Tom Smallwood

Growing up in Flushing, Michigan, his parents took him as a toddler to Colonial Lanes for their Sunday-night mixed league which led to his interest in bowling. Tom played other sports but always came back to bowling. He went to Saginaw Valley State University, but soon quit to be a bowler.[2]

At age 19, Smallwood went to Las Vegas for a high-roller amateur (non-PBA) tournament for the first time. He fell short of winning $10,000 on the second day.[2]

Tom had been an excellent bowler in classic leagues in and around Saginaw, and supplemented his income by competing in local tournaments and a few open PBA events. He qualified for his PBA Tour card in 2003–04 because he did well in PBA Regional Tour events. However, he did not handle the pressure well in his first try on the national PBA Tour, missing the cut in 19 of 20 events. He finished 53rd on the Tour points list and did not make the next season's all-exempt Tour.[2]

Smallwood then found a job at a metal shop as his then-girlfriend (now wife) Jennifer would not marry a man without a regular paycheck. He then got a job at General Motors' Pontiac East Assembly Plant in the Spring of 2008 only to get laid off two days before Christmas.[2] Tom, then married and with one child,[2] agreed to look for a new job for two months before attempting to get back into the PBA Tour.[1] Smallwood practiced for free at State Lanes in Saginaw after job applications did not pan out, having been a regular league bowler there and being neighbors of the owners, Anne and Steve Doyle.[2]

Still looking for a regular job, Smallwood attended the PBA Tour Trials in May, 2009. After scraping together the $1500 fee for the Tour Trials, he finished third, easily making the Top 8 who gained PBA exemptions for the 2009–10 season. "I always felt I could compete out there [on the Tour], but I was also content with working and staying with my family," Smallwood said in an interview with USA Today just prior to the PBA World Championship finals.[3] Ironically, he was offered a chance to go back to work at General Motors, when a representative from that company's job bank called him just days before the 2009 World Championship finals. Smallwood had to decline, telling the rep that he was a full-time bowler now and would in fact be on ESPN television that Sunday.[2]

With his major tournament win at the PBA World Championship on December 13, 2009, Smallwood earned a PBA Tour exemption through the 2011–12 season. In his first full season on the PBA Tour, he made 15 cuts and eight match-play rounds in 18 events, while appearing in three televised finals. Tom's "rags to riches" victory in the World Championship was voted #47 in the PBA's "60 Most Memorable Moments" list, revealed as part of the PBA Tour's 60th Anniversary celebrations during the 2018 season.[4]

Smallwood qualified as the #1 seed for the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions, which offered a PBA-record $250,000 first prize. He finished second to Mika Koivuniemi in the televised finals on January 22, taking home a $100,000 runner-up check.[5] He made four TV finals overall in 2010–11, but did not win a title.

Smallwood won his second PBA title on November 3, 2013, at the World Series of Bowling PBA Scorpion Championship. To get to the final match on this day, he survived the longest sudden-death roll-off in PBA history after tying Josh Blanchard 232–232 in the semifinal. Smallwood threw five strikes in the roll-off, while Blanchard threw four strikes before leaving a 10-pin on his fifth shot. Smallwood then defeated Marshall Kent in the final match.[6]

Smallwood made a bid to win his second PBA World Championship in December, 2016, charging from the #4 seed to the finals, but he fell to #1 seed E. J. Tackett in the title match.[7] Smallwood was voted by his peers to receive the PBA Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award for the 2016 season[8]

On February 25, 2018, Smallwood won his third PBA title and second major at the Barbasol PBA Players Championship. Smallwood climbed from the #5 seed in the TV finals, eventually defeating top seed Jason Belmonte in the final match.[9] On November 20, 2018, the PBA announced that Smallwood had won his second career PBA Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award.[10]

Through the 2019 season, Smallwood has earned over $580,000 on the PBA Tour, and has rolled nine perfect 300 games in PBA competition. He also has five PBA Regional Tour titles.

Tom Smallwood was born to Dennie and Sharon. His father worked at General Motors, primarily at a Flint Chevrolet plant manufacturing V-6 engines. Smallwood has a wife, Jennifer "Jen" (De Veaux), daughter Hannah Rose and son Brady. He is a native of Flushing, Michigan.[2]

• PBA Tour profile of Smallwood