November 2024 Athlete of the Month
By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller
Joel Lockwood, 90
Lake City, Michigan
Photo courtesy Joel Lockwood.
Joel Lockwood is having the time of his life by returning to competitive swimming after a 55-year hiatus caused by career and family duties. Despite current challenges, the 90-year-old says he’ll never get out of his lane again.
Since re-entering the pool in 2012, Joel has amassed an impressive 143 medals and more than 100 ribbons from masters and Senior Games competitions, including a gold medal in the Aquatics Masters Championships. He also holds records in the 80-84 and 85-89 age groups and has only finished in second place once in eight trips to the Michigan Senior Olympics.
Joel demonstrated his athleticism as captain of his swim team at Dearborn High School and was a three-time All-American swimmer at Henry Ford Community College. He had to stop swimming to go to work for Ford Motor Company until he was drafted into the Army in 1957. Unexpectedly, he found himself competing again at Fort Carson, Colorado.
“When you’re in the infantry basic training, you don’t go anyplace. You’re stuck on base, so I would go down and swim at the Fort Carson swimming pool on the weekends,” he recalls. “I was slated to be a medic in Texas, but when they cut my orders, they said I was coming back to Fort Carson for advanced infantry training. I told them, ‘No, you can’t do that because you know I wear glasses,’ and they replied, ‘Yes, but you can swim.’”
Joel was recruited to swim for his regiment in the annual Fifth Army meet and spent half his time training in the pool. “I broke the 400- and 1500-meter record for the meet, so they set me up to swim in the All-Army competition that included other guys with college and even Olympic experience,” he says. “I placed third in All-Army’s in 1957.” Joel humorously recalls finishing his Army career as a lifeguard instructor wearing a Speedo with the Fifth Army patch on it.
Ending a Half Century of Drought
He returned to Michigan after his discharge and began a long and lucrative career as an engineer for General Motors. The long work hours and time devoted to his wife and family ended his swimming career – or so he thought until he met veteran masters swimmer Reggie Ray after he retired. “She was in her 80s and lived across the lake from us, and she heard that I used to swim,” he explains. “Reggie insisted I had to get back into it, so that’s when it started all over.”
Joel and Dixie Lee celebrating their anniversary. Photo courtesy Joel Lockwood.
Joel’s comeback road has been challenging due to a situation many other older athletes can relate to. “I’ve been a caregiver for my wife Dixie Lee for the last six years,” he says softly. “The last two years have been, they’ve been the roughest. I have not been able to work out and swim as much as I really need to be at a competitive level.”
But Joel is not complaining and says he’s glad to be there to help care for his wife of 71 years, and he is finding resources that will give him more time. “I got help from the Council on Aging in Milwaukee County and another aging service out of northern Michigan. I’m now able to get out five days a week and swim anywhere from three to six hours. The Cadillac YMCA has a beautiful pool only 12 miles away.
“I’ve got to keep up my health,” Joel continues. “And so far, most people don’t think I’m as old as I am and do as much as I do. They think I’m in my mid 70s. I take no medicine. When I do my annual physical and all the doctor tells me is, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing, but don’t change.”
Joel looks forward to masters meets in Michigan in early 2025 and a return to the National Senior Games in Des Moines next July. He loves his competition but has a balanced outlook. “The main thing now is to take care of my wife and keep myself healthy,” he says. “Dixie did a great job taking care of me and the family for many years. Now it’s my turn to take care of her, and I’m happy to do it.”
