Tom Smallwood’s Cinderella story

Tom Smallwood, the best sports story of 2009, is on the phone from Las Vegas talking about whom he’d prefer to portray him in the movie. He hasn’t given it much thought, though he has met with agents and producers and says Kevin James’ (“Paul Blart: Mall Cop”) name has come up.

James’ comic Everyman persona fits nicely with Smallwood’s incredible one-year scramble from unemployed auto worker to world champion bowler. Then again, considering Smallwood is 5 feet 6, good humored and tends to lead with his teeth, don’t discount the Ricky Gervais option.

Either way, Smallwood’s story is undeniably ridiculous in the best possible way. Little more than a year ago he was living in Saginaw, Mich., installing seat belts on the assembly line at a General Motors plant.

Smallwood, who will be competing in the One A Day Dick Weber Open this week at Fountain Valley’s Fountain Bowl, had competed in PBA satellite tournaments but nothing had come of it. So he went to work every day dreaming of the professional tour, mindful to protect his hands as he powered in 1,200 screws a day; a bowler’s fingers, like a surgeons, being his livelihood.

Then, a few days before Christmas 2008, he was laid off, finding out when the company sent out a flier. Happy holiday.

Smallwood and his wife, Jen, who have a young daughter, decided he’d look for work for a few months and if nothing came of that, give the PBA Tour a shot. Soon, he had not only qualified for a two-year tour exemption but, in August, bowled himself into the final four of the PBA World Championship to be held in Wichita, Kan., in December. In the time between, Smallwood’s story started to circulate.

“What Tom had been through really resonated with people,” PBA Deputy Commissioner Tom Clark said. “He’d never been in that situation before, signing autographs, talking to people and the press. I wouldn’t say he was a deer in the headlights, but he was definitely a fish out of water.”

Everyone on tour knew Smallwood was talented, and though his story is rife with warm and fuzzy, no one forgot this was the same Smallwood who, before a match against Norm Duke in August, mind-gamed the Hall of Famer by warming up in the exact line Duke had used to bowl 260 the previous match.

“I wanted to burn [that line] up,” Smallwood said. “I wanted to push him way out of where he wanted to play. I knew it’d make him mad, but you do everything you can to win.”

Smallwood won that match, but the idea the 32-year-old rookie could take the world championship, a major, as his first win?

“To show you how much of a longshot he was, before every tournament we ask by a show of hands how many people think this guy or that guy is going to win,” Clark said. “When I asked about Tom’s chances six hands went up. Well, I know for a fact that Tom had brought more than six friends and family to the tournament.”

Smallwood not only won but beat reigning player of the year Wes “Big Nasty” Mallot in the final, 244-228, clinching the title with a strike in the 10th frame. Nervous? Before rolling that strike he thought about taking a sip of water, then realized holding the bottle would draw attention to how much his hands were shaking.

“When they handed me the trophy, I didn’t want to open my eyes and find out this didn’t happen,” he said. “I had dreamed about this happening many times before. I was standing there thinking, ‘Please, this time, don’t let it be a dream.’ ”

It wasn’t; neither was the $50,000 prize or the 15-hour drive back to Saginaw, most of which he spent on the phone with reporters.

The leading money winner on the 2009-10 PBA Tour with $72,200, he has finished well down the board in the two tournaments since the world championship, coming in 37th last weekend at the Tournament of Champions won by Kelly Kulick, the first woman to win a PBA event. Kulick will not be competing in Fountain Valley.

Smallwood is still trying to balance his new-found fame with last month’s game. It means finding time to practice when every other person wants to tell you how much your story means to them; it means staying cool when photo shoots that were supposed to take half an hour run nearly three.

“I’m having a great time,” he said. “I’m not always sure how to handle it, but, you know, I’m still a guy who’s bowling for my house payment, bowling to pay off my car. This is my job now and it’s pretty amazing.”

sports@latimes.com