AUBURN - Step into Don Covert's tiny bowling pro shop at Starlite Lanes and there's ringing evidence of his impressive career.

His awards are displayed inside the glass case. He has an 800 series to go with 300, 299 and 298 games. Covert said he's proud of those rings, but placed beside them is another treasure.

It's a plaque bearing the picture of Vince Napolitano, the former president of Goulds Pumps. The award recognizes Covert for “his contributions as leader, participant, sportsman, and above all, being an outstanding person to bowl with” in the Friday night Goulds Industrial League at Starlite.

“Vince Napolitano was a workingman's president,” Covert said of the man who in 1984 passed away unexpectedly. “He cared about his employees.”

Covert should know. The Seneca Falls resident has worked at Goulds for 34 years, where he's on the 1 to 9:30 a.m. shift. To fill the rest of his time, Covert, 56, drills balls and runs the Starlite Pro Shop, and during the winter is assistant varsity coach for the Mynderse Academy boys and girls bowling teams.

So despite a bum knee, which has kept him off the lanes since winning the Napolitano honor in 2004, Covert remains tied to the game. It's a balancing act he has managed for nearly three decades.

Covert began by shadowing specialist Ray DiSanto at Bowler's World in the Rochester area. In the late 1970s, Covert opened a pro shop at Finger Lakes Bowl in Seneca Falls. He stayed 23 years until that establishment was destroyed by fire.

Indeed, it was a long run for the self-taught Covert.

In 2001, he joined Gus Garnsey, the head bowling coach at Mynderse, as a certified volunteer coach.

The previous three years, there hadn't been a budget for the scholastic bowling program. The kids helped organize fundraisers to keep the sport going. Now it's back in the budget.

Meanwhile, Covert and Garnsey have clicked. Together, they've taught the boys and girls teams, which for the last two years have had their home matches at Starlite.

“I really like working with the kids,” Covert said. “We help them develop the basics. We begin with the approach and follow-through. Then we see where their timing is. Most of the kids really improve. We start them from the seventh grade.”

Britteny McIntyre, a Mynderse prodigy, won the Girls Byrn's Junior Masters this season. Covert, who focuses on the girls team, has enjoyed watching McIntyre's success.

“I worked with Britteny way back in the youth leagues at Finger Lakes Bowl,” he said. “She takes the game seriously. She knows how to make lane adjustments and is very knowledgeable.”

Covert has been at Starlite for several years now, and said his pro shop business “is getting better every year. I love this job.” He said he spends seven days a week there, or “whenever there is a league bowling.”

He'll lighten his schedule as the season winds down. The shop will be open Fridays and Saturdays, probably until the end of April, and he plans to return again next season.

He also hopes to join a league at Starlite, resurrecting his once impressive career.

“I'm going to have surgery on my knee and then try to get back out there,” he said. “I'll have to make some changes. I used to get a lot of knee-bend when I bowled. But it will be fun.”