A former NCAA bowling champion, John Hinkle scored a perfect 300 game on April 12 while using a bowling ball with his late father’s ashes in it. His father, John Hinkle Sr., died in 2016 and was also an avid bowler, but he had never scored a 300 in his career.

“I had tears in my eyes in the 11th and 12th frames. I couldn’t tell you where that last ball went, I had so many tears just throwing it,” he added.  “I can’t express what tonight means to me,” Hinkle, from Illinois, wrote on Facebook the night of the perfect game. “I just bowled a 300 with my ball I put my Dad’s ashes in. He never had a perfect game until NOW.”

Since Hinkle bowls two-handed, he’s not allowed to have three open holes in a ball, so his father’s ashes were placed in the thumb hole of his ball.