The race for Rookie of the Year honors on the PBA Tour will be the most competitive since the award was created in 1964.

The choices for this award have been prophetic, to say the least. Most of the winners of this award have gone on to successful careers.

The original winner was Jerry McCoy, a left-hander from Fort Worth, Tex. McCoy’s career was limited to five years, but he managed to annex a title at Seattle in his first year on tour.

Following are PBA Rookie of the Year players who have won five or more titles:

· In 1965, Jim Godman was named Rookie of the Year and won 10 titles, including two Firestone Tournament of Champions events. He also annexed the 1971 ABC Masters title.

· Mike Durbin carted off the honor in 1967. He became a 14-time titlist and is the only bowler to have won the Tournament of Champions three times.

· Tommy Hudson, Rookie of the Year in 1972, was a 10-time champion, including the prestigious PBA National Championship in 1977.

· Steve Neff, the 1973 winner, won five titles, one being the 1975 U.S. Open.

· Mike Berlin was the 1976 recipient. He won five titles, including the 1977 Tournament of Champions.

· In 1977, Steve Martin won this award and went on to capture seven titles, one that embraced the 1980 U.S. Open.

· The 1979 and 1980 winners were Mike Aulby and Pete Weber, respectively. Space does not permit documentation of their accomplishments.

· Tommy Crites, another five-time titlist, was the 1985 choice. He won the PBA National in his second year on tour.

· Marc McDowell, Rookie of the Year in 1986 and another five-time winner, won the Tournament of Champions in 1992.

· Steve Hoskins, a six-time champion, was the 1989 choice.

· Jason Couch, the 1992 Rookie of the Year, has four titles. With a bit of luck, he could have added one or two more victories to his record.

The 1998 season will produce only one Rookie of the Year. Nevertheless, the outstanding crop of newcomers on the PBA Tour features a number of exceptional players who will more than make their mark in the professional ranks.

Sean Swanson and Lonnie Waliczek are ineligible for Rookie of the Year honors due to their participation in enough events in 1997 to disqualify them for the award. However, they are contemporaries of the tremendous bumper crop of the 1998 freshman class. Not too surprising, they already have exhibited the talent to successfully compete with the major leaguers.

The 1998 rookie list alphabetically includes:

· John Bauerle Jr., an Indianapolis player with great potential who has gotten off to an auspicious start.

· Chris Barnes, honoree for the World Amateur and Bowling Writers Association of America Bowler of the Year in 1997, a many-time All-American at Wichita State, and a five-time TEAM USA member, already has captured one regional title and has succeeded in crashing the finals several times on the PBA Winter Tour.

· Warren Guernsey, a smooth stroker from Cobelskill, N.Y., has proven his ability to compete on the professional level with a number of great showings on the 1998 Winter Tour.

· Jason Hurd, a husky Visalia, Georgia bowler, made his mark in Hawaii, seizing the PBA National Resident Pro Championship, thereby earning a one-year exemption to the Brunswick Tournament of Champions in Reno.

· Pat Healey, a Niagara Falls native, long has been acclaimed the greatest amateur bowler in the world. He established his reputation in the Brunswick Tournament of Champions at Lake Zurich, Ill., in 1995, finishing third on the television show behind Mike Aulby and Bob Spaulding. Healey turns professional this month and surely will make a run for rookie honors in 1998.

· Rohn Morton of Vancouver, Wash., probably is the oldest of the newcomers. Morton has shown his wares in recent PBA contests and has exhibited strong outings in ABC Masters events.

· Robert Smith, a Simi Valley, Californian, possesses one of the most powerful strike balls on Planet Earth. However, the husky youngster has been frustrated by the intricate PBA conditions that stymie and dishearten players with wide-arching, uncontrollable shots across varying lane conditions. Nonetheless, Smith has proven his ability to perform on a professional level with outstanding performances as an amateur on several PBA Tour stops. I have no doubt that, in the very near future, Robert Smith will more than make up for his slow start.

· Baltimore’s Lee Vanderhoef is the youngest of the new PBA rookies. Like Robert Smith, his booming strike ball can put the fear of God into any opponent. Vanderhoef has experienced mild success on the Winter Tour, but to firmly establish his reputation, he must learn to harness and master his explosive strike shot and make his spares!

Earl Anthony, Dave Ferraro, and Ron Palombi have retired. Marshall Holman, Mark Roth, and Dave Husted have cut back considerably. Del Ballard Jr., Randy Pedersen, David Ozio, Bryan Goebel, Harry Sullins, and Wayne Webb have signaled the rigors of the tour and slowed down a bit.

Although these great players remain highly competitive and fully capable of reaching back, teaching most of their opponents a few tricks of the trade, and still stand in the winner’s circle, their best days are behind them.

Inevitably, they will be replaced by new faces—perchance by some of the 1998 freshman group.

PBA Hall of Famer John Jowdy is a past president of the Bowling Writers Association of America.