Six-time bowling world champion Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno, arguably the greatest international bowler of all time, has managed to remain competitive, focused, and victorious.
In fact, even though he is now 59 years old, the super Filipino athlete is still actively competing up to this day in tournaments here in the Philippines and abroad.
Currently, he is one of the coaches of the Philippine bowling team – a post that most feel he has long deserved – and he’s more than eager to help the country regain its supremacy in the sport.
“I wanted to help,” Nepomuceno said. “I’ve been wanting to help and I want to bring glory back to bowling and inspire the athletes.”
Nepomuceno is focusing on improving the national bowlers’ mental and scientific approach to the game.
“I’m focused on the mental and, of course, the physical game. Our training comprises of the mental game, lectures, and applications of the mental tools,” Nepomuceno said.
“I plan to educate the bowlers not only in the aspects on the physical game but the equipment, ball motion, and other topics that I’m aware that I can help.”
Still the only four-time winner of the prestigious Bowling World Cup, Nepomuceno is not just the greatest Filipino bowler of all time but has long been considered as Philippine sport’s living legend.
It’s like this. Nepomuceno is to bowling, like Pele is to soccer, like Michael Jordan is to basketball, and like Tiger Woods is to golf.
If you ask someone in the bowling world to name the best bowler in the history of the sport, Nepomuceno’s name will surely come up.
To date, he has won more titles than any other bowler in the world over the past 40 years.
His legend began in 1972 when at age 17 he became the youngest ever to win the Philippine Open. After getting tired of beating all the Asians in 1975, he decided to roll up to Tehran, Iran.
On his very first attempt, Nepomuceno won his first Bowling World Cup, becoming the youngest winner ever at age 19.
Well, if you’re not familiar with the Bowling World Cup, it’s the largest annual bowling event where the best bowlers from all over the world compete for glory. It’s like the FIFA World Cup, but for bowling. It’s considered to be the most prestigious individual bowling championship.
Until today, Nepomuceno still remains the youngest male bowler ever to win the Cup.
In 1980, in Jakarta, Indonesia, he made history by becoming the first to win the World Cup trophy for the second consecutive time. In 1992, he went to Le Mans, France to claim the World Cup for a third time. This gave him his second entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.
He then won the World Cup for a fourth time in Belfast, Ireland in 1996. His entry in the Guinness Book was then updated, again.
He is also the first to be enshrined in the International Bowling Hall of Fame by the World Bowling Writers, an association of more than 300 sportswriters from over 90 countries.
And if only bowling were an Olympic sport, the Philippines would have had a lot of gold medals already.
One thing is for sure, Nepomuceno is still not yet retiring so don’t expect his titles count to stay at 131!