Burke, 97, claims national title

“Worrying doesn’t solve anything, and it can shorten a person’s life,” says Burke. “I haven’t worried in years.”

The oldest competitor at the national games held recently in Dieppe, New Brunswick, Burke says this is the first time he has won the national title and regrets that there was not more competition. “There were only six guys to bowl against,” he says.

Burke has held the Nova Scotia title for candlepin bowlers age 85+ for the past 10 years. He bowls in Digby twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays.

“I was a bowling alley manager, in Ontario, for eleven years, so I got to bowl for free whenever I wanted to,” he says. “So that’s how I got good at it.”

The former boxer says he also walks a mile a day and skips indoors when the spirit moves him.

In mid-September, he’ll be gassing up his ’95 Buick and heading to Cape Breton. He is the oldest member of the Cape Breton Highlanders and attends their reunion every year.