Everingham bowls 300 in sixth-straight decade

Apr. 15—GOSHEN — Ron Everingham isn't sure how many perfect games he's bowled in his career.

"Can I take a guess?" he asked when the question was prompted to him. "I never really kept track, to tell the truth. Probably somewhere between 12 and 15."

While he might not remember all of his perfect scores, Everingham knows when the last one happened.

On March 15 at the Maple City Bowl in Goshen, Everingham rolled a perfect 300. It gave the 74-year-old the distinction of having bowled a perfect game now in six-straight decades, dating back to his first one Dec. 19, 1974.

"It surprised me just as much as anyone else," said Everingham of his 300 game last month. "It doesn't happen very often, especially in our league because it's a lot of lower-average bowlers. There are a few guys that are higher averages, but I ended up with the highest average in the league. ... As far as I know, I'm probably the oldest bowler to ever shoot a 300 in town."

Everingham said he only bowls three games a week as part of the Senior League at the bowling alley.

In his first two games March 15, Everingham bowled a 205 and 196, respectively, giving him a total of 401. In bowling, being able to score a 700 across three games usually indicates you've had a good day on the lanes.

"I mentioned to one of my playing partners, 'Well, I think I'm going to try and shoot for a 700,'" recalled Everingham of what he said after his second game. "That would've taken a big game, so I wasn't being serious."

For Everingham to reach the 700 plateau, he was going to need either a 299 or 300.

As he's done during plenty of games in his career, Everingham strung together multiple strikes to start the third game. It was a little beyond the halfway point where he realized something special might be brewing.

"I got a few lucky strikes, and then by the time I got into the sixth or seventh frame, I thought, 'I better start paying attention to what I'm doing,'" Everingham said. "So, I took it a little bit more seriously."

Everingham rolled a strike in the eighth frame. He then had another one in the ninth.

With one final frame remaining, Everingham needed three strikes to reach perfection.

"Everybody in the league probably knew what was happening," Everingham said. "Some people had actually finished before us, but decided to stick around to see if I was going to get lucky enough."

Finishing up on lane 15, Everingham buried three-straight strikes, giving him yet another 300 for his career.

"Once you get to the 10th frame, your ticker starts picking up its pace," Everingham said. "I got the first one, and the second two balls, I pulled them a little bit. They just sat right straight in the pocket for strikes; they were both just flush."

Everingham explained what the emotions were like once the 12th strike happened.

"Relief," he said. "That's what flushes over you, and obviously everyone here was congratulating me."

Everingham has made his name in both bowling and golf across this area. He has played both sports at a high level for the majority of his life, as he has maintained a 200-per-game or higher average in bowling for every year since 1969.

He has been a member at Maplecrest Country Club in Goshen for more than three decades, with his handicap reaching as low as two. Three years ago, Everingham posted a round of golf lower than his age, shooting a 69 at the ripe age of 71 years old.

Everingham also has a national record from the United State Bowling Congress, as he has the highest senior triplicate score of anyone, bowling three, 279s as part of a series when he was 65.

In 2017, Everingham was named one of the 50 greatest athletes in area history by The Goshen News.

"I have a lot of friends from bowling," Everingham said. "I've been bowling in this place here since 1965. Over the years, it's been great. I've met a lot of people. Golf and bowling are both the same way: you meet people from all walks of life."

Originally from New Paris, Everingham then spent his senior year of high school at Goshen, graduating in 1966.

"I wasn't a very good athlete in high school, and the only thing I was good at was track and field," Everingham said. "I was a pole vaulter. I wasn't a basketball player because I wasn't big enough; I was 5'5" as a sophomore. I was always interested in individual sports because I didn't have much access to team sports."

When he was 26 years old, Everingham bowled his first perfect game. He remembers vividly how it happened.

"I was on lanes one and two, and I was called in to sub for a First State Bank team out of Middlebury because I had friends on that team and one of them couldn't make it," Everingham recalled. "My very first game out of the shoot, just 'bang.' And nobody had ever done it before in Goshen. Goshen has had bowling leagues since 1916, so there had been a lot of bowling leading up until then. Everybody back then knew it was a big deal for whoever would get it."

Everingham's last 300 game prior to last month came in 2017. That gave him five-straight decades with a perfect game, which put the thought into his mind about going for another one once the 2020s rolled around.

Could he make it seven-straight decades? He'll be 81 by the time 2030 begins, but he's not ruling it out.

"It's in the back of my mind, that's for sure," Everingham said. "Right now, I feel like I can go on for a while, but you never know. You just do the best you can and hope the doctor can get you patched up to keep going."

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.