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Andover, Massachusetts – January 12, 2009 – All-Time PBA wins leader Walter Ray Williams, Jr. is considered by some to be the best bowler to ever grace the lanes. Walter Ray has exhibited undeniable talent, an ability to come through in the clutch, and has benefited from a few breaks along the way. On Sunday, at the PBA National Bowling Stadium Championship, Walter Ray was unfortunately on the wrong end of a historically bad break.

After a tremendous week of qualifying, Walter Ray secured the top spot of the stepladder format, where he awaited one of Wes Mallott, Chris Barnes, Patrick Allen and Bill O’Neill. Coming from the 5th slot, Patrick Allen dispatched of O’Neill and Barnes before defeating Mallott and setting up a showdown with the all-time wins leader.

In what was shaping up to be a back and forth match, both bowlers threw some great shots but also showed some vulnerability. Walter Ray got off to a somewhat slow start giving Allen, a guy who was pretty locked-in after previously bowling 3 matches on these lanes, an early lead. After Allen stumbled to the finish line, Walter Ray needed to double in the tenth for an unprecedented 46th career PBA Tour victory. In the tenth, his first shot was pristine, carrying all ten pins with an ease and grace expected from a battle-tested bowler like Walter Ray. Then, the unthinkable happened. On his next shot, Walter Ray left the 8-10 split, a virtually impossible spare pickup, and left the title for Allen with a 225-223 loss.

“I drifted a hair left on the second ball and didn’t get it to the right spot,” said a dejected Williams after the match. “Seeing the 8-pin standing was like somebody shot me. I got a few good breaks this week, I just needed one more.”

While Walter Ray was visibly frustrated about not winning career title #46, he did take home $13,000 for his efforts. Reigning PBA Player of the Year Chris Barnes took home a fourth place finish and $5,500. They will try to get back to the winner’s circle next week in Medford, Oregon at the Bayer Earl Anthony Classic.

Andover, Massachusetts – January 6, 2009 – What does it take to roll a perfect game? It undoubtedly takes careful strategy, undeniable skill, solid execution, and perhaps a touch of good fortune. Well if that’s the case, then what does it take to bowl THREE perfect games in a row for an astonishing 900 series? Maybe that’s a question that should be posed to Rich Jerome Jr. of Baltimore, Maryland.

On Monday, December 22, 2008, as he does every Monday, Rich went to Brunswick Perry Hall Lanes in Baltimore for his Monday Night Mixed League. In his first game, he bowled twelve strikes in a row, for an unblemished 300 game. Cool? Yes. Unprecedented for Rich? No. Over his eleven years previous years of bowling, he has bowled a perfect game ten times, so he wasn’t exactly in uncharted territory. Even after his second perfect game in a row, Rich remained calm and unfazed. After all, he had rolled his way to five previous 800+ series before, including a career-high 857 highlighted by two perfect games on November 3rd. His groove then continued as he worked his way into the third game.

“I started realizing I might have a shot at it in the seventh frame of the last game,” said Jerome, Jr., who admitted that he tried to just concentrate on the pins and not the mass of people that began to accumulate near his lane.

Rich’s focus and talent persevered as he finished his night with 36 (36!!!) consecutive strikes and a perfect 900 series. “After I finished, I looked around and it seemed like everyone there was on the settee area with me. It was very exciting,” Rich said afterward.

Rich has been competitively bowling for eleven years, and through all the perfect games and devastating splits, there has been one constant: Dexter bowling shoes. After bowling his perfect series, Rich decided to personally contact Dexter and thank them for continuously providing the best bowling shoes on the market today. Via email Rich said, “I was wearing a pair of Dexter SST7s [when I bowled my 900 series] and have been wearing Dexter shoes since I started bowling 11 years ago. I wanted to contact Dexter to personally thank you [Dexter Bowling Shoe Company] for putting out a quality shoe that enabled me to reach most bowlers’ dream of reaching a perfect set.” Glad we could help, Rich!

Rich is the second bowler in just under three years to attribute Dexter Bowling shoes as part of the equation for rolling a perfect 900 series. On February 13, 2006 Lonnie Billiter, Jr., of Fairfield, Ohio rolled a 900 series while wearing his trusted SST5s.

“First of all, congratulations to Rich Jerome, Jr. on this remarkable accomplishment,” said Bud Clapsaddle, Vice President of Dexter Bowling. “Dexter is proud to be a part of this special achievement with Rich, and we wish him continued success on the lanes. We promise to be there to provide him the best performance bowling footwear available anywhere!”