And he honored us with his presence...

We just had our first game for Odfjell's 3rd Season Bowling Tournament.  And guess who we saw practicing a few lanes from us?

None other than bowling legend and 6-time World Bowling Champion, Paeng Nepomuceno.


He is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only athlete to win a world championship in each of three consecutive decades.

I have seen his list of titles from Wikipedia and I am still reeling from envy.  These are just few of his achievements:

- In 1993, he was the first international male bowler inductee in the International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum

- In 1999, the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) awarded him as the "International Bowling Athlete of the Millennium"

- In 2003, a September issue of the Prestigious Bowlers Journal International named him as the Greatest International Bowler of All Time

- Paeng is the only athlete in the Philippines who has been given the highest award to a Filipino by three Philippine presidents. In 1984, the Presidential Medal of Merit by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. In 1999, President Joseph E. Estrada awarded the Philippine Legion of Honor and in 2008, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo awarded him the Order of Lakandula with Class of Champion for Life and was declared Best Filipino athlete of all time. Both the Philippine Senate and House of Congress have also declared him the "Greatest Philippine Athlete of All Time".
- In its September 2003 issue, the Prestigious Bowlers Journal International named him as the Greatest International Bowler of All Time.
- On April 19, 2009 Paeng became the first and only bowling athlete to receive all awards in all categories that the World Bowling Writers gives out. He was the recipient of the World Bowling Writers Mort Luby Jr. distinguished service award for his lifetime contribution to the sport

- Paeng was also honored by the World Bowling Writers by naming him World Bowler of the Year three times (1984,1985 and 1992). He was also the first inductee to the World Bowling Writers Hall of Fame in 1993

And to think that even an athlete as great as him takes time to practice.  Now, that's a lesson we all need to learn.