The glint of a stud earring piercing each lobe is the only note of flash discernible in the otherwise all-business demeanor of a focused Cameron Crowe, who rolls his ball in a towel at the ball return to prepare for another shot at the 2021 USBC Junior Gold Championships at Expo Bowl in Indianapolis.

Crowe’s unassuming pair of black slacks and blue-and-black polo buttoned to the neck, which bears the United States Bowling Congress’s star insignia on its left breast, reflect the quiet humility of a player whose game speaks far more loudly.

The lean, towering and athletically built Crowe will smoke the rack for plenty of booming strikes in his match against a stout opponent in Wichita State’s Alec Keplinger in the championship match of the event’s U20 division. But even the shaker 6 pin that drowsily keels over in his fourth frame for a double, or the blast of a ringing 7 a couple frames earlier, elicit the gasps and hoots of an applauding crowd behind the championship pair that sound increasingly enamored of the lefty two-hander’s crushing power.

Today, that power will prove awesome enough to help Crowe overcome Keplinger, 232-226, to win one of youth bowling’s most coveted titles after having bagged a U.S. National Amateur victory the prior year. Tomorrow, perhaps, it may prove to be powerful enough to make history on one of the sport’s grandest stages — the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. That, at least, has long been the hope of that tour’s Commissioner, Tom Clark.

‘I Think I’m Good Enough Now’
Cameron Crowe remembers the first time he met Clark. Apparently, the youngster made a strong first impression on the commissioner of the PBA.

“It was my senior year of high school when he saw me bowling,” Crowe said. “And he was like, ‘Join the Tour now!’ I said, ‘Tom, I barely made it through the Junior Gold cut. I can’t go taking on Jason Belmonte! I don’t know if the Tour life is for me, and I don’t know if I’m good enough.’

“And every year after that, he kept asking me to join the PBA, and I kept giving him the same answer: ‘I don’t think I’m good enough. And when I think I’m good enough, maybe I’ll try.’ Six years later, here we are. I think I’m good enough now.”

So do a lot of other people, especially after Crowe’s standout amateur career and his performance at the PBA Tour Trials in August, a few months after becoming a PBA member.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound left-hander has demonstrated his star potential on the lanes ever since he was still attending Orland Park Sandburg High School, a Chicago suburb. With his sturdy build and ability, Crowe could have played baseball or basketball for the Eagles. Instead, he chose to be on the bowling team.

He ended up being a standout for the team with his powerful two-handed delivery. Crowe’s best individual finish in the Illinois state high school tournament was second. But the state meet played a big part in determining where he would bowl in college.

Crowe’s future on the PBA Tour was determined at the 2024 PBA Tour Trials, held in four Chicago-area centers — basically his backyard. He placed seventh out of an original field of 90 PBA players, earning one of the 12 available exempt spots for the 2025 PBA season.

Clark has always seen the potential in the charismatic Crowe, who could be the next big thing on the PBA Tour. The 23-year-old has a power game to go along with his high-energy persona.

“Cam has all of the qualities, because he’s a dynamic player with a dynamic personality, and he has the accomplishments and the confidence behind him from college bowling to Team USA, and regular pro/amateur type events,” Clark said. “When you take a guy that has past accomplishments, his personality, his power as a player and put confidence behind it at the PBA level, you wonder, ‘What’s the ceiling? How far can he go?’”

An Inspiration
And as an African-American athlete, Crowe also knows he has the ability to make a big impact on his community.

“I would call it an opportunity,” he said. “I’ve been blessed with the position that God has put me in, and hopefully I’m able to take full advantage of everything that I’m capable of doing. All I’ve got to do is put in the work and try to inspire young kids — to show them that it’s another route if you don’t want to play basketball or football or baseball. I know that most African-Americans’ homes are kind of like that when it comes to sports.

“Tiger was that for golf — and I’m not saying I’m going to be Tiger Woods, because he was one of the greatest golfers to ever touch a golf ball. Hopefully, one day I’m in that conversation as well. I’m going to try to inspire young African-American men and women to just go out and chase their dreams and not be ashamed or embarrassed, thinking that bowling isn’t a cool thing to do.”

