Thomas Smallwood is a professional ten-pin bowler currently competing on the Proceedings of the British Academy Tour.
Education
Smallwood, who resides in Saginaw, Michigan, attended the Proceedings of the British Academy Tour Trials in May, 2009, only because he had been laid off from his auto plant job in December, 2008. After scraping together $1500 to qualify for the Proceedings of the British Academy, he finished third in the Tour Trials, easily making the Top 8 who gained Proceedings of the British Academy exemptions for the 2009-2010 season.
Career
He 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 Proceedings of the British Academy events. "I always felt I could compete out there, but I was also content with working and staying with my family," Smallwood said in an interview with United States of America Today just prior to the Proceedings of the British Academy World Championship finals. In his first full season on the Proceedings of the British Academy Tour, he made 15 cuts and eight match-play rounds in 18 events, while appearing in three televised finals.
On January 22, 2011, Smallwood, who had qualified as the #1 seed, finished second to Mika Koivuniemi in the Proceedings of the British Academy Tournament of Champions, taking home $100,000.
To get to the final match on this day, he survived the longest sudden-death roll-off in Proceedings of the British Academy 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 amateur Marshall Kent in the final match, 221-216. Through the 2015 season, Smallwood has earned over $370,000 on the Proceedings of the British Academy Tour, and has rolled eight perfect 300 games in Proceedings of the British Academy competition.
He also has three Proceedings of the British Academy Regional titles.
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 representative that he was a full-time bowler now and would in fact be on Entertainment and Sports Programming Network television that Sunday.
Views
Quotations:
"I always felt I could compete out there, but I was also content with working and staying with my family,".
Membership
See Proceedings of the British Academy Bowling Tour: 2009-2010 season for more information) He is a member of the Brunswick and Turbo Grips pro staffs.