100-year-old has energy to spare

Among golfers, there is a certain level of maturity when it is considered an achievement to be able to "shoot your age."

For a bowler, it takes a bit longer before rolling your age becomes a big deal.

But Maurice Will has made it.

On Tuesday, Will celebrated his 100th birthday among family and friends at Regency Residence Independent Living, in Port Richey. His daughter, Nancy Osterberg, as well as several of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, travelled from all over the country for this moment.

The next day, the family all followed Will to Leisure Lanes to root for their patriarch as he bowled with his Wednesday morning senior league.

He gave them something to cheer about when he converted a spare in the opening frame.

"Just lucky," he said as he walked away from the foul line.

It was a bit of modesty. Will carries a 132 average in the league. His friend and fellow bowler Jerry Gumaer said a few months ago he missed a 200 game by one pin.

Gumaer added he had met Will about four years ago and invited him to come join the league — that is, before he knew he was any good.

"I told him if you keep beating me, you'll have to go back to bowling on Saturdays," Gumaer said.

Will's game was a little off on Wednesday. His birthday party the day before probably took a bit out of him, Osterberg speculated. And he had banged his arm pretty hard on his bed stand, hard enough to break a piece off the table.

"But he had it fixed in no time," she said. "He's always been good at things like that."

Will has always made it a point to stay active, a lifestyle to which he attributes his longevity and continued good health. Besides bowling twice a week, he also likes to take regular walks.

He may not have defied age entirely, but he has done a pretty good job ignoring it over the years, his daughter said with pride. He and his wife, Emily, lived independently, and he took care of her until her death in 2007.

"We thought he might fade after that," Osterberg said, but instead, he picked up new friends, new activities.

He was born in Michigan in 1912, spent more than half his life there, then a decade in Pennsylvania until he and Emily retired to Florida in 1975.

In all those years, Will said, he never cared much for bowling. It's just something he took up a couple years ago as a new way to stay active and socialize.

Sore arm and all, Will cracked the century mark on the scorecard in his first game on Wednesday.

"I tell you what, he's still better than I am," his granddaughter Heather Casmier said.