“He came up to congratulate me and said, ‘so you wanted to start this way,’” Schooler said with a smile. “Then he told me he was going to ‘keep it in the family.’”
Martin was true to his word as one game later, he posted a 300 game himself.
“It sounds crazy when someone else says it, but that’s exactly what happened,” Martin said. “It was the cherry on top to bowl it in the same league on the same day as Byron.”
Martin’s 300 game – his 88th overall – didn’t come as a surprise to Schooler who has known the 26-year-old since the day he was born and thinks of him like a son.
“I’ve always told him, say what you mean and mean what you say,” Schooler said. “It’s what I’ve tried to instill in him.”
With more than 80 perfect games already to his credit, the feeling was a familiar one for Martin.
“For me, when you have the front nine, it always feels the same,” he said. “The little jitters, the butterflies, they are always there.”
And while Schooler is proud of Martin as a bowler, he is even more proud of him as a person.
“He’s just a good young man,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for a better godson.”
Bowling has always been a family affair for Martin.
“I was in the bowling alley six or seven times a week when I was a kid because everyone was bowling,” he said.
Martin takes pride in his family’s bowling accomplishments as both his parents are bowling hall of fame inductees as is his godfather, Schooler.
“I plan on going into the hall of fame someday, that’s definitely one of my goals,” he said. “Local and Ohio.”
For now, however, Martin is happy adding honor scores to his resume and bowling with the “Fam,” the name of the team he competes on in the Gem City Senate League that includes Schooler and his son Keith who closed out 2025 with a perfect game of his own on December 30.
About the Author