The Lessons that Built the Best Bowler in the World

EJ Tackett stood alone on lanes 25-26 of Reno’s National Bowling Stadium. The crowd chanted his name, but Tackett remained speechless.

His third straight PBA World Championship title, the latest in a series of extraordinary exploits on the PBA Tour, capped off perhaps the greatest week any bowler has ever had.

Tackett’s sixth consecutive finals and seventh consecutive singles finals appearance, each a PBA record, had pushed him to his physical and emotional limits.

In the aftermath of an exhausting month, the 32-year-old managed to muster seven words as the tears dripped down his cheeks.

“Man, that’s a cool feeling isn’t it,” Tackett said.

Tackett’s World Championship victory completed the sixth major threepeat in tour history and ushered him into sole possession of 10th all time in career PBA Tour titles.

His fourth title of the season and second of the PBA World Series of Bowling XVI all but cemented his third consecutive Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year honor, a feat matched by just four other players.

“I’ve gotten to a point in my career that every time I am able to do something, I join a list of people that are considered the greatest ever to play the game,” Tackett said after the season. “You have to step back and say, ‘This is actually happening. This is real. This isn't made up. You're not going to wake up and it all goes away.’”

The escapades of Tackett no longer surprise anyone. In fact, historic greatness has become the expectation. But it wasn’t always like this.

Tackett’s supremacy of the PBA Tour is the culmination of a self-reflection journey that began on those exact lanes at the National Bowling Stadium 10 years ago.

In 2015, Tackett left Reno with a feeling he would not describe as “cool.” Perhaps “furious” or “deflated” or “embarrassed” would be more appropriate.

Gary Faulkner Jr. obliterated Tackett, then 23, in the 2015 PBA World Championship title match. The 216-178 drubbing mirrored the 221-177 final score of the USBC Masters championship match that Tackett lost to Jason Belmonte the season prior.

The loss to Faulkner dropped Tackett’s career television record to 1-5 with an average of 186.67. He had yet to win a title on TV.

As the top seed and lone right-hander in a stepladder finals featuring four southpaws, the third-year pro took the opportunity for granted.

“EJ showed up to the set in 2015 and just threw shots,” said Brett Spangler, Motiv’s tour rep and a longtime friend of Tackett’s. “He didn't break the lanes down. He just threw shots and didn't give any consideration to (breaking the lanes down).”

Tackett said the 2015 World Championship marked the beginning of his introspection.

“I had to figure out how to bowl in those (pressure) situations,” Tackett said. “I knew I was really good. I knew I could get myself into that situation. But it took me a long time to figure it out to perform in those situations.”

No matter how many times he failed, or simply lost, in those moments, Tackett vowed to keep swinging. He would not allow his shortcomings in a single game to tarnish his brilliance in the 40-plus previous games.

Tackett’s letdowns on TV, while humbling, were a testament to his uber talent.

“When you're that damn good that early, sometimes you have some learning to do that happens on TV,” Spangler said. “If he wasn't leading tournaments when he was 22, he wouldn't have been in those spots. If he was performing like other people that age and sneaking on to shows, maybe (his struggles) don’t get noticed.”

Despite the title match loss, leading a major championship for the second straight year bolstered the rising star’s confidence.

“If a player doesn't perform that well on a show, people downgrade it. They forget about all the hard work it took to even get to that point,” Tackett said. “I take a lot of pride in myself for being consistent, being there week in and week out and giving myself a bunch of chances to win championships. I know, if I can get there enough times, eventually stuff is going to go right.”

In the first major of the following season, Tackett qualified for the 2016 Tournament of Champions finals. Though he lost the first match of the stepladder to Tom Daugherty, Tackett said he performed the best he ever had on television to that point in his career.

“I came home from that event and I told my dad, ‘The next time I'm on TV, I'm going to win’ and I believed it,” Tackett said. “That was the first time I'd ever believed it.”

Seven months later, Tackett made his next TV appearance in the PBA Fall Swing Bear Open. He fulfilled his pledge to his dad and won the title, the third of his career and first on TV.

Tackett returned to the National Bowling Stadium in December of 2016 and once again earned the No. 1 seed in the World Championship.

This time, Tackett dominated Tom Smallwood in the title match, at long last capturing his first career major crown. The win marked his fourth title of the season and the signature victory of his first PBA Player of the Year award.

Tackett won four titles again the next season, solidifying his status as one of the game’s top players. His mission to become the best player, however, had barely begun.

Belmonte not only won four times in 2017, but set records with three major wins and a 229.39 average en route to securing Player of the Year honors. Over the next five seasons, Belmonte collected three more Player of the Year awards, amassed 14 titles, made 14 major finals and won five majors as he shattered the PBA’s all-time major record.

