Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year Award

Date Name
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

Chris Barnes earned the 2007-08 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year Award for the first time in his 10-year career.

Barnes led the first-ever PBA Player of the Year point rankings. In the past, the award was voted on by PBA membership and media but prior to the 2007-08 season a point system was implemented. With a Tour-leading nine championship round appearances and two titles, along with a runner-up finish in the H&R Block Tournament of Champions, Barnes racked up 64 points, edging out six-time PBA Player of the Year Walter Ray Williams Jr. by just two points.

Barnes excelled in the second half of the season to overtake Williams, who led the race in 13 of the season’s first 15 weeks. Following a heartbreaking loss to Michael Haugen Jr. in the title match of the H&R Block Tournament of Champions, Barnes rebounded two weeks later to make his fourth consecutive championship round appearance and win the 2008 Bayer Classic in El Paso, Texas.

Barnes and Williams traded places atop the standings over the next few weeks until Barnes took the lead for good with his second win of the season in the 2008 Don Johnson Buckeye State Classic in Columbus, Ohio. The victory was the 10th of his career.

“It’s a great feeling to win the award after being so close in so many different seasons,” Barnes (Double Oak, Texas) said. “It was a season with many ups and downs on television, but bouncing back and winning the last two times I was on TV was a special time in my career.”

In addition to leading the Tour in championship round appearances, Barnes also made a Tour-leading 18 match play appearances in 21 events and finished second in average (225.18) and in the PBA World Point Rankings. Barnes’ $142,410 in season earnings ranked fifth.

Barnes, who was the 1998 PBA Rookie of the Year, joins Mike Aulby and Tommy Jones as the only bowlers to win both the Player and Rookie of the Year Awards in their careers.

Williams fell just shy of what would have been his record-breaking seventh PBA Player of the Year Award. At 48 years old, Williams proved to still be a dominant force on the Tour, earning his record-breaking seventh career George Young High Average Award with a 228.34 average, the second-highest season average in PBA history. He also won the Harry Smith Point Leader Award for the record seventh time in his career.

*The 2002 awards where based on the 2001-02 season, marking a transition from caledar-year to seasonal.