Young bowler has been perfect on three occasions

At 21, Charles "C.W." Withers II has done three times what some people never accomplish in a lifetime -- bowled a perfect 300 game.

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His most recent perfect game was March 25 at Fort Gordon's Gordon Lanes.

"The first one I was really surprised. I was kind of nervous," said Withers, an Augusta Technical College junior studying computer networking. "The second one I thought, 'You've already done it, you can do it again.' The third one was great."

Although he's put a lot of effort into honing his game, some of his ability may have been in his genes.

His father, Charles "Chuck" Withers, was an All-Army bowler in 1993 who met his wife, Marie, at Masters Lanes on Gordon Highway.

"He had a set of plastic pins and a ball when he was about 21/2 or 3 years old,"' Chuck Withers said of his son.

By the age of 6, C.W. was helping his mother during her league events, and at 7 he joined a youth bowling league and won many awards.

During the Georgia Games, at the age of 15, he won two gold medals, a silver and three bronze medals. He was also a member of the Georgia All-Stars, the top 50 young bowlers in the state who competed against the best young bowlers in South Carolina and North Carolina.

He bowled his first perfect game at the age of 15, and another two years later. Those three games have been during sanctioned events. He bowled a fourth 300, but it was not during a tournament or league event, and he once bowled 299.

Last June, during a regional professional tournament at Fort Gordon, Withers placed 41st out of more than 90 bowlers. He plans to enter again this year.

Withers said he's gotten a lot of support and coaching from his family and the staff at Gordon Lanes. The night of his third 300, he had several close friends watching and cheering him on.