“No matter what I do, I personally will always compare myself to (Belmonte),” Tackett said. “That's my gauge of my success because I was witness to it for all but about four years of his career. I’m trying to do the things that Jason did.”

With Belmonte as his barometer, Tackett fell painfully short during that same period from 2018-2022. Of the six titles Tackett added to his résumé, half of them came in a non-televised, mixed doubles event; only two took place on television; only two were singles events; and none were majors.

Despite entering his 30s as a 15-time champion and guaranteed future Hall of Famer, Tackett wasn’t satisfied.

Belmonte has long described Tackett as his fiercest rival, as the primary motivator driving Belmonte to push for more accolades even as his own name already decorates the record books. His commentary of Tackett is intended as a genuine compliment.

But who wants to be remembered as a stepping stone in someone else’s ascension? As a mere pacesetter to a world champion runner?

Each Belmonte victory added more kerosene to the fire burning inside Tackett, who believed himself capable of being the best — not one of the best.

“I was tired of losing,” he said.

The U.S. Open means more to Tackett than any other tournament.

The allure of the green jacket, of course, carries inherent appeal. The chance to win the prestigious event on his home turf, which has been the case since 2022, ascended the tournament to top billing on the Bluffton native’s bucket list.

As of Jan. 2023, Tackett had yet to win in his home state, let alone on the sacred ground of Royal Pin Woodland, where so many legends like Pete Weber, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Norm Duke and Belmonte had won.

While Belmonte hunted for a second career Super Slam, Tackett pursued what was at the time perhaps an equally ambitious goal: to prove he could deliver under the bright lights.

Tackett’s 2022 U.S. Open performance embodied why many were skeptical Tackett could reach the heights his talent foreshadowed. He led the tournament by more than 500 pins, but lost the championship match in demoralizing fashion to Anthony Simonsen by 67 pins.

Tackett made the 90-minute commute for the 2023 season opener anticipating an onslaught of internal and external pressures. He prepared for the psychological assault with an offseason of intense training.

“Going into the season, I practiced a lot, probably more than I ever have in my entire career,” Tackett said. “I felt more ready for that season than any season I've ever bowled.”

His preparation paid off. Tackett seized the U.S. Open lead in the third round and maintained it through match play to earn the top seed for the stepladder finals.

Tackett faced Kyle Troup, another former Player of the Year with lofty career aspirations, in the title match. The battle went back and forth until a gaffe from Troup in his 10th frame opened the door for Tackett.

With the elusive green jacket just one strike and eight pins away, the weight of the world descended on Tackett’s shoulders. The fate of his career seemingly hid within his 15-pound ball.

For the first time in an opportunity this consequential, Tackett came through. The 10-pin stood for a brief moment, a millisecond that felt like an eternity, but eventually obeyed the superstar’s direct order.

“I willed down that 10-pin,” Tackett said. “I think me being positive up to that point is what made that 10-pin fall. If I was negative, there is a 100% chance that the pin would not have fallen over.

“That shot changed the whole trajectory of my career.”

Never before had so much confidence coursed through the Hoosier’s veins. The strength he gained from overcoming such tremendous adversity powered Tackett to two more titles in the next four events. 

Tackett then earned the top seed in the PBA Tournament of Champions, positioning himself within one game from another major title and a stranglehold on the Player of the Year race.

And then, out of nowhere, came Belmonte.

“It is unbelievable how many times I’ve seen him be out of a tournament and then all of a sudden, here he comes,” Tackett said. “He would qualify in like 23rd place for match play and to me it was a no-brainer he would make the show.”

That’s exactly what the Australian did at the famed AMF Riviera Lanes.

Belmonte rallied from 58th place, to 20th place for match play, to the sixth seed for the elongated championship round. He then won five matches to climb the stepladder and meet Tackett in the title match.

This TOC bout marked the third major title match between the two stars. Belmonte won the first two by margins of 221-177 and 225-196.

Belmonte won the third, again in decisive fashion, 246-179.

After the win, Belmonte spoke to media members, each drooling over the titan’s latest conquest. Belmonte removed his signature arm sleeve to reveal the tattoos adorning his right arm. 

His latest artwork featured a series of Xs celebrating each of his major championships. He pointed to where the 15th demarcation, five more than anyone in PBA history, would go.

There was also ink illustrating a crown because, as Belmonte said, his wife calls him “king.”

So does, even in the midst of one of the most brilliant seasons in PBA history, EJ Tackett.

A few weeks later, Tackett once again earned the top seed in the PBA World Championship and Belmonte, once again, completed a heroic comeback to meet Tackett for the title.

The two heavyweights matched each other strike for strike; neither relented until Belmonte spared the 3-6-10 in the ninth frame. Belmonte responded with three strikes in the 10th frame, unleashing a slew of maniacal roars after forcing Tackett to double.

Belmonte’s uncharacteristic, vehement body language demonstrated he knew the stakes of this match were far greater than one major championship.

