Jordan Stang bowled his way into select company by delivering a perfect game. Stang joins Donna Heidinger in 1994, Allan Taylor in 2008 and Richard Spence in 2011, recording 12 strikes and 450 scores in league play at the St. Albert Bowling & Rec Centre. “I’m pretty proud that I did it at this bowling alley as opposed to other bowling alleys,” said Stang, who is still walking on sunshine after achieving the rare feat Oct. 12. “This is a tough house you could say. Other bowling alleys you will get a couple a year because the circumstances on the lanes causes more strikes so you get more perfect games but that doesn't happen here.” Stang’s personal best was 393 two years ago in St. Albert and his average score was 232 before the breakthrough performance. “This is the highlight for myself,” said Stang, 24, who started bowing in junior high at K-J Bowl in north Edmonton. “Tournaments are nice to win but those high games are hard because they only happen once in a while but a perfect game is just unbelievable,” added Stang, a Tuesday and Thursday night league regular the last two years on the St. Albert lanes. The last thing on Stang’s mind after leaving work Thursday to bowl with his buddies on the Toothless Plebs was rolling a perfect game. “I got home and my roommate asked me if I wanted to work out so we did a big leg workout and as I was leaving I could barely walk up the stairs. I was like man, I’m going to bowl so bad today,” said the electrical estimator for Willbros Construction Services. “I wasn’t feeling confident at all actually.” After the first strike everything was coming up Milhouse for Stang. “I was like, oh wow, that was a good first one but I still didn’t feel great and then by about five or six I was like OK, I’m starting to get up there now. That’s when it started to hit home and I started to get a little nervous.” At the same time, Stang was “trying not to think about it” while mowing down the pins. “I felt nervous but every shot felt great. Just about all of them were perfect, no question about it. All strikes,” said the O’Leary High School graduate. The seventh frame was the trickiest for the right-handed pin knocker. “I thought it was going to be just the head pin but they all kind of fell and I dodged a bullet there. That was close,” Stang said. “It looked like it was just going to hit the middle one and just not hit any of the other ones but it just barely got them all.” The last frame Stang was literally on pins and needles. “I was shaking. It was scary. You're nervous, right? “Everyone was watching so I was really trying not to shake and then after I threw it I don’t even remember the next five minutes. I was kind of overwhelmed. “I don’t even remember high-fiving anyone after. I just kind of blacked out. It was crazy. Lots of emotion.” So, why that night of all nights did Stang bowl a perfect game? “I’m not sure. Must have been something in the beer.”
