Tony Walton has a lengthy record of achievement across several decades in scratch bowling. He was one of the top youth bowlers to emerge from the Washington, D.C. area in the 1980s. Tony represented the District in the United States Youth Games from 1979 to 1984, winning five team gold medals along with four gold medals and a silver medal in individual events. In his final season as a youth in 1985, he averaged 202.
Tony has won 32 adult scratch tournaments and three PBA regional titles (two Eastern and one Southern) since 1985. Our local and mid-Atlantic region saw a number of scratch tournament clubs form in the 1990s, such as Tournament Concepts, Capital Area Masters, Virginia Lottery Tour, and others. These tournament clubs usually conducted monthly tournaments and featured many of the best bowlers from the region. Tony was 1995 Tournament Concepts Player of the Year, a year after being runner-up for the award.
Tony has rolled 32 perfect games, including two in PBA competition, and five 800 series. He has been a staff member of several bowling manufacturers, including Ebonite (1997-1998), Roto Grip (2003-2005), Columbia 300 (2007-2009), Brunswick / DV8 / Radical (2011-2014), and Vise Grip Inserts (since 1994). He was the 2006 Hammer Challenge champion in York, Pa., winning $3,000, and was the 2011 Jerry Dawson Classic champion.
Tony is a former proprietor of the 12 in a Row Pro Shop. In 2002, he established the Vir-Mar Scratch Bowlers Tour (VMSBT) tournament club. This club continued the culture of competitive scratch bowling for the D.C. / Baltimore / Virginia region outside of the PBA regional circuit, which usually requires many hours of travel to reach the tournament site and often precludes many top bowlers with good career jobs from participating in high-level competitions.
Given his record of winning scratch tournaments across four decades against local and PBA competitors, and for providing a service of running scratch tournaments, Tony Walton is a welcome addition to the NCAUSBCA Hall of Fame.
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