Bowling scholarship strikes a chord with Worthington Christian seniors.

Alumni parent Dave Krebs wants to ensure that bowlers for the Worthington Christian boys’ and girls’ teams take advantage of an opportunity he didn’t have in high school.

The former Warriors bowling coach offers college scholarships to seniors who stay with the program.

According to Krebs, the motivator was a squandered chance he had as a senior at St. Francis DeSales High School in 1976.

“When I was in high school, I received the Walter and Marian English Foundation scholarship for bowling,” Krebs said. “There was just one winner from Columbus, and I was given a full-ride scholarship to any college in Franklin County.”

There was only one problem. Krebs was set on going to Miami University in Oxford, over 120 miles outside the county limits.

“I ended up not using it, but it always stuck with me,” Krebs said. “It was cool someone put together a bowling scholarship.”

Nearly 50 years later, Krebs and his wife Pat offered the ‘This Is God’s Business Family Giving Fund Worthington Christian Bowling Scholarship’ to seniors participating in the sport.

Krebs, who coached the Warriors from 2013-22, offers up to $2,000 for seniors who excel at bowling and in the classroom. Seniors can earn up to $500 each year they compete with Worthington Christian, provided they maintain a 3.0 grade point average. The maximum amount to be given to a senior class is $6,000.

The first recipients of the honor were 2024 graduates Michael Goulet (Mount Vernon Nazarene University), Grace Vinson (Lee University), and Dorothy Fullerton (Ohio State University). Goulet, a four-year member of the boys’ bowling team, said the $2,000 scholarship helped him avoid taking out a non-subsidized loan that accumulates interest immediately.

“I was told they were starting up this award my senior year of high school,” said Goulet, majoring in computer science with a minor in mathematics at MVNU. “Any scholarship for college helps. But for me, it was a reward for doing something I loved and being a part of a community that does athletics for Christ.”

Krebs inherited his love for bowling from his parents, Al and Helen Krebs. When he was six, he would tag along when the two participated in bowling leagues.

After coaching his daughter Allie (WC ’11) in softball at Worthington Christian, Krebs began coaching when his son Josh (WC ’16) started to show interest in bowling with then assistant coach Matt Hamilton. Hamilton then took over the girls’ team and later took over the bowling program when Krebs retired.

“When I started coaching here, bowling was a club sport. We had six people, four guys and two girls,” Krebs said. “I approached (former athletic director Kevin Weakley) and said, ‘I’d like to make this a varsity sport. If you can get enough students to have a boys and girls team, we’ll do it.’

“We built full girls and boys teams and had some great success. We haven’t looked back since.”

The girls’ team has won four conference and five league championships, won the 2020 district title, and qualified for the state tournament twice (finishing 15th in 2020 and eighth in 2021).

The boy’s team has won four league championships, finished 16th in the state in 2016, and had a two-time state qualifier in Seth Parsell (WC ’18).

One of the things Krebs enjoys about bowling is that nearly anyone can participate.

“Bowling is an interesting sport because you don’t necessarily have to be the greatest athlete to succeed,” he said. “A person who is a little smaller would have trouble being successful in football or basketball, but he or she can be a very successful bowler.

“If a person can learn a little bit of mathematics, know where to roll balls over certain places, practice hard, and have perseverance, he or she can be very successful.”