100-year-old man still has game at Dublin Bowl
At 100, Joe Alvarez has still got game. Watch him at Dublin Bowl.
DUBLIN, Calif. – At 100 years old, Joe Alvarez has still got game.
The Danville native, born Jan. 6, 1925, is still active, doing push-ups, driving and bowling at one of his favorite spots – Dublin Bowl.
“It’s good to be 100,” Alvarez said recently as he walked through a gauntlet of claps and high 5’s at the bowling alley.
His friends were celebrating his birthday with cake and candles.
Alvarez took it all in stride.
“I feel fine….I think,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “I just wake up. It’s just another day.”
Joe Alvarez, 100, bowls at Dublin Bowl.
Alvarez picked up bowling at age 40 and 60 years later he’s still going strong, rolling in two leagues, three days a week.
He averages 140 points a game and can strike with the best of them.
His teammates marvel at his energy, but not his age anymore.
“I’ve known him for a few years, so I’m kind of past the marveling part,” Art Aguila said. “But, when I see everyone’s reaction when we go other places. They can’t believe that this guy is bowling that well at his age.”
Alvarez isn’t just bowling. He’s got a regular workout routine. He also eats healthy, lots of cottage cheese and fish.
“Lately I do 15 push-ups,” he explained. ” They’re kind of half push-ups really. I don’t go all the way to the floor and I walk very, very short distances. When I finish, I have to take a nap.”
Mike Richards, Dublin Bowl’s event organizer, said when you look at Alvarez, he “doesn’t look like he’s 100.”
And in fact, Richard points out that Alvarez is still driving.
“He just renewed his driver’s license not too long ago,” Richard said. ” It’s nuts.”
Joe Alvarez, 100, gives a thumbs up during his birthday celebration at Dublin Bowl.
It’s true.
Alvarez is good to drive until he’s 105.
He grew up in a Texas orphanage in the 1920s.
In 1941, he enlisted in the Navy at age 17 aboard the USS St. Louis.
That cruiser was hit multiple times in the Pacific theater and narrowly escaped Pearl Harbor.
“Being under fire and sitting at your battle station,” Alvarez recalled. “Something like that. It’s kind of a weird feeling. Suddenly you become very religious. Yeah yeah …you are a believer at that point.”
Alvarez has outlived all three of his wives.
He’s the father of two daughters, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
After 23 years in the Navy, Alvarez settled in as an insurance adjuster in the East Bay.
He says if you want to live a full life, find your passion and run with it.