But Crowe knows very little about the history surrounding the African-American bowlers who were regulars on the PBA Tour.

“I didn’t really watch bowling when I was growing up,” he said. “My dad had a tape of Parker Bohn III, and that’s pretty much the only thing I saw. When I got a little older, I started watching the PBA because it was something I thought I might want to pursue. I wasn’t really paying attention to the race situation. I don’t know of any other African-Americans who went out there and tried the Tour. I need to sharpen my knowledge on that.”

Crowe has heard about the three African-Americans who have won major PBA titles: George Branham III (a five-time PBA champion), Gary Faulkner Jr. and DeeRonn Booker.

Branham became the first black PBA champion on the national tour when he defeated PBA great Mark Roth to win the 1986 Brunswick Memorial World Open in Glendale Heights, Illinois.

He became the first Black bowler to win a major in 1993 when he defeated Parker Bohn III to win the 1993 Firestone Tournament of Champions. But Branham won his last title in 1996 — a few years before Crowe was born.

Faulkner won the Rolltech PBA World Championship in 2015. Since that victory, however, he has struggled on the PBA Tour. He bowled in just five events in 2024, earning $2,100 on the national tour.

Booker won the 2024 USBC Masters, going undefeated in the event to earn the $100,000 top prize. How much of an impact Booker will have as an inspiration to African-American youth is still up in the air. That title was his only cash in nine events on the 2024 PBA Tour.

A Path Paved by Trailblazers
Willie Willis became the first African-American bowler to qualify for the Firestone Tournament of Champions. He won the 1979 National Resident Pro Championship, which is not a PBA Tour event but qualified him for the 1980 Firestone. Until Branham won his first title in 1986, Willis had been the only Black bowler to compete in the prestigious T of C.

An African-American bowler, J. Wilbert Sims, was on the PBA’s first telecast in 1962, the Benesch PBA Open in Argo, Illinois, finishing fourth. He was the runner-up two weeks later in the Fourth Empire State PBA Open in Albany, New York.

Don Scott was one of the first black players to join the PBA. He had a high finish of ninth in the 1961 PBA National Championship after leading the field in qualifying.

There have been other successful African-American bowlers who tried the Tour, but never won titles: Curtis Odom, Rod Pasteur, Bobby Hall, Charlie Venable, Bobby Williams and Harry Johnson, to name a few.

Enter ‘Billy O’
And then there was Billy Oatman, who played an important role in Crowe’s development.

Billy O, as he was known, didn’t turn pro until he was 40. As the only black exempt player on the Denny’s PBA Tour in 2007, he made a big impact on the African-American community, and he attracted black fans throughout the country — especially when he made a televised final.

Not disappointing his fans, the Chicago native, who bowled collegiately at Vincennes and Wichita State, went on to earn the Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year award for the 2006-2007 season. He was the first Black player to win the honor and, at 41, also the oldest. Tom Clark remembers how much of an impression Oatman had on the PBA.

“Billy was a guy who had a personality you couldn’t miss,” he said. “And when he was on TV, it was like a, ‘Wow! You’ve got to watch this guy!’ type of thing.

“I think Cam’s got a few more accomplishments behind him and a little more refinement to his game. You can assume that Cam will probably be a little more consistent than Billy Oatman.”

And Crowe already has displayed some of the characteristics that can make him stand out when he’s on Tour.

“After the Tour Trials, we did a photo shoot of the 12 guys who made it out,” Clark said. “The photographer wrote a note to us saying, ‘Wow! This guy Cameron Crowe is unbelievable! He’s such a great subject for photos.’ He was the one that the photographer pointed out as the one that was the most photogenic.”

Billy O had a high finish of second on the PBA Tour, finishing runner-up to PBA Hall of Famer Jason Couch in the 2007 Motel 6 Classic. But he still left a lasting impression on bowling until his unexpected death at age 57 last year following a stroke.

But Crowe’s father Kermit made sure that Cam knew about Billy O, who had many of the same traits shown by Cam — an infectious smile and a big personality, oozing with charisma – and about Oatman’s impact on the African-American community.

The elder Crowe had a personal connection with Billy O.

