Greg Shilling had won multiple Kyabram Bowls Club singles championships and had his eye on trying to emulate a feat of a Kyabram bowler from before his time, Des Nuttall.
A former Kyabram pharmacist, Nuttall between 1928 and 1955 won a total of 14 Kyabram Bowls Club singles championships.
Shilling was approaching 40 when he first won his first Kyabram title in 1999 as a newcomer to the sport.
But it wasn’t a one-win wonder.
Shilling collected more club titles — and a lot of other big tournament title successes as the years wore on — to get to a stage he was in a position to challenge or at least equal Nuttall’s club record.
And in the local bowls season just completed Shilling did just that.
At the age of 75 he claimed his 14th club title when he comfortably beat emerging teenage star Henry Boswood in the club final.
The question now is whether Shilling pushes on and attempts to claim the title of the club’s most winningest club champion in history.
Of his now 14 title wins, Shilling rates Rob Sceney as his toughest opponent.
‘‘I beat him when I won my first title and he has probably been the best bowler at the club in my time,“ he said.
Even Shilling is not sure he’ll be attempting to surpass Nuttall’s record, but the smart money says he probably will.
‘‘It’s getting a bit harder every year and I’ll see how I feel when next year comes around,’’ Shilling said last week.
Shilling is still enjoying his bowls and was more than happy with the club’s effort to make the Goulburn Valley Bowls Area’s preliminary final in the recently finished pennant season.
‘‘We lost about 10 or 11 players from the previous season and we were tipped to struggle to win a game because all our new players were from our division two side. But we ended up winning 11 of our 14 games and reaching the preliminary final, so we had a great season,’’ Shilling said.
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