Harry Smith

Harry Monroe Smith (April 29, 1930 – August 8, 2021), nicknamed "Tiger", was a right-handed American ten-pin bowler and charter member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Smith won 12 PBA Tour titles, including two major championships. He is a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame.

Early career Smith was known as a standout team bowler in his native Cleveland before moving to Detroit in 1955 to compete for the Pfeiffer Beer team. Two years later, he moved to St. Louis to bowl for the Falstaffs team, which at various times included Glenn Allison, Billy Welu, Buzz Fazio, Steve Nagy and Dick Hoover.

1963 was a career year for Smith. He won three standard PBA Tour titles, plus the ABC Masters. He was the subject of a Sports Illustrated article that noted how well-paid professional bowlers were at the time. The November 1963 article stated that Smith had already earned more than the MVPs of the National Football League (Y. A. Tittle) and Major League Baseball's National League (Sandy Koufax) combined. Smith was the PBA Tour's top earner that year with winnings of $30,557, had won an additional $10,000 in non-PBA tournaments (including his ABC Masters win), and was drawing salaries as an advisor for Brunswick and as resident pro for Johnny Unitas' Colt Lanes in Baltimore, all adding up to a yearly income of about $75,000 (about $747,000 in 2023 dollars). bowling only a few events per year until fully retiring in 1975. He operated a bowling center in Rochester, New York in the early 1970s, then served as PBA Assistant Tournament Director from 1977 to 1988.

Personal Smith grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and was a 1949 graduate of Chagrin Falls High School. He worked as a pinboy in his teens and became known locally for hustling people in both bowling and billiards.

Awards and recognition 3x Bowlers Journal All-American (1959–60, 1962–63, 1964–65) Inducted into PBA Hall of Fame, 1975 Inducted into USBC Hall of Fame (Performance Category), 1978 Inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame, 1978 Ranked #28 on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years"