“My dad knew Billy Oatman, but I never got a chance to meet him,” Cam said. “My dad actually bowled with him in a couple of leagues. Billy O was a superstar. I’ve been educated on who Billy O was. I’m happy that somebody in my family was able to know him and meet him because he’s done a lot for the African-American community when it comes to bowling.”

Kermit was about a 215-average bowler when he was Oatman’s teammate, and he had a few good memories of the popular left-hander.

“Billy got kicked out of bowling in the side pots,” Kermit recalled. “I had never seen that before, but they would not let him bowl in the pots because he would win every week! He was always sweeping the pots, and people would stop getting in. So, they told him he couldn’t play anymore. Then he left the league.”

Kermit, like Cam, also is left-handed. And while he could not play where Oatman played the lanes (a deep inside shot), he tried to make sure that Cam knew of Billy O’s capabilities.

“When we practiced, I would tell Cam that Billy Oatman can do this, and Billy Oatman can do that,” Kermit said. “Cam’s a two-handed left-hander, so he had no problem getting his ball back from deep inside.”

Accelerated Development
Kermit is also the main reason that Cam learned how to bowl two-handed.

“My hand always grew so fast that my dad never wanted to drill fingers in my ball, because he’d always have to plug them and re-drill them,” Cam said. “So, until I was about 9, I never had holes in the ball. So, I had to throw it with two hands.

“And then when I turned 10, I was sick of it, so I took one of his bowling balls, when you could still have weight holes. His ball had three holes, so the thumb was my weight hole. I just started using his ball, which was a 16-pounder, until he drilled me one of my own.”

When one of the junior leagues tried to get Cam to bowl one-handed, Kermit took him out of the league.

“Nobody had ever seen anything like that before, so I didn’t really have coaching,” Cam said. “They just let me bowl. I was an athletic kid. I just ran up to the foul line and tried to throw it somewhere down the left side of the lane.

“I didn’t really start getting pretty good at it until I was around 9 or 10. My ball hooked a lot when I started putting fingers in it, and it was hitting the pins a lot harder. But it was my dad, basically, who was my coach.”

Kermit did such a good job, however, that it ended his career on the lanes. “I quit when Cam started beating me,” he said. “It’s not even funny.”

By the time Crowe reached high school, he was clearly the best bowler on the team, and he stayed that way from his freshman year on.

“I averaged probably 230 my freshman and sophomore years, 235 my junior year, and 240 my senior year,” he said.

‘I Don’t See Any Limit to Cam’s Potential’
That kind of high school career attracted the attention of several strong major collegiate programs, including Lindenwood, McKendree, and St. Ambrose.

What helped Crowe decide on St. Ambrose, which is located in Davenport, Iowa, was his familiarity with a couple of the bowlers who were already on the team, Dakota Solonka and Nate Stubler. But it was Stubler who was the key player in the decision.

When Crowe was a sophomore, he advanced to the Illinois state high school tournament, but did not make the cut to the finals. He did have a front-row seat to watch Stubler set a couple of national high school records.

The left-hander from LaSalle-Peru High School opened with 269, 268 and 300 for an 837 set and then added 300, 278 and 227 for an 805. He averaged 273.7 and his 1,642 total led the field by more than 200 pins.

Stubler became the first bowler to roll back-to-back 300 games and back-to-back 800 series in the tournament. He also set a national high school record for four games (1,137) and five games (1,415).

“I knew who Nathan was because I was right next to him when he did that,” Crowe said. “He doesn’t remember, but I do. What he was doing was insane! So, I knew St. Ambrose had a pretty good team, and if Nathan and I were on the same team, we’d have a really good chance.”

He was correct.

The Fighting Bees became an elite program, with Stubler and Crowe being a 1-2 punch, usually in the 4-9, 5-10 positions during Baker competition. And when they became doubles partners, they were a formidable duo in amateur tournaments around the country.

“I was still a youth bowler when I got to St. Ambrose,” Crowe said. “As soon as I turned adult, we started bowling doubles together. We went around the country for about a two-year stretch. We only won a couple, but we’d finish in the top 5 pretty much at every big doubles tournament that you can think of.

