Reporting from the U.S. National Senior Sports Classic, aka the Senior Olympics, in May 1997 in Tucson.
Here’s the story as it appeared in The Arizona Daily Star:
 
Bowler just misses 6th perfect game
4-pin wiggles,
refuses to fall
 
By Ed M. Odeven
Special to The Arizona Daily Star
 
Enrico Odorico knows a thing or two about good fortune.
Two years ago he bowled a perfect 300 game. Eleven days later, he made a hole-in-one on a golf course.
 
He repeated that impressive double feat six weeks later.
 
Odorico just missed his sixth career perfect game yesterday, rolling a 299 at Fiesta Lanes during doubles competition at the U.S. National Senior Sports Classic.
 
“After the first game, the oil dried a little bit and then he found a shot over the second arrow. Then it just rolled in there beautifully. There was a big crowd around,” said Del Corey, Odorico’s doubles partner.
 
Odorico began the game with 11 straight strikes. He was down to his final shot in the 10th frame.
 
“His last shot was in the pocket but a little high. It tripped the 4-pin off the wall, bounced toward the 9-pin, hit the 9-pin. It wiggled and stayed up,” said Corey, a retired English teacher.
 
Perhaps his teaching experience has been beneficial to Odorico’s play.
 
During a Senior PBA regional tournament in Detroit two years ago, Odorico defeated Hall of Famers Mike Berlin and Gary Dickinson.
 
“I’ve beaten some of the top senior players in the senior tour,” Odorico said. “Winning a professional tournament as an amateur is a pretty big thrill for me.”
 
Corey and Odorico have known each other for 25 years. They met while teaching at Macomb (Mich.) Community College. Odorico, 57, still works as a bowling teacher at the Detroit-area school.