LAKE WYLIE --
With all he put his feet through, Jack Ness wouldn’t mind a second world record, too.
The assistant manager at Lake Wylie Bowl N’ Bounce sent off the video files and paperwork Thursday to Guinness World Records after bowling 159 games in a 24-hour stretch Jan. 25-26. Ness knew he’d be setting a record for most solo games in 24 hours since there wasn’t one on file, but he may have gone further still.
“Jack bowled 159 games, which is a bigger number than we thought he would get,” said Darrin Skinner, owner of the bowling alley. “It was a big effort on his part.”
Ness, 26, may also enter the book for most pins knocked down in 24 hours. He put away more than 24,000. That’s close to the pin record for 24 hours by a pair.
And he did it in game style, meaning whatever pins leftover from one shot were the only ones standing for the next.
For pin records, Guinness allows the option to reset 10 pins for every shot.
As impressive as those numbers and the 478 strikes were, of perhaps more significance to the cancer-surviving bowler was the more than $1,200 raised for Levine Children’s Hospital. Ness was back working last week, and he hasn’t given up bowling.
“It didn’t fall off,” he said of his left arm. “It’s still intact.”
One might think Ness’s shoulder would’ve fallen off during 159 straight games. Turned out to be blisters on his feet and cramping calves that proved most bothersome. At one point his mom went to a nearby drug store for some medication.
“We thought about what we’d do if my elbow got tired or my shoulder, even my legs,” Ness said. “We never thought once about my feet.”
Games topped out at about 240, though Ness wasn’t bothered with scores. He hit his 100-game goal in less than 10 hours, then hit a wall at 2 or 3 a.m. The hardest part, Ness said, was staying awake. After the event, he was laid out for a while.
“It took its toll on me,” Ness said. “It’s nothing I’ll do again anytime soon.”
The world record verification process should take about six weeks.
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