“I think we’re going to bowl the Roth/Holman Doubles next year. Now we’re going to see what we can do against the big boys. And that camaraderie helps out a little bit. Without Nathan, I’m nowhere near where I am today. He was always the standard bearer, and he was always the guy who made me a lot better as a human, as a bowler, and as a person.”

St. Ambrose advanced to the title match in both the 2021 and 2023 Intercollegiate Team Championships, only to lose to powerhouse Wichita State both times.

“Cam was a big part of that,” said Eric Littig, who has coached at St. Ambrose for 12 seasons. “And with Wichita State being the benchmark program, there was no shame in losing to them.”

But the tournaments were each contested in very different atmospheres.

“The first year, in Grand Rapids, there were no spectators because of COVID, and we all had masks on,” Littig said. “Two years later, it was in Las Vegas with a huge crowd in the big arena at South Point. The first time we lost, 3-2, and the second time we got swept. But we were absolutely dominant leading up to TV bowling. Both times we made the show, we came out of the winner’s bracket, going 4-0. If it was a true double-elimination format, we’d have gotten to bowl again for the title. But that’s not how it works because of TV.”

Stubler, who also will be exempt on the PBA Tour in 2025, ended his career with the Bees as a two-time all-American. Despite being named the ITC Most Valuable Player in 2021, Crowe never earned All-American honors. And it was almost by design.

“I was immature in college and not that sharp when it came to bowling,” Crowe said. “I was more of a Baker bowler. I wasn’t really good at the individual aspect. And that’s what All-American is. So, Saturdays weren’t really my day, and I just didn’t come prepared, unfortunately. But now I’ve matured, and I see that now.”

Littig had conversations with Crowe on that subject.

“We’re trying to finish as high as we can as a team,” Littig said. “And Cam’s exact words to me were, ‘Eric, I don’t care about all-American. If I’m going to bowl for myself, I can do that on the weekends. I’m trying to win the team title.’ That’s exactly the kind of attitude you want. The only score that matters is that team score at the end of every tournament.

“I don’t see any limit to Cam’s potential. He is just immensely talented, and I think the most important thing for any athlete, or any aspect of life, is your desire and your competitiveness. Cam is one of these bowlers that you instantly notice when you see him throw a shot or two. He’s very boisterous, very high-energy. And I’ve never coached anybody that wants to throw that strike to win certainly any more than Cam.”

‘Now You Know My Name!’
Crowe did take care of business individually on a national level while he was at St. Ambrose.

His biggest win came when he claimed the 2020 United States National Amateur Bowling Championship.

“I would consider that my coming-out party,” Crowe said. “That was my first big tournament where I performed very well. I was in the moment and stayed in the moment, dialed in. It was a dream come true. All that hard work I put in when it came to bowling, it was just a blessing.”

In the title match, he faced close friend Solomon Salama of Beverly Hills, California. Crowe won easily, 269-215.

“Fortunately for me, I caught a couple of breaks, threw 10 really good shots and was able to wear a jacket. There’s no better feeling than putting on a red, white, and blue jacket, going for Team USA. It’s a feeling I thought I would never have, let alone at the age of 18.”

The next year, Crowe won that U20 Junior Gold boys title in Indianapolis over Keplinger. It was something of a payback match. Keplinger was on the Wichita State team that had defeated St. Ambrose for the 2021 ITC title.

Crowe was a two-time member of the adult Team USA and a three-time member of Junior Team USA. That led to some international competition.

“I went to the Pan American Championships in Cali, Colombia, in 2021,” he said. “We won bronze in trios (with Matt Russo and Andrew Anderson) and gold in team event, with me, Matt Russo, Andrew Anderson, Kris Prather, Nick Pate and Kyle Sherman. It was a pretty good squad. I don’t know why they put me on the team. For a 20-year-old kid, I was like, ‘Man, I couldn’t have dreamt anything like this!’”

Another event that helped bolster Crowe’s confidence — and might have given him the final push to get his PBA card — also took place in 2021. It was a $10,000 Mega Bucks tournament held in Columbus, Ohio.

