Man Honors Late Father with Custom Bowling Ball Incorporating Ashes, Scores Perfect Game: 'He Was There'

Bowling was a family affair for the Hinkle family. Growing up, John and Joe Hinkle remember late nights at bowling alleys with their parents.

Their father was the one who introduced them to the sport, and though he was good at it, his son John Hinkle became a two-time NCAA bowling champion and was even better than his dad.

In 2016, John Hinkle Sr. passed away, and since then his son has been trying to find a way to honor his late father through the sport they both loved.

Now, John Hinkle in Peoria, Illinois, still bowls — but this year he did something a little different. The 39-year-old bowls two-handed, which is legal as long as there is no thumb hole on the bowling ball.

So John had his father’s ashes added into the thumb hole of his bowling ball, and then he took the ball to his league night.

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Bowling a 300 game is nothing new to John, but the win that night was especially sweet because his dad was there with him.

“I was talking to my brother and told him, ‘I’m shooting a 300 with this ball,'” John told WMBD-TV. “And goes, ‘do it!'”