September 9, 2026 Nolan Hughes

EJ Tackett of Bluffton, Ind. has been selected to receive the 2026 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award, marking his fifth career and fourth consecutive Player of the Year honor.

Tackett became the fourth player in PBA history to win the award at least five times, joining Jason Belmonte (7), Walter Ray Williams Jr. (7) and Earl Anthony (6). He broke a tie with Mark Roth (4). 

Tackett also became the first player to be named Player of the Year in four consecutive seasons.

He won the PBA World Championship in each of those seasons, becoming the first player in PBA history to win a title event in four consecutive years.

Tackett won the World Championship and Player of the Year during the 2016 season as well.

The 34-year-old received 85.46% of votes among PBA members and media.

Brandon Bonta, Patrick Dombrowski, Graham Fach, Alex Horton, Marshall Kent, Boog Krol, Spencer Robarge, Anthony Simonsen, and Zach Wilkins also earned nominations for the 2026 Player of the Year award.

Bonta, Dombrowski, and Wilkins each received at least 3% of votes.

In 2025, Tackett became the fifth player to win three consecutive PBA Player of the Year honors. He joined Earl Anthony (1974-76, 1981-83), Mark Roth (1977-79), Walter Ray Williams Jr. (1996-98), and Jason Belmonte (2013-2015).

Tackett’s 2025 PBA World Championship victory put him alongside Anthony, Jason Couch, and Belmonte as the only players to win a PBA major championship three consecutive times. Anthony and Belmonte each did so twice.

This season, Tackett carved a place for himself in PBA history by extending each of those achievements to a fourth consecutive year.

After emerging winless from five championship rounds, including leading two major championships, Tackett broke through with his lone title of the 2026 PBA Tour powered by Go Bowling in the AMF PBA World Championship.

“I can't even put it into words what this feels like right now, to do something that no one else has ever done in the history of our sport,” Tackett said after his World Championship win.

The win capped off an unprecedented four-peat and paved the way for Tackett to make the Player of the Year ballot, which required winning at least one title.

Tackett led the PBA Tour in every statistical measure except titles. He lapped the field with 32,335 points and $324,075 earnings and set a new PBA Tour single-season average record at 229.79 across 438 games.

His average during the past two seasons — 229.37 in 2024 and 228.60 in 2025 — also rank third and fifth, respectively, all time.

Tackett led the tour with 10 top-five finishes, 13 top-10 finishes, and 17 cashes in 18 title events. He finished runner-up in two major championships — PBA Players Championship and USBC Masters — earning the top seed and losing the title match of each.

The PBA Player of the Year award bears the name of Chris Schenkel, whose Hall of Fame sports broadcasting career included more than three decades as the voice of the PBA.

Schenkel and Tackett were each born in the small Indiana county of Huntington.

Recent Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year Winners

EJ Tackett, 2026
EJ Tackett, 2025
EJ Tackett, 2024
EJ Tackett, 2023
Jason Belmonte, 2022
Kyle Troup, 2021
Jason Belmonte, 2020
Jason Belmonte, 2019
Andrew Anderson, 2018
Jason Belmonte, 2017
EJ Tackett, 2016

Complete list of Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year award winners