Mike Aulby is a left-handed bowler and former member of the Professional Bowlers Association

Professional Bowlers Association

The Professional Bowlers Association is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the PBA membership consists of almost 4,300 members worldwide...

 (PBA). He is one of only three PBA bowlers to win both a Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year award. (Tommy Jones and Chris Barnes are the others.)

PBA career

Mike Aulby joined the PBA Tour

PBA Tour

The Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour is the major professional tour for ten-pin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the PBA Tour consists of "exempt" bowlers who are a part of the almost 4,300 members worldwide...

 in 1978 and captured his first title and Rookie of the Year honors in 1979. He would go on to win 18 titles in the 1980s, nine in the 1990s, and one more in 2001, giving him 29 titles in all for 8th place all-time. The victory at the 2001 Silicon Valley Open also made him the only bowler in history to win at least one regular PBA Tour title in four decades. (Dick Weber

Dick Weber

Dick Weber was a famous bowling professional and a founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association...

, Johnny Petraglia

Johnny Petraglia

Johnny Petraglia was born in Brooklyn, New York, and now hails from Manalapan Township, New Jersey. He is best known as a left-handed bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association , where he won 14 tour titles. He has also won six Senior PBA Tour titles...

 and Dave Soutar

Dave Soutar

David Soutar was a successful professional ten-pin bowler on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. He won 18 times on the regular PBA Tour, and seven more times on the Senior PBA Tour...

 have PBA titles in five decades, but each needed PBA Senior Tour wins in the fourth and fifth decades.)

Mike was named PBA Player of the Year in 1985 and 1995. In 1989, he collected a then-record $298,237 in winnings.

Among Mike's 29 titles are eight major championships. The eight majors place him in a tie with Pete Weber

Pete Weber

Peter David "Pete" Weber, nicknamed “PDW”, , is a famous bowling professional on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. Weber is one of the sport's most popular active players and is well known for his maverick, rebellious personality...

 and Walter Ray Williams Jr. for 2nd most all-time. Only Earl Anthony

Earl Anthony

Earl Roderick Anthony was a left-handed American professional bowler who amassed records of 41 titles and six bowler of the year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. His title count was amended to 43 in 2008, when the PBA chose to include ABC Masters titles earned by a PBA member...

 (10) has won more major titles. Aulby is one of only six bowlers to capture the PBA career "Triple Crown" (winning the U.S. Open

U.S. Open (bowling)

The U.S. Open is one of the four major tournaments in the Professional Bowlers Association. The first modern-day U.S. Open tournament in the PBA took place in 1971 and was won by Mike Limongello. With four victories, Pete Weber holds the most modern-day U.S. Open trophies.The U.S...

, PBA National Championship

PBA World Championship

The PBA World Championship is one of the four major PBA bowling events. Prior to 2002, the tournament was called the PBA National Championship. The PBA National Championship was first contested in 1960, then called the First Annual National Championship...

 and Tournament of Champions) -- and along with Norm Duke

Norm Duke

Norm Duke is an American professional bowler currently on the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. He has bowled 58 perfect 300 games in PBA competition, including the 15th televised 300 game in PBA Tour history on January 5, 2003....

 and Billy Hardwick

Billy Hardwick

Billy Hardwick is a former right-handed ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association. He currently hails from Florida.-PBA career:...

, the only of the six to add the ABC Masters

USBC Masters

The USBC Masters is a championship ten pin bowling event conducted by the United States Bowling Congress. The Professional Bowlers Association began recognizing it as a title event in 1998, and it was designated one of the four majors in 2000....

 title for a career "Grand Slam."

In the 1993 Wichita Open, Aulby rolled a nationally-televised 300 game to win the title over David Ozio

David Ozio

David Ozio of Beaumont, TX is a right-handed ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association . He won 11 titles on the PBA Tour. He was the 2004 Senior PBA Rookie of the Year, winning the 2004 Senior U.S. Open. Through 2008, he has won five titles on the Senior and Generations...

, 300-279. This marked just the second time a nationally-televised 300 game was rolled in a title match (after Bob Benoit

Bob Benoit

This article is about the professional bowler. For the racing executive, see Bob Benoit .Bob Benoit was a professional bowler in the Professional Bowlers Association in the 80s and 90s. Over the course of his career, Benoit won 4 PBA titles...

).

Mr. Aulby was known as a true gentleman on tour. "Reserved, thoughtful, and pleasant, he's as polite when he's losing as when he's winning." This led to him winning the PBA's Steve Nagy Sportsmanship award two times.

Awards and recognition

• PBA Rookie of the Year (1979)
• PBA Player of the Year (1985, 1995)
• Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award (1994, 1995)
• Best Bowler ESPY (1996)
• Elected to PBA Hall of Fame, 1996
• Elected to USBC Hall of Fame, 2001
• Ranked 6th on the PBA's 2008 list of "50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years"