Faulkner Jr. wins PBA World Championship

For years, Gary Faulkner Jr. has approached bowling like math problem or science project. A constant diet of computation and experimentation that was a balm to his technical nature.

Then, in one magical December week in Reno, he suddenly became History.

After three years of tria l, error, and struggle on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour, the 25-year-old Memphian survived five grueling days of competition to claim not only his first tour win, but the crown jewel of the PBA’s majors, the Rolltech PBA World Championship, defeating E.J. Tackett of Indiana, 216 -178, at the World Bowling Center.

“Going into the final two days of the event, I was sitting in the middle of the pack, something like 32nd,” Faulkner said. “Then I made a big run, moved into fifth and hung in there (qualifying third for the televised finals),” said Faulkner, as he prepped for last weeks Tournament of Champions in Oklahoma. “It was good timing to make a run, because the longer you go into an event everyone gets that much better.”

As for the final, he said. “I was more nervous getting interviewed on television (after the win).”

This much we know. Faulkner became just the second AfricanAmerican to win an event in the PBA’s 57-year history, joining retired pro George Branham III on that very short list. And Branham’s last tour win came two decades ago in 1996.

There may be a second bit of notoriety. Faulkner may be the first Memphian to win a PBA title ever. “Honestly, I’m not sure we can find that in our records,” said tour spokesman Joe Vint.

Certainly he’s the first “Memphian” to own a PBA major title since the late Billy Hardwick, who dominated the tour in the 1960s, but had retired by the time he bought All-Star Lanes.

“It’s a big deal, but I try not to let it go to my head,” Faulkner said. “It’s great for the community, and there’s a lot of people that look up to me. More than anything else, I hope it lets the guys my age who I practiced with at Winchester know they can do this too.”

Vint said Faulkner “is a very quiet kid, very analytical. He’s been out on tour a few years, and you can see he’s figuring things out.”

What sets the PBA Worlds apart is the fact that each day of the competition is an individual event, with the lane conditions altered. “It’s a little bit like our Tour de France,” Vint said.

Two days before winning t he big title, a nd pocketing $60,000, he had finished third in a warmup event and cashed his biggest tour check to date, $5,000, which fueled his conf idence. But he added, with a small laugh, “any time you bowl bad, you blame it on the lane guys.”

Faulkner, who started going to the lanes when he was 5 with his father, Gary, is no stranger to big moments, or wins.

As a Germa ntow n High sophomore, he became the first TSSAA boys individual champion in 2007 — and still the only Division 1 individual boys winner from the Memphis area. He was a five-time winner of the National Bowling Association’s Veronica Green Scratch Singles Masters tournament, and won the national Junior Gold tournament in 2011. While attending Webber International University in Florida (majoring in computer information systems), helped the bowling team win the national collegiate team title in 2012, and was 2013 individual MVP.

The pros are a steeper climb for Faulkner, who splits his time between Memphis and Florida, where there are more tournaments to enter.

“There was a time where I seriously wondered if this was the right place for me,” said Faulkner, who bowled in 15 of 16 national tour events — cashing in seven — last year while also hitting the PBA Regional tournaments. He is currently second on the South Region’s points list.

He kept trying to build his base like it was a problem to solve. “After each match I’d analyze my game, and a series of small mistakes kept adding up … And every time you knock something off the list something else would come up.”

He sa id t hi ngs sta r ted to come together over the summer. “Each time I’d go home, work on my game and fix the mistakes,” said Faulkner, who also has learned how to incorporate tidbits of advice from tour veterans, and even some Florida friends

His best buddy was Shumway, who worked in an Orlando pro shop before joining the military. “He had spare time, watched me practice and really honed in on my game.”

It came together in Reno, Faulkner seized the moment with six strikes in his first eight frames of the finals.

“I knew I could do it. I visualized it,” Faulkner said.