updated 11:10 a.m. ET Dec. 30, 2005

PORTAGE, Mich. - A bowler collapsed and died at a bowling alley shortly after rolling the third perfect game of his life.

Ed Lorenz, 69, bowled a 300 Wednesday in his first league game of the night at Airway Lanes. When the retiree got up to bowl in the fifth frame of his second game, he clutched his chest and fell over, and efforts to revive him failed.

“If he could have written a way to go out, this would be it,” said Johnny D Masters, who was bowling with Lorenz.

Friends said Lorenz started bowling in 1957 and ended last season with a 223 average. He rolled his first two 300 games over a one-week period in 2004.

In May, Lorenz was inducted into the Kalamazoo Metro Bowling Association Hall of Fame.