Scott Norton (born February 18, 1982Scott Norton at PBA.com
/ref>) is a left-handed American professional bowler and attorney, now living in

Mission Viejo, California Mission Viejo ( ; language change, corruption of ; ) is a Commuter town, commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest Planned community, master-planned commu ...

. He is a member of the

Professional Bowlers Association The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the major sanctioning body for the sport of professional ten-pin bowling in the United States. Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and currently owned by the Lucky Strike Entertainment Corpor ...

and has won three

PBA Tour The PBA Tour is the major professional tour for tenpin bowling, operated by the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia, over 3,000 members worldwide make up the PBA. While most of the PBA members are Reg ...

titles, including one major championship.

Bowling career

The son of Rick Norton and

United States Bowling Congress The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States of America, United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier ...

Hall of Famer Virginia Norton, he began bowling at around the age of four. When he was 18, he won 21 amateur bowling titles, won the gold medal at the Junior World Amateur Championships and, as captain of the adult team, became the youngest person ever to win the Adult National Amateur Championship (in 2000). He attended

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

where he majored in history. He was named the collegiate bowler of the year for 2000–2001. Norton was a member of Team USA in 2001, and at the 2001 QubicaAMF World Cup in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, he shot the event's only 300 game. After completing his undergraduate degree at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, Norton attended

Hastings College of the Law The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (abbreviated as UC Law SF or UC Law) is a Public university, public Law school in the United States, law school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was known as the Univ ...

at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

and passed the California bar exam in 2009. ttgp://www.sfexaminer.com/personal-best/2010/02/personal-best-attorney-living-family-bowling-legacy Personal Best: Attorney living up to family bowling legacy/ref> Norton joined the Professional Bowlers Association in 2008. He was named the 2009 PBA West Region Rookie of the Year. A win in December 2009 at the Sands Regency PBA Regional Players Invitational in Reno earned Norton $7,500 in prize money and an exemption, or automatic spot, on the 2010–11 PBA Tour. At the 2010 World Series of Bowling, he won his first

title, the PBA Chameleon Championship. Norton was ranked 18th for the 2010–11 season. In May 2011 the PBA named Norton the Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year. He won his second

title, again in the PBA Chameleon Championship, at the 2012 World Series of Bowling, defeating 2011 Chameleon champion

Jason Belmonte Jason Belmonte (born 29 July 1983) is an Australian professional ten-pin bowling, ten-pin bowler. He plays on the PBA Tour in the United States and in world events. He is known for being one of the first bowlers to gain media attention for usi ...

in the final match. To get to the finals, Norton defeated PBA Hall of Famer and all-time titles leader Walter Ray Williams, Jr. in the semifinal. This second victory on November 11, 2012 also ended a 20-month title drought for left-handed bowlers on the PBA Tour. Prior to Norton's win, the last left-handed bowler to win a title was

Jason Couch Jason Couch (born November 8, 1969) is an American ten-pin bowler on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour, and a member of the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame. A left-handed cranker, Couch graduated from Clermont High School in Clermon ...

on March 6, 2011. Norton won a second title in the

2012–13 PBA season The 2012–13 PBA season was the 38th season of the Philippine Basketball Association. The season formally opened on September 30, 2012, and finished October 25, 2013. This was the longest in PBA history with 13-month span. The season continued ...

(his third overall) at the

Earl Anthony Earl Roderick Anthony (April 27, 1938 – August 14, 2001) was an American professional ten-pin bowling, bowler who amassed records of 43 titles and six Player of the Year awards on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. For over two d ...

PBA Players Championship The PBA Players Championship is one of five major tournaments on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. It is one of three PBA Tour major events that are open only to PBA members. (The U.S. Open and USBC Masters allow qualifying amateur ...

in Allen Park, MI on January 27, 2013. He defeated 2011–12 PBA Player of the Year

Sean Rash Sean Rash (born August 22, 1982) is an American professional Ten-pin bowling, ten-pin bowler who is considered one of the top players on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour. He currently owns 17 PBA Tour titles, including two major ...

in the final match, 219–191. The event was broadcast March 24, 2013 on ESPN. Norton was retroactively awarded a major title for this victory when the PBA Players Championship returned to major status in the 2016 season. The PBA voted to award additional major titles to the winners of the three previous Players Championship events (2011, 2013, 2015), stating the tournament "is a members-only event, and includes all of the elements of a major." Scott was nominated for the 2013 "Best Bowler"

ESPY Award The ESPY Awards (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, and often referred to as the ESPYs) is an annual American awards show produced by ESPN since 1993, recognizing individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-r ...

, along with

and Pete Weber. The award was won by Weber. After a down year in 2014, in which he never appeared on television, he made three TV finals in 2015 but did not win a title. In his brief PBA career, Norton has earned over $260,000 and has nine perfect games in PBA competition. He has won 11

PBA Regional Tour The PBA Regional Tour is a series of "mini tours", run by the Professional Bowlers Association, spanning across seven regions within the United States. The Tour allows PBA members and qualifying non-member amateurs to compete in weekend events. The ...

titles. He is a pro staff member for Columbia 300 bowling balls.

Personal

On May 19, 2011, inspired by the

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

President and CEO

Rick Welts Rick Welts (born January 21, 1953) is an American sports executive who is the chief executive officer for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Welts had also served as the president and chief executive officer of t ...

, Norton released a statement acknowledging that he is gay. "It is extremely important for me to come out to show other gay athletes, both current and future, that it is important to come out to show that we are just like everyone else. Being gay doesn't define who I am as a person or as a professional athlete....It's important to show people that being gay has nothing to do with one's ability to do anything as a man, least of all compete at the highest level of sports." Norton's husband is Craig Woodward. The couple held a wedding ceremony on October 22, 2011 in

Laguna Beach, California Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Located in Southern California along the Pacific Ocean, this seaside resort city has a mild year-round climate, scenic c ...

.Gay pro bowler gets married
/ref> After winning the 2012 PBA WSOB Chameleon Championship, ESPN caught a shot of Norton kissing his husband after his victory, which immediately became a spark with the media.

References

External links

Scott Norton
at the

Scott and Craig's wedding website, accessed January 2, 2013.

Buzinksy, Jim. "ESPN shows pro bowler Scott Norton kissing his husband after victory," outsports.com, January 2, 2013, accessed January 2, 2013.
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Scott 1982 births American ten-pin bowling players Living people California lawyers American gay sportsmen American LGBTQ lawyers California State University, Fullerton alumni University of Utah alumni University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni LGBTQ bowling players