Likewise, Tackett understood Belmonte’s 10-year rule of the PBA Tour, a decade of utter domination matched by few athletes who’ve ever lived, had to end some day. He also recognized that one more major title-match loss to Belmonte might cripple his grander ambition once and for all.

Tackett could still win Player of the Year with another title-match loss, but one more defeat at the hands of Belmonte might relegate Tackett to a lifetime designation of the best in the world... after Belmonte.

Empowered by his U.S. Open triumph, Tackett now knew how to handle pressure of this magnitude. Two strikes away from seizing the throne, he took a deep breath.

“It comes back to patience, not trying to rush everything and taking your time,” Tackett said. “I needed time to get my heart rate back down. In those moments, that kind of stuff comes from experience, knowing I need to take 10-15 extra seconds to get my heart rate back down so that I can focus on making a good shot.”

A deep breath, as simple as it sounds, made all the difference. All Tackett needed to become the undeniable best bowler on the planet was to allow himself to be himself.

Tackett always had the talent to compete with Belmonte. What he lacked, specifically in these moments, was the audacity to believe it.

There has been no more prophetic and emblematic celebratory quote — post Pete Weber’s you-know-what — than the one Tackett unleashed that afternoon outside of Milwaukee.

Since April 23, 2023, it has indeed been EJ Tackett’s time.

Not long ago, people could justify their belief that Tackett was a player who crumbles under pressure. Those critics have been banished to the same shadow realm Tackett's 500-plus rev rate escorts the pins.

During the past three seasons, Tackett leads the tour with 11 titles, more than $1.1 million in earnings and 31 top-five finishes. He finished top five in 10 of 15 major championships, won five of them and doubled in the 10th frame to clinch three of them.

When reflecting on the past three seasons, Tackett pointed to the near-10-pin in the 2023 U.S. Open title match, the literal tipping point of his career.

“If that pin stands, I don’t know what would’ve happened after that,” Tackett said. “I don’t think I would have won as much as I have. I would not have that extra confidence that I needed to throw the double against Jason in the 2023 World Championship. I don’t think I would have all that confidence in the next year to win the World Championship again, and then do it again (in 2025). I think it would have been a huge domino in a negative way.”

The chasm separating Tackett and Belmonte has been inverted. In 2025, the standard for bowling excellence is the 150-pound man from Huntington County.

In the decade since his loss to Faulkner, Tackett has developed a better understanding of the science behind bowling balls and layouts. He’s embraced the prevalence of urethane used by his competitors and learned how to utilize it to his advantage. 

The strikes Tackett threw in Reno to beat Belmonte, which he called “the best shots of my whole career,” are emblematic of his maturation as a player. 

He could not become the best player in the world without vanquishing the player who tormented him during the first chapter of his career. 

As Tackett pursued Belmonte, he distanced himself from just about every other player on tour. Since his rookie season in 2012-13, Tackett has won 27 times to Belmonte’s 28. The next-highest players are Anthony Simonsen (16), Jesper Svensson (14) and Sean Rash (13).

“I once asked (EJ) about the gap between him and the next one-hander,” Spangler said. “He said the gap wouldn’t be that big if there weren’t other people pushing him.

"I genuinely think it took Belmo for EJ to become somebody who can beat Belmo.”

For years, Tackett studied how Belmonte focused on the task at hand, how he rarely allowed external influences into his mind.

“Jason’s only worry is getting down the most pins as quickly as he possibly can,” Tackett said. “There is no outside noise in Jason’s world. That’s one of the things that I’ve noticed over the years and made me have to change how I do things.”

Of all the lessons Tackett has learned, from how to handle a stepladder with four left-handers to how to manage his emotions under pressure, one stands above the rest.

“I've always believed in myself, but now I've proven to myself that I can achieve these things,” he said. “All I can do now is try to ride the wave as long as possible and hopefully have a decade run like Jason did.”

During the past three years, Tackett has proven — to the world and to himself — that he is capable of anything. He has evolved from a player known for succumbing to pressure to one expected to succeed.

"The game moves slower for him now," Spangler said. "He doesn't do anything by accident anymore. Every shot he throws before the lights come on now has a purpose, and it informs what he's going to do on the show.”

What bowling fans are witnessing right now is a man who knows with every fiber of his being that he is the best at what he does on the entire planet.

Tackett drives to the grocery store knowing he is the best bowler on the planet. He plays fetch with his dog knowing he is the best bowler on the planet. He plays a round of golf, which he does better than almost anyone on the planet, knowing he is the best bowler on the planet.

With such deep, ingrained confidence and the talent to justify it came a three-year stretch of mastery on par with anyone who has ever played the game — which just might be the scariest part of all for the rest of the tour.

Because when has EJ Tackett ever been content with settling for par?