Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year Award

Date Name
2011 Mika Koivuniemi
2010 Walter Ray Williams Jr.
2009 Wes Malott
2008 Chris Barnes
2007 Doug Kent
2006 Tommy Jones
2005 Patrick Allen
2004 Mika Koivuniemi
2003 Walter Ray Williams Jr.
2002 * Parker Bohn III
2000 Norm Duke
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 David Ferraro
1991 David Ozio
1990 Amleto Monacelli
1989 Amleto Monacelli
1988 Brian Voss
1987 Marshall Holman
1986 Walter Ray Williams Jr.
1985 Mike Aulby
1984 Mark Roth
1983 Earl Anthony
1982 Earl Anthony
1981 Earl Anthony
1980 Wayne Webb
1979 Mark Roth
1978 Mark Roth
1977 Mark Roth
1976 Earl Anthony
1975 Earl Anthony
1974 Earl Anthony
1973 Don McCune
1972 Don Johnson
1971 Don Johnson
1970 Nelson Burton Jr.
1969 Billy Hardwick
1968 Jim Stefanich
1967 Dave Davis
1966 Wayne Zahn
1965 Dick Weber
1964 Bob Strampe
1963 Billy Hardwick

 

SEATTLE – Finland’s Mika Koivuniemi, who won the richest first prize in PBA history and became the first player ever to reach the television finals in all four PBA major championships in a single season, has been selected as 2010-11 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year.

Koivuniemi, who won the $250,000 first prize in the $1 million PBA Tournament of Champions, also finished second in the U.S. Open, third in the Bayer USBC Masters and sixth in the PBA World Championship on his way to winning the PBA Tour earnings title with $330,040 – the third-highest total in PBA Tour history. The 44-year-old right-hander, who also won Player of the Year honors for 2003-04, was the Tour’s average leader with a 222.50 average for 292 games bowled.

Koivuniemi, who lives in Hartland, Mich., and Venezuela’s Amleto Monacelli (1989 and 1990) are the only international players who have won PBA Player of the Year honors. Koivuniemi received 334 votes from his peers, easily out-distancing runner-up Chris Barnes of Double Oak, Texas (63) and Bill O’Neill of Southampton, Pa. (61).

"It’s really a great honor," Koivuniemi said. "There are only 10 players who had won Player of the Year more than once, and to be the 11th member of that group is really special.

"It was an almost perfect season for me," he added. "Qualifying for TV for all four majors is a huge deal. No one had ever done that before, and to win the Tournament of Champions? That’s the one everyone wanted."