“It was basically a Tour stop,” Crowe said. “EJ Tackett, Anthony Simonsen, Andrew Anderson, Keven Williams and Packy Hanrahan were there. And I ended up leading the field. And this was not on a house shot. So, I was like, ‘All these guys are here, and you led the field. You can do this for real. You can really keep up with these guys when you’re on.’”

Crowe qualified second for the stepladder finals and had the front nine strikes to win the semifinal match, then the last six strikes in the title match to win the top prize.

One of the spectators at the bowl was PBA star Kyle Troup, who wasn’t very familiar with Crowe at the time. That was the joke during the live stream. Nobody knew Crowe’s name.

So, after rolling the strike that clinched the win, Crowe stepped off the approach, looked into the camera and said, “Now you know my name!”

That win did wonders for his confidence.

“That moment I started to consider joining the PBA, but I never fully leaned into it until a few months ago,” Crowe said. “My rule was I was never going to join the Tour if I didn’t think I could be the best in the world. Now I think I can be the best in the world. Not right away, but eventually.”

Crowe also knows that he will have the full support of his family when he goes out on Tour. That includes his dad Kermit, his mom Kimberly and his sister Kristen, who recently received her Doctorate in Pharmacy from the University of Kentucky.

“No matter what I was going to do, as long as I was doing something very productive, they were going to be supportive of me,” he said. “I can’t thank them enough. They’re my lifeline. They’re my rock.”

Turning Pro
Cam finally heeded Tom Clark’s advice and joined the PBA in May.

But can he make a name for himself and possibly become one of the best African-American bowlers ever on the PBA Tour — if not THE best? After all, going into the final two months of 2024, Crowe had not thrown one ball in PBA regional competition.

One of the key factors could be lane conditions.

“Him being left-handed could be a great thing or it could be really, really tough,” Clark said. “He has to learn a new way to go at it because, for the most part, if a left-hander is used to bowling one way, that way doesn’t really work on the PBA Tour. The only guy that I can think of in recent years that was a lefty and basically has his way and still is great is Jesper Svensson. But Jesper shows that you can do it. Cam could be like that.”

Crowe knows he will have a steep learning curve once the 2025 Tour starts.

“I don’t think I’ve perfected anything, really,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of things in my game that I have to work on — whether it’s mechanics, spare shooting, lane play, or ball choice. I’ve always said you won’t learn what to do until you get out there, and until you actually bowl against them.”

His father, however, would like to see Crowe develop more of a game face.

“He’s too jubilant,” Kermit said. “Tiger Woods doesn’t speak to anybody. Michael Jordan looks like he is ready to rip your head off. And these guys were good! Cam’s just the opposite. He’s real charismatic and friendly. He doesn’t look like a killer when you look at him. But that’s just the way he grew up, and I’m glad he didn’t take my advice on that. He would still win without wearing a game face.”

Another thing Crowe could work on is his time management. He has developed somewhat of a reputation for arriving just in time to bowl in tournaments.

“It’s not like on purpose, necessarily,” he said. “I just lose track of time. I’m a terrible time management guy. And if I sit in a bowling alley for 45 minutes to an hour, I’m either going to talk to everybody or I’m going to be bored. I don’t want to do that. I want to get in, put my shoes on and let’s go.”

That could be a problem on the PBA Tour, which usually does roll call 30 minutes prior to the first squad. But Crowe is already planning for that.

“I have a couple of ideas of what I’m going to do,” he said. “I don’t want to give them out, because I think they’re going to be very innovative and they’re going to be for me.”

Crowe also plans on moving to Texas in the near future so he can have access to the International Training and Research Center at the USBC headquarters in Arlington.

“The ITRC really helps, and if I’m really going to take bowling seriously, I want the best training in the world,” he said. “It’s a fresh start, and hopefully that’s going to improve my game a little bit more.”

So, the move could take place by the time Crowe gets to Middletown, Delaware, for the first 2025 PBA Tour stop.

“I’m not going to lie to you and say I don’t have lofty expectations for myself next year,” he said. “But I know this is going to be a learning experience. I know this is crazy to say, but I’m looking forward to losing. I’m looking forward to just learning and seeing what I need to do in order to make sure that in a few years, I’m that guy that everyone wants to be.”

Especially in the African-American community.