Morris Co. Sheriff's Officer Bowls Perfect 300 Game

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — When he's not busy catching criminals, Morris County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sgt. Craig Brooks keeps busy in another way: bowling. And he's good at it, too, having bowled a perfect game over the weekend.

Brooks bowled the perfect 300 during the Utopian League at Boonton Lanes on Feb. 16. It was his second game of the night, having bowled a 203 in the first game.

"I was pretty amazed. I've been in the high 200's before but I didn't think I'd get a 300. I was surprised," Brooks said in a press release. When the strikes started adding up though, Brooks became hopeful.

"At first it was a typical night but then I started to realize I was getting a lot of strikes. By the eighth, ninth and tenth frames I thought I could go all the way," he said.

To bowl a perfect game, a bowler must get 12 strikes in a row (a non-perfect game is either ten or 11 frames, depending on how the tenth frame is bowled). Brooks used his own 17-pound ball, and bowled the game wearing a wrist guard.

"Twelve strikes in a row is not easy. It’s a nice achievement," Boonton Lanes Manager Craig Born said.

Other bowlers recognized the achievement as well; Brooks said the alley grew quiet as he approached the final frame, before fellow bowlers broke into applause when he knocked over his final set of pins. His achievement will be immortalized on an honor wall at Boonton lanes, and he will receive a ring from the United States Bowling Congress.

"My congratulations on Craig’s accomplishment," Sheriff James M. Gannon said. "Although it’s not surprising to me that Sergeant Brooks is so talented at what he does in his leisure time as he certainly is an expert in his work duties."

Brooks has been with the Sheriff's office for 14 years, and is currently training to become a ballistics expert. He is also a member of the Morris County Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard.

Images via Morris County Sheriff's Office