Billy Hardwick

William Bruce "Billy" Hardwick (born July 25, 1941) is a former right-handed ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association. He currently hails from Florida.

PBA career

Hardwick joined the PBA Tour in 1961, and amassed a total of 18 PBA titles during his career. He was the first player to capture the PBA career "Triple Crown" -- which is achieved by winning the three primary PBA major tournaments: U.S. Open, PBA National Championship, and Tournament of Champions. Hardwick captured all three between 1963 and 1969. There have been only five other Triple Crown winners since: Johnny Petraglia, Mike Aulby, Pete Weber, Norm Duke and Chris Barnes. He was named PBA Player of the Year in both the 1963 and 1969 seasons. In 1969, he set a record by winning seven titles in one season. The record would stand until 1978, when it was broken by Mark Roth's eight titles.

Billy was ranked #12 on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years."

Hardwick retired relatively early from the PBA Tour after developing arthritis. He was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1977, and is now the proprietor of Billy Hardwick's All-Star Lanes in Memphis. He is also the father of the comedian and television personality Chris Hardwick, as well as Emily Hardwick, an Art Major at UC Santa Cruz.

According to his son, Chris Hardwick on the Opie & Anthony Show on August 12, 2010, Hardwick was the last athlete to film a beer commercial profiling athletes. Chris also said that his father originally had lines in the commercial but got a little intoxicated after so many takes that they cut out his lines for the commercial. A decision was made after that commercial that it would make a bad impression on the youth to give the message that if you want to become a champion, you should drink. Chris also mentioned that his father, at 69, hasn't bowled in about 25 years due to his arthritis.

Sources

• www.pba.com, official site of the Professional Bowlers Association and Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour