10:08 AM: That’s 13-year-old Nathan Tavel, warming up moments ago for his hour-long bowl-a-thon at West Seattle Bowl. He’s the only bowler here before the official opening time, raising money for local food banks. So far pledges are covering $2.09 per pin, $68 per “turkey” (three or more consecutive strikes). We’re here to watch and to update. Nathan’s bowling on lanes 23 and 24; he bowls 216 in his youth league and has been doing bowling fundraisers for more than four years.
10:15 AM: $500 raised for the food banks so far. Pledges were accepted up till Nathan started bowling; this is also being streamed on social media, with Nathan’s dad, community advocate Phil Tavel, narrating.
10:20 AM: First “turkey” (three strikes in a row), raising $68 more. … Moments later, another one. … and that string ran to 11 in a row by our count.
10:29 AM: Almost midway through, Nathan threw his first perfect game – 300. He’s picking up steam as this rolls on. “Nathan’s crushing it,” his dad declared. Nathan himself is a young man of few words, so far.
10:43 AM: “Holding up well,” the bowler allowed. So far he’s knocked down 1313 pins, with 41 strikes and 6 turkeys, raising just over $3,000.
10:52 AM: Another turkey. Nathan will be bowling until about 11:05 since this started just after the top of the hour.
11:00 AM: Just a few minutes to go. Nathan’s remained calm and steady throughout this – and his dad informs us he’s now up to 2123 pins, 60 strikes, and nine turkeys – that’s almost $5,000 for the food banks.
11:16 AM: Final total, just past $6,200, to be split between West Seattle and White Center Food Banks – 2,577 pins, 73 strikes, 12 turkeys. If you pledged, watch for your PayPal invoice; prize winners will be notified too. (And now the bowling alley’s open for regular bowling for the day.)
ADDED SATURDAY: Update from the Tavel family:
Our final numbers based on a few last minute pledges that came in:
We had 41 pledges.
For a total of $2.27 per pin and $80 per Turkey.That’s a total raised of $6,809
In the end, Nathan threw the following 12 complete games in one hour:
166
187
300 – The first perfect game Nathan has ever thrown!
225
202
243
228
193
189
192
192
213
plus 57 more pins in the last incomplete game.
Nathan averages 214.5 for the day. He threw 1 frame every 28.5 seconds for 1 full hour.Nathan threw 71 strikes and made 12 Turkeys (3 strikes in a row).
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