Team Storm Member, Cortez Schenck won the 2023 Harry Golden PBA Rookie of the Year
Cortez Schenck joined the Storm Team in 2022, as he embarked on competing full-time on the PBA Tour. Prior to joining the tour, Schenck represented Junior Team USA six consecutive years from 2016-2021, including one year on the adult team, where he earned nine gold medals wearing the red, white, and blue. In 2018, he won the gold medal at the World Bowling Youth Championships and the U.S. Amateur Championship. He mentioned to The Morning Bolt, Storm’s Morning Podcast that this was one of his favorite accomplishments.
In 2022, Schenck kicked off the year qualifying for the Players Championship finals through the West Regionals. In his true rookie appearance on tour as a member, he faced Belmonte in a nailbiter that Belmonte went on to win.
After a strong start, his father passed away and Schenck took a break from the tour. In his first appearances back, he won his first two PBA Regional Tour events of the season.
“My dad meant everything to me,” Schenck said in the PBA Press Release. “He was with me every step of the way for anything bowling-related. He went to all my tournaments and was my biggest supporter for sure.”
When he returned to the National Tour in 2023, he had a slow start in competition. In several interviews, Schenck has said he pressed too hard at the beginning of the season. Pressing especially for that Rookie honor.
The back half of his season proved to be a different story. He cracked the top 25 three times and finished 10th in the Roth/Holman PBA Doubles Championship.
“I’m super honored and happy to win the award. That was the goal going into the season,” Schenck said in the PBA Press release. “I have high respect for a lot of the rookies that were out there this year. There were a lot of really good bowlers that I’ve bowled against throughout the years. I know it was not easy for me, so I can imagine it was a mental grind for a lot of us.”
Team Roto Grip Member, BJ Moore was voted the 2023 PBA Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award recipient by his peers on the PBA Tour.
For us at Storm HQ, this was no surprise to us. After COVID, BJ Moore privately began a collection with Team SPI players to purchase a catered lunch for all of the employees. He coordinated with our Staff Manager, Megan, and did this without the bulk of the team at HQ knowing. He did this to show our team how much they are appreciated by the players who choose to throw Storm, Roto Grip, and 900 Global products.
“It’s an honor,” Moore said in the PBA Press Release. “Because it's not something that you just go out and try to win. It’s literally voted amongst everyone that you're surrounded by, so it just kind of shows your true character. I think there's no other way to put it, it's just an honor to be able to accept it.”
In addition to the stories of BJ’s kindness at Storm HQ, the PBA shared a great story about Moore in their press release. At the PBA Shark Championship, Moore was set to face Belmonte in match play and his opponent arrived just as competition began. Instead of giving Belmonte a zero, Moore waited until Belmonte was ready to begin the match. Belmonte went on to win the match but shared this story on his social media channels.
“I have always been a firm believer of the cliché saying about how you treat people how you want to be treated, especially after having kids,” Moore said. “If someone needs help, you try to help them out. You try to be kind and compassionate to everyone. You never know what anyone is going through in their day-to-day life; someone is always in a worse position than you are. I try not to take anything for granted, and to show my kids a better way to live.”