There are special occasions that draw a lot of attention from an entire bowling alley.

“You just don't know when it's going to happen. You think you're trying all the time to get it right for the pins just down fall,” Dave Morrissey said.

For Morrissey, it happened Feb. 14 in Kingpin’s Alley in Latham. He was bowling in a Friday night league – one of three the 88 year old participates in each week.

“It was right here – one and two (lanes),” Morrissey said. “Nothing special like this one. Up until like the first three, they're simple. Everybody gets the first three. But then you got two, three, four and five and six.”

Morrissey, who averages about 164 in this league, had struggled through the first two games. But then came the third, and he just couldn’t stop throwing strikes.

“Then, the people start showing up and they clapped every time you get a strike,” he said. “By the twelfth one, once it went, they all just erupted, the whole house was there.”

Twelve up, 12 down - a 300 game for Morrissey. At 88, bowling records indicate he’s third oldest in the country to bowl a perfect game.

“There are people here [that] have had more than 30 300 games. They don't get anything like this,” laughed Morrissey. “But it's just, I'm so old, I guess it means something.”

The achievement took place in the same bowling alley where high schooler Jacob Tirado set a new national scholastic boys record with an 890 back in January.

“It was crazy,” Tirado said at the time. “I was in such like a state of shock because I've never thrown back-to-back 300 games, and it's been a little bit since I shot a 300 game. So I was like, that's crazy. It was astonishing to my mind that I did that.”

“This house is becoming quite popular for good scores,” Morrissey said.

For Morrissey, an Air Force veteran and retired truck driver, it was just the second 300 game in his 70-year bowling career. The first one came 18 years ago.

“I mean, I don't feel like I'm this old, so it's not a big deal right now,” he said. “Maybe when I'm 99, I'll think that's really great.”

A special moment for humble man, who just wants to keep bowling for years to come.

“I want to try to get another one,” Morrissey said. “It’s starting to get to be fun. Try to do what Jacob did.”