Keystone Games, PA Senior Games bowling competition rolls into Wilkes-Barre

WILKES-BARRE — The lanes at Chacko’s Family Bowling Center were open a bit earlier than normal on Friday, with good reason — the Keystone State Games are here.

Men, women and children of all ages set out to conquer the lanes as the Keystone Games bowling competition got underway with the first of three days of competition.

This year, it’s a dual competition. While the Keystone State Games are proceeding as they have normally here in Luzerne County for the past several years, the Pennsylvania Senior Games have also landed in Luzerne County this year and over 20 hungry bowlers looked primed for Senior Games gold on Friday.

For the seniors, it’s all about qualifying for next year’s National Senior Games, set for July 24 through Aug. 5 in Des Moines, Iowa. The rest of the group will have eyes on the 2026 State Games of America to be held in State College.

Longtime bowling event director Beverly Williams was back at the helm this year, getting everybody signed in and onto the correct lanes before she herself could get ready to bowl.

Williams took over as event director back in 2013, but with her husband and son by her side, the Williams family has been competing in the Keystone Games for nearly 30 years, and have made lasting connections along the way.

“We’ve become friends with a lot of people,” Williams said. “You get to bowl with different people from all over the area, and if you go to nationals, people from all over the country.”

The first group of bowlers on Friday morning was a mix of Senior Games competitors and some youngsters competing in the Keystone Games youth divisions.

A lot of the competitors are returning bowlers when it comes to the Keystone State Games, but there were a handful of rookies in the mix as well.

James Lukehart, a 16-year-old from State College, was tipped off about the Keystone State Games by his mother Julia, who in turn found about the Games through Facebook.

“I’ve been bowling for six years … I started in elementary school intramurals,” Lukehart said, noting that he competes on the Pennsylvania Junior Bowlers Tour in addition to events like the Keystone Games.

Middleburg native Madison Herrold, who entered in the competition along with her brother Preston, was also competing as a Keystone Games first-timer.

“It’s not a thing many people do, it’s unique,” Herrold said when asked about her motivation for getting into bowling.

At the Senior level, several of the competitors have experience competing at the National Games, including the duo of Walter Williams (husband to Beverly) and Bob Miller.

The duo won gold at last year’s National Senior Games in doubles competition, with Miller having been diagnosed with throat cancer just two months prior.

“I told the doctors I wanted to wait (on treatment) until after we went to Pittsburgh,” said Miller, now cancer-free and feeling good. “I wanted to compete.”

Even more competitors will make their way to Chacko’s over the course of the weekend, as the Keystone State and PA Senior Games bowling tournaments will continue on Saturday and conclude on Sunday.