Three times in the last five years, Lawrence’s Bob Glass has been named PBA Senior Player of the Year.

Not that those titles have changed his life. Glass isn’t rich. He isn’t famous.

“The only thing I’ve noticed,” Glass said, “is when I bowl in regionals guys thoroughly enjoy beating me. They love beating me up.”

No man has ever earned PBA Senior Player of the Year four times, yet Glass remains hale and hearty at the age of 57 and he’ll rank among the favorites when the 11-stop 2005 Senior Tour begins this weekend in suburban Albany, N.Y.

“My back is doing pretty well and the knee that bothered me last summer has healed,” Glass said, “but my shoulder is a little sore. Right now, the plan is to bowl in all 11 of them.”

In a sense, Glass also could have qualified for a comeback award last season. He was named PBA Senior Player of the Year in 2000 and 2001 — his first two years on the pro senior circuit — but he didn’t win in 2002 or 2003, and it appeared his time and come and gone.

Then Glass bounced back smartly, leading the ’04 Senior Tour with two victories and $28,600 in earnings. Glass captured the season-opening Epicenter Classic in Klamath Falls, Ore., and won the Chillicothe Open in Chillicothe, Ohio. He cashed in six of nine events, and advanced to three championship rounds.

And once again his contemporaries named him player of the year. His third title tied him with Gary Dickinson who had won in 1993, 1994 and 1997. Now Glass hopes he can circle the bases. At the same time, he has been around long enough to know anything can happen.

“I don’t think you can go out and be player of the year,” he said. “That’s like saying before the season you’ll hit .400. Too many things can happen.”

If anyone can do it, though, Glass can — at least according to longtime friend Bryan Goebel, a former Kansas University Jayhawk who has been on the regular PBA Tour for the last 15 years.

“The reason he’s been player of the year is because he’s in better shape than the other players,” Goebel said. “He’s up every morning working out. I know. I’ve roomed with him and listened to him grunt.”

Glass hasn’t been hibernating since last year.

“Since the middle of February, I’ve bowled every weekend,” he said, “and I’ve found out that I used to be consistent, but now I’m streaky.”

That may be, but he’s still at the top of his game. On the PBA Midwest Region Senior Tour, for example, earning a first, a third and a fourth while rolling in 14 events. When that regional tour ended, he was the points leader and runner-up in earnings with $11,810.

Now it’s back to the national circuit. After this weekend’s Senior Empire State Open in Latham, N.Y., the senior bowlers will be in Clarksville, Tenn., next weekend and in Chillicothe, Ohio, the weekend after that.

June will be a tough travel month, too, with tournaments scheduled in Tucson, Ariz.; Las Vegas; Brentwood, Calif.; and Klamath Falls, Ore. The Senior Tour breaks during most of July, then concludes in mid-August.