixture on NM-TX all-star teams, he earned 5 career JBT titles and the 08-09 NM-TX Bowler of the Year award.
49) Matt Jones... the 1996-97 handicap Bowler of the Year, half of his titles have come since turning adult- 2 Doubles events, and the Tournament of Champions. He has gone on to a terrific amateur career.
48) Perry Crowell IV... a 7-time JBT champ, his biggest win came in the 2011 Pac NW Invitational. A member of two all-star teams, he also won a 2010-11 Sportsmanship award.
47) Philip Schwartz... A 7-time champ over a long JBT career, the 2004 Mojave Invitational title propelled him to Bowler of the Year that season
46) Jason Arnold... A tough competitor in the very tough Arizona events of the late 90s, he won the 1998 AZ handicap Invitational, and the 2003 scratch Tournament of Champions.
45) Drew Stern... One of our most prolific handicap division bowlers, he held the lead for most career handicap top-5 finishes until recently.
44) Courtney Dutton... A 6-time champ, she's especially excelled in girls-only events, winning three of them including two Girls Invitationals.
43) Rebeca Reguero... One of our most successful female bowlers, she had a terrific handicap career, then went on to be one of the few multiple-time scratch female winners, as well as the 2010-11 all-conference female bowler of the year.
42) Tristan Curtis... A perennial Pac NW all-star, his career is highlighted by the 2011 TPC title.
41) Kaitlin Mayall... One of our most successful female bowlers, she dominated the handicap division and then went on to collegiate stardom.
40) Cortez Schenck... One of our biggest rising stars, he already has 5 JBT titles and over $10,000 in earnings.
39) Jeremy Medina... A 5-time champ, he made 3 straight NM-TX All Star teams mid-decade.
38) Wesley Low... An 8-time champ, after a terrific handicap career he became one of our youngest scratch champions.
37) Shannon Pluhowsky... Our first female superstar, Shannon is the only female bowler to roll an 800 in JBT, was the first female scratch champion (winning our 4th event ever, as well as 4 more), and fired the first two female 300 games in JBT. She has gone on to be one of the very best female bowlers in the world! Check out the full list at our website, and discuss on here!
36) Mark Myers... The 9-time champ has been a consistent all-star team member for his entire career.
35) Nick Lee... An 8-time champion over a 10-year JBT career, his biggest win was the 2008 TOC. He's also a member of numerous all-star teams in multiple conferences. Check out the full list at our website, and discuss on here!
34) Aaron Foshie... An 8-time champ, he had a long JBT career that saw handicap success (2001-02 AZ Bowler of the Yea) and scratch success (2010-11 AZ All-Star team)!
33) Randy Cote... An 8-time JBT champ, his biggest wins were the 2008 Best In The West and 2009 AZ Invitational.
32) Brandon Allred... Another 8-time JBT champ, his biggest wins were the 2008 Desert Open, and the 2006 Touring Players Championship.
31) JR Monteith... A 9-time JBT champ, he also shares the record for 5-game series at +324.
30) Matt Jones... A 9-time champ including 4 straight wins with his CA Baker team, he will probably always be known for the most unique successful delivery in the history of JBT scratch bowling!
29) James Hawkins Jr... One of our original two-handers, he possessed maybe the most fearsome strike ball in JBT history (as proven by his 2 800s, including one at age 13!)
28) KJ Martinez... One of our best handicap players ever, he is one of the youngest to earn over $10,000, helped by 2 majors ('11 AZ Invite and T of C).
27) Steven Acuff... His 8 wins ranks as the most handicap wins all-time.
26) Stephen Gaucin... A 10-time champ in a very tough era for NM-TX, he was the original 'super-kid', winning a scratch event at age 13 (before it became the 'in' thing!)
25) David Sevier... A 10-time champ in a very tough era for the AZ Conference, he also won titles in the NM-TX and Mojave Conferences.
24) Devin Bidwell... Devin split time with other Tours, but the super-talented Californian still found time to win 8 titles, one major ('08 Cal Invite), and appear on 3 all-star teams.
23) Bryanna Caldwell... The most dominant female bowler of her era, she amassed 9 career titles, 7 of them in the scratch division.
22) DJ Sloan... The 8-time champ built his legacy on the Mojave Invitational, winning it three consecutive years (nobody else has duplicated that feat).
21) Allie Ijams... The most successful female of her era, and maybe of all-time in the scratch division, all of her titles were scratch, including a Girls Invitational, Baker event, and 3 regular scratch titles, as well as great success in the Main Event.
20) Derek Acuff... A 13-time JBT champion, perhaps his biggest claim to fame is rolling one of only two perfect games in the title match in JBT history last year at Mira Mesa.
