Man Bowls Perfect Game After Filling Ball With Father’s Ashes

A bowler just reached a big achievement thanks to his late father. John Hinkle Jr., a two-time NCAA bowling champion, bowled a perfect game on April 12. And while reaching that mark his huge, how he did it made it very special. Hinkle used a ball that was custom-made with the ashes of his later father John Hinkle Sr. The perfect game happened at Hinkle Jr.’s hometown alley Landmark Lanes in Peoria, Illinois.

“I was talking to my brother and told him, ‘I’m shooting a 300 with this ball,’ ” Hinkle, a Peoria Public Schools counselor, told WMBD-TV, per the New York Post. “And Joe said, ‘Do it!’” The 39-year-old also said: “I had tears in my eyes in the 11th and 12th frames. I couldn’t tell you where that last ball went, I had so many tears just throwing it.” Hinkle also posted a video of him bowling 300 on Facebook.

“I can’t express what tonight means to me,” he wrote. “I just bowled a 300 with my ball I put my Dads ashes in. He never had a perfect game until NOW. Thank you so much Kayla Marie Johnson for putting his ashes into my bowling ball. Epic Night.” Hinkle’s father died in 2016, and the thumb hole of the son’s ball was filled with his ashes. Since Hinkle bowls with two hands, he was able to use only two fingers in the ball.

Hinkle bowled at Western Illinois University and revealed he bowled several 300-point games in his career. But with the most recent one dedicated to his father, it meant more, especially since his father, who introduced him and his brother two bowling, never reached the mark.

“It’s special. Dad shot 298, 299 — never had a 300. I had goosebumps, chills,” Hinkle said. “He was there.” The news of Hinkle bowling 300 comes shortly after a professional bowler hit a 7-10 split. Earlier this month, Anthony Neuer became the fourth player in Professional Bowlers Association Tour history to convert a 7-10 split, which happened in the U.S. Open semifinals.