"It really is a big deal. This is worldwide. There's people that bowl in China, people that bowl in Korea, they bowl in Australia. Nobody's done this. Except us."

ST. LOUIS — Some players go their entire lives searching for a perfect game. And even if you're lucky to get one, or a few, it takes even more to be considered among the game's greats.

But for five St. Louisans, greatness struck, and it didn't spare on the drama.

The five-man Shelter Insurance team in Concord Bowl's Friday night league could be considered a "super team" of sorts.

"We're the super senior team. I'm the youngest one at 52," team member Tom Grimm said.

But don't let their age fool you. The Shelter team might be the oldest in the league, but with age comes experience. Well, experience and a bowling alley full of perfect games. Between all of the team members, Gregg Getzlow, Mark Hood, Tom Shucart, Tom Grimm and captain Ron Testa, they have more than 300 perfect games combined. Yes, you read that right.

But it was what happened on lanes 31 and 32 on February 28th at Concord Bowl that dwarfed all of their individual accomplishments.

“It just became a point when this guy struck… this guy struck, I’m bowling fourth. I don’t want to be the one not to strike," Shucart said. "And it’s one thing when one guy has a bunch of strikes in a row… but all five of us had them.”

“And now all the sudden we’re talking about a record. The chatter is starting," Testa said.

That record was 1434: The current five-man team single-game high score in the entire world.

"By the eighth frame, I know 14 something is the record... And if we go off the sheet we're going to be really close," Getzlow recalled.

"We got a chance. Not bad for a bunch of old guys," Grimm said.

So in the tenth frame with the record within reach, Hood, the closer, stepped up looking to make history. By this time, the entire bowling alley had made their way down to lanes 31 and 32 to check out the drama.

"I get up in the tenth and it probably was the biggest strike I've ever thrown in my life to set the world record," Hood said.

But the team did more than just set it. They broke the record by 23 pins for a score of 1,457. And it was almost more amazing than that.

"Three more breaks and we would be talking about 1,500. I can't wrap my head around it," Testa said.

Greatness struck on that Friday at Concord Bowl, and now five new St. Louisans can claim their place in the bowling record book.

Ironically, the team the Shelter team beat for the record was also from the St. Louis area, and now three of the top five world records for a five-player single-game high score have been bowled in St. Louis.

"It's a big deal. It really is a big deal. This is worldwide. There's people that bowl in China, people that bowl in Korea, they bowl in Australia. Nobody's done this. Except us," Getzlow said.