A high school senior is putting all his prom eggs into one golden basket. According to ESPN, New Jersey teenager Leon Purvis asked two-time Olympic gold-medal winning gymnast Gabby Douglas to his senior prom through a YouTube video last week.
"It will be an honor if you went to my senior prom with me, as my date," Purvis said to Douglas in the clip. "Not only is your story incredible and you are an amazing person, but your work ethic really inspires me."
Purvis, who attends Glassboro High School in Glassboro, N.J., said he was inspired to ask the 16-year-old gymnastics dynamo to his prom after watching Douglas in a recent interview with Barbara Walters.
The athlete was named one of Walters' "10 Most Fascinating People" of 2012 earlier this month.
"When I was watching Barbara Walters, which I watch every year, Barbara asked her if she would like some guy to ask you to his prom. And she said 'yes.'" Purvis told ESPN. "When I heard that, I was a like, 'Hey, why not do it,' and give her the chance to go to the prom. I'm hoping to get her to be the date to my senior prom."
Douglas has yet to respond.
But perhaps, with a bit of help from eager netizens, Purvis will get to go on the prom date of a lifetime.
"I'm going to put my bid in for the young man. He made a straight forward invitation to Gabby and I hope she likes what he has said and will accept his invitation. Good luck to you young man and Gabby," said one YouTube user in the comments section of the video.
"lol good luck kid. ill share the vid n get ur invite up there [sic]. update us!" said another.
Some Purvis supporters have also taken to Twitter to offer their help:
This is not the first time that Purvis has made headlines with his bid for a famous prom date. In June 2011, Purvis, a self-proclaimed "boy belieber," posted a video on YouTube asking Justin Bieber to attend his junior prom with him as his "bro" date.
He then tried to garner more attention through a tireless online campaign that included blog posts like this one. According to NJ.com, Purvis' prom date adventure soon became a nationwide viral sensation, with celebrities like Perez Hilton and Ryan Seacrest picking up on the story.
Despite his best efforts, however, Bieber ultimately didn't respond, so Purvis ended up taking a life-sized $42 cardboard cutout of the pop star (and a female friend) to the school function.
But to the teen's delight, the Bieber-Purvis saga didn't end there.
As NBC News notes, the teenager eventually did get to meet his pop idol, after Bieber's manager reached out to Purvis with two front row tickets to a Philadelphia concert.
(Leon Purvis (right) poses with pop star Justin Bieber in Philadelphia; Photo Credit: Twitter/Leon Purvis)
"It was very surreal," Purvis told ESPN of the November meet-and-greet. "At that moment, I was like 'Wow, it was actually happening.' He's my idol."
If Gabby Douglas does end up going with the teen to his May 2013 prom, she won't be the first athlete to have agreed to such a request.
In May, ABC News reported that NFL's Joe Haden agreed to take 18-year-old Joyce Grendel to prom after the teen invited him to be her date on Twitter. In 2011, Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn agreed to attend a high school sophomore's homecoming dance with him, CBS News reports.
"Parker had some pretty good moves... It was definitely a fun night," Vonn had said of her date, Parker McDonald.
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