Franklin Regional’s varsity bowling team after winning the WPIBL Championship.
Pictured from l to r: Coach Adam Reabe, Coach Gwen Richards, Graham Klemstine, Zach Jackson, Jack
Strobe, Alex Smith, Matt Fitzmaurice, Mike Evans, Mike Zeyzus, and Coach Cruz Fink.
Hummel, Rich Nesbit and Ed Dufek,”
he says. “My dad is a good bowler, so
trying to compete with and beat him as
I’ve gotten older has driven me to be the
competitor I am today.”
Rich Nesbit and the Nesbit’s Lanes
Youth Bowling program have also
been important influences in Alex’s
success. “Due to Rich’s investment and
commitment to the sport, Nesbit’s
Lanes has created one of the premier
youth bowling programs in Western PA,”
explains Alex. Nesbit’s has been a staple
in the Plum community for 73 years.
Alex has been competing locally from
a very young age and has many top
finishes in various local tournaments
at the 8U, 12U and 15U levels. Since
moving into the U20 division, he has
been very successful both locally and
nationally. In 2018, he qualified to
compete in an event called Junior Gold
in Dallas, Texas, where he competed
in a weeklong tournament against
approximately 1,500 U20 bowlers from
all over the world. That event gave him
the experience necessary to compete at a
high level and on a variety of challenging
lane conditions. While in Texas, Alex
was able to bowl in another tournament
where he finished with a tournament
average 229 and earned a spot in the
2019 Junior Gold event in Detroit,
Michigan.
So far this year, Alex has finished first
overall in the competitive Pittsburgh
Jr. Shootout and earned first place
all-WPIBL team honors at the team
championships. He set the Western
PA youth three-game series record by
shooting 300, 300 and 279 for an 879
series, and took first place in an open
head-to-head tournament in February—
becoming the youngest to win the event
in its 10-year history. These tournaments
draw some of Western Pennsylvania’s
best bowlers, including a few who are or
once were in the PBA.
“Bowling is unlike any other sport
in the world,” says Alex. “The people
involved with the sport at all levels—
professionals down to the average league
bowler and everyone else in between—
make it one of my absolute favorite
things in the world.” ■
MURRYSVILLE ❘
SUMMER 2019
13