19) Zack Hattori... An 11-time JBT champion, he is always at his best in the biggest tournaments, evidenced most in JBT by back to back TPC wins in 2008 and 2009- just a sign of things to come from him in the rest of the bowling world!
18) Marshall Kent... Another bowler who has already done amazing things outside JBT (Jr Gold, Team USA medals, etc), his JBT career has been stellar as well, with 10 titles, including the 2010 NW Invitational, the 2010 Desert Open, and two TPC runner-up finishes.
17) Billy Grant... A 12-time champ, his career was highlighted by the 07 NM-TX Invitational and the 06-07 NM-TX Bowler of the Year award.
16) Nathan Panaligan... A 12-time champ and dominant figure in the early years of the Mojave Conference, he won the '06 Mojave Invitational and Bowler of the Year, the '06 Desert Open, and was the 2005 Main Event champion.
15) Jordan Plunkett and Cameron Weier... They have parallel JBT careers, each dominating the Pac NW with 13 and 12 wins respectively. Jordan won two Invitationals ('08 NW and '10 AZ), the 09-10 Pac NW Bowler of the Year and tied for B.O.Y. in 2007-08. Cameron won Bowler of the year twice, in 08-09 and 10-11. Both also happen to be super-nice guys.
14) Christian Jensen... A 12-time champ, he was the AZ Bowler of the Year in 06-07, and punctuated his career with a Main Event runner-up finish in 2010.
13) Kevin Saunders... A 12-time champ, he finished his career with a bang, winning AZ Bowler of the Year in 06-07, the 2007 TPC, and the 2007 T of C.
#12 Riley Dempsey... A 15-time champ, he owns 3 career majors: the '10 Best In The West, '11 Desert Open, and '12 AZ Invite.
#11 Josh Blanchard... A 13-time champ, he amassed the '05 So Cal Invite and Bowler of the Year, '06 Best In The West, and '09 T of C titles before moving on to collegiate and worldwide superstardom!
#10 Mike Ramsey... The 13-time winner was the only person besides Andrew Cain or Steven Black to win Bowler of The Year in the AZ Conference's first 8 seasons, winning in '99-'00.
#9 Theo Douthit... A 15-time champ in an era saturated with talent, he was the 05-06 AZ and 07-08 Mojave Scratch Bowler of the Year.
# 8 Andy Byer. The 16-time champ dominated NM-TX in his time, winning the points title four times and Scratch Bowler of the Year in 04-05 and 05-06. He also captured the 2005 TPC.
# 7 JD Nance. The 19-time champ's impressive JBT resume includes 49 top 5 finishes, 3 Invitationals, the '07 T of C, and 03-04 NM Bowler of The Year.
# 6 Kris George. A 24-time champion, his career was brilliant in scratch and handicap, winning the 04 Mojave handicap Invite, the '06 and '10 CA scratch Invite, '07 Desert Open, and capped it off with the 2010 TPC title.
# 5 BJ Baker. Our winningest lefty with 36 JBT titles and over $37,000 in earnings, among his accolades are 94 top-5 finishes, AZ Bowler of the Year in 04-05 and 07-08, the 06 Desert Open, 08 NM-TX Invite, 08 T of C, and the 07 Main Event!
#4 Cameron Smith. Among his awesome stats are 36 career titles including 12 in one year, a record 337 events bowled, 135 top-5 finishes, 4 Invitational wins, the '07 Best In The West, and 2 Bowler of the Year awards ('09 Mojave and '10 Cal)... BEFORE he won 4 more Bowler of the Year awards and All-Conference Bowler of the Year in an unprecedented '11-12 campaign.
#3 Steven Black. The 42-time champ was our first dominant bowler in the era of multiple conferences. Nobody could stop him when he started striking: in addition to eight 300 games, he fired an unreal 897 for three games back to back in the 04 AZ Invite. He won AZ Bowler of the Year four straight seasons (00-01 through 03-04), Mojave Bowler of the Year 04-05, and among his 133 top 5 finishes were 4 majors, including the 2004 TPC.
#2 Andrew Cain. In only 61 tournaments (which was nearly every event in JBT's first four seasons), he won 22 titles, had 42 top 5 finishes, won 2 Invitationals and the first 3 Bowler of the Year awards. Nobody else approaches these percentages- and the origin of this whole list was wondering what he would have done in the 'modern era' of our stars bowling in 50+ events per year: the numbers may have been staggering. Oh well, winning eagles, making PBA shows, and being USBC President isn't so bad either. Congratulations Andrew!
And the #1 bowler in JBT history... Kyle King. His overwhelming stats include an unmatched 59 titles, 158 top-5 finishes, 6 Bowler of the Year awards including 3 in a row in AZ, and four majors including the 2010 Main Event. Congrats Kyle! It's been an amazing trip down memory lane... now get out to JBT events to get on this list when we do it again in a few thousand tournaments!!!