GOSHEN, Ind. - Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2020, making her the first and only artist to top the chart across four different decades. But even the "Queen of Christmas" can't top local bowling legend Ron Everingham's decades-long claim to fame of bowling a 300 game in six straight decades. Everingham bowled the first-ever 300 game in the city of Goshen 50 years ago - on December 19, 1974.

Last week, Goshen College head bowling coach Scott Curtis presented Everingham with a framed Maple Leafs bowling jersey, naming him as an honorable member of the inaugural Goshen College bowling team. The jersey was presented in front of the participants of the weekly bowling league that both Everingham and Curtis participate in.

Everingham was 26 years old when he bowled his first 300 game. Goshen had had bowling leagues since 1916, but his 300 game 58 years later was the first of its kind in the city. The Brunswick 8583 ball that he used that night is on display at the Goshen Historical Society Museum - he had purchased the ball new in 1969 for $50. His most recent 300 game came on March 15, 2023, at 74 years old. Everingham has kept an average over 200 pins per game every year since 1969 and was a first ballot hall of famer for the Indiana State USBC Hall of Fame earlier this year.

In April 2023, it was announced that men's and women's bowling would become the 15th and 16th teams at Goshen College and that Scott Curtis would serve as the first head coach in the program's history. Curtis recruited heavily before the team began competition in September of this year, bringing on 24 bowlers - 13 men and 11 women. In the program's first tournament at the Dirty Bird Classic, Rebekah Muzyk was the top female bowler with 599 pins. She guided the women to a fourth place finish out of 14 teams.

Since then, Brendan Riley has twice been named the Crossroads League Men's Bowler of the Week and Samantha Bean has claimed the award once on the women's side. Goshen competed in their first two Crossroads League tournaments earlier this month and will be hosting one on February 1st in Elkhart.

The city of Goshen has a storied bowling history, and Everingham's honorary membership as a part of the inaugural Goshen College bowling team is connecting the past with the present.