Impossibly Paeng

It’s no secret that Paeng Nepomuceno should always be part of the discussion when debating the greatest Filipino athlete of all time, regardless of sport. After all, he has won all there is to win as a bowler, and most of his records not only still stand, but expand. Everybody talks about the four Bowling World Cups. But not everyone knows that his three Guinness World Records are now four. For the soft-spoken hero, he already reached his ultimate dream over 30 years ago, and everything since then has been a bonus. Let that sink in for a moment.

In the beginning, Paeng was a golfer, as his parents ran the restaurant at one of the University of the Philippines’ old golf courses. One day in Baguio City, Paeng and his family were golfing at Camp John Hay the day before a Fil-Am tournament, when a sudden downpour forced them to take refuge at the Mile High recreation center. It was there that bowling caught his attention, and he was – to put it tritely – bitten by the bug.

“I also chose bowling because my progress was much faster,” the left-handed legend told this writer. “In golf, I would rarely win anything, and sometimes only by accident, or if the opposition was weak. But I still played golf for another three years until the age of 15. My father (Angel) told me that it would help with my mental game.”

That and a groundbreaking physical regimen propelled the youngster forward at an accelerated rate. In 1976, the 19-year old became the youngest bowler to win the World Cup, a record that has never been broken. In 1992, the Filipino was trailing Germany’s Achim Grabowski going into the final frame of the final match, until Grabowski got a split. Paeng needed a strike to win another World Cup. He threw two in a row for a final score of 210 to 185. His fourth World Cup, meanwhile, was a walk in the park. Now, he says he is semi-retired. And yet, three years ago, he almost qualified for the World Cup, again. I asked him if he ever got nervous.

“If you’re not nervous, you won’t be focused; you’ll start to make mistakes,” he explained. “It’s okay to be nervous in sports.”

In some international tournaments, he is the youngest and oldest champion, and has won the most times. His image adorns the entrance of the Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame in Arlington, Texas. He was the first non-American at the Gold level certifying coaches for the US Bowling Congress starting in 2008. Most significantly, in 1999, he received the International Olympic Committee President’s Trophy.

“That made me very happy,” Paeng admits. “They gave me that award even if bowling is not an Olympic sport. They recognized my contribution to bowling.”

And how could anyone ignore what Paeng Nepomuceno has done for the sport? That would be like trying to ignore, well, the rain.