A Legacy Honored – Tom McAdam, 60, Greenwood Village, Colorado

Whether it’s a lifelong athlete, or a person getting involved in Senior Games at a later age, a first step has to be taken to get in the game. Before that step is usually an inspiration, and families frequently provide the spark.

Tom McAdam’s spark came from a father whose life has been dedicated to physical fitness education and research, and punctuated by noteworthy athletic accomplishment. Bob McAdam, now 95, showed courage and leadership serving in World War II and became a kinesiology professor and college athletics coach. His Air Force background also led to consulting work in the early astronaut fitness program. Many racquetball players know his name, as Bob was inducted into the National Masters Racquetball Association International Hall of Fame in 2005.

Tom and six siblings all participated in sports, but he did not excel in athletics and focused on education, career and his kids as an adult. He says he was relying more on his good genetics than any organized fitness regimen to maintain his health. When his father curtailed his racquetball play over the past decade to care for his wife who had developed dementia, Tom wondered what he could do to help keep his dad active and connected. During a phone call to younger brother Brian on his 50th birthday, Tom mentioned that they were actually of age to be in the National Senior Games. He wondered if the two of them could get their older brothers, and maybe even the parents, to participate. It would create an opportunity for a family reunion every two years and help keep everyone fit. Maybe other siblings spread around the country would join in, and the entire effort would be a tribute to the legacy of fitness of their father.

The big reunion idea did not come to fruition, but Tom persevered, seeking to qualify in racquetball and induce his father to do the same and play doubles with him. Unfortunately, Tom failed to qualify in racquetball at the Rocky Mountain Senior Games. Rather than give up, he turned to a backup plan of swimming, although his competition experience was limited to observing his siblings in the past. Tom did qualify in several swimming events, and competed in the 2009 National Senior Games presented by Humana. He was also happy to see that his brother Brian, who was going through health challenges, had begun swimming in the Minnesota Senior Games. Both swam in the 2011 and 2015 Games, and last year Tom found himself atop the podium after the 200 breaststroke event for men 60-64. To further demonstrate the impact of Bob McAdam’s legacy, Brian’s two children were inspired to see their dad’s activity and improvement, and both became competitive swimmers themselves.

The goal was to honor the fitness legacy of his father, and that goal has been realized. Tom McAdam’s journey reminds us that life is unpredictable and that there will always be challenges to overcome. Rather than quit when his idea ran into obstacles, he pushed forward. The result has been a positive impact on his brother’s health and family life, and an increase in his own activity level and social connections through his ongoing participation in The Games.

Bob McAdam (courtesy Illinois State University Magazine)

Tom, we’re told that your participation came about as a tribute to the example set by your father, Bob McAdam.

My dad’s background has been physical education. He got his doctorate degree at the University of Illinois, which at a time was on the cutting edge of fitness research. He served in the Air Force and reserves, so when the astronaut program started and consultants were needed to help set up their exercise and fitness programs, he was one of those involved.

He was also a professor of kinesiology at Northern Illinois University, as well as their tennis coach, gymnastics coach, and assistant basketball coach. From there, he was with the University of Minnesota, and finally with the physical education department at Illinois State University. So his life really revolved around not only knowing the fitness topic, but also participating in it heavily.

Dad is in the National Masters Racquetball International Hall of Fame. He also did running and other cardio vascular exercises to help stay in top shape all of his life. There were six boys and one girl in our family, and we were all into various sports.

He was leadership material, but always remained humble. When he was in the POW camps in Germany, he organized and led the officers in calisthenics even though he had broken ribs.

Did you excel in sports and carry it into your life too?

In high school I did wrestling, cross country and track. It’s not as much what I was, but rather what I wasn’t, because I really wasn’t stellar in any of them. [Laugh]

I got an accounting degree from the University of Illinois and didn’t do any athletics there. When I got out, I was a CPA in Indianapolis for awhile, then down in Phoenix for four years, then in 1984 I moved to Colorado. I would say that my situation was that I was so consumed between work, kids and other things that sports and fitness were left off along the way.

What was your approach to fitness as an adult?

There were times I went to the club and I went through triathlon training intending to do them, but never did. I’d say I’ve counted on the genetics of my family carrying me through the times when I was lazy and not working out. I played ball and threw Frisbee with my kids, but again I’ve relied on the genetics. However, I can also say, I’ve never done anything really stupid to hurt myself. I’ve never had a stitch or broken a bone. So, I’ve preserved my health that way.

How did you find your way into the Senior Games?

Well, it wasn’t anything dramatic like I had a heart attack or was 80 pounds overweight and had to change my ways. The idea came as a mechanism for family camaraderie with a tagline of fitness in honor of my dad.

About eight years ago, my parents were in their 80s and living down in Texas. Mom had developed dementia, so Dad was relegated to being a caretaker and was curtailing a lot of his activities. He wasn’t able to do racquetball and things that he had been thriving on. I thought, “Well, how can I help keep him involved?”

Tom, son Matt and Bob McAdam

At the same time, my younger brother Brian in Minnesota was turning 50 and was kind of distraught when I talked to him on his birthday. He was having a tough time with neck and back issues going back to his time playing hockey. He was having operations to put wires in his neck and having his back fused. He was on various medications, had gotten out of shape and overweight, and had two young kids to keep up with.

I was 52 at that time and told Brian that I had just become aware of Senior Games. I had thought they were just for people 65 and over, so I was a bit surprised to find out that I was eligible. So since the National Senior Games were every two years, I thought with our family all spread out, maybe we could have a convenient excuse to have a biennial family reunion wherever the Games would be hosted around the country. We would do it surrounding the theme of fitness as a legacy to our dad.

I tried to get my mom and dad to go qualify in the Texas Senior Games in table tennis, because they met playing ping pong at DePaul University and that would bring them around full circle. Even with the dementia going on, Mom was still able to play.

My other motivation was to get Dad to play doubles racquetball with me. He is a hall of famer in the sport, and one of my sons was also a national junior champion in racquetball. So I thought maybe I could drag my way through and qualify, and Dad could play down in my age group.

That’s a challenging idea to pull together. How did it go?

For various reasons, only my brother Brian picked up the gauntlet. It was great because it turned his outlook around. He was the most unlikely of my siblings to do it, because he had not been doing well. Getting into the pool to compete gave him a source of focus and helped him physically.

So, unfortunately my whole big reunion idea fizzled. Well, I just decided I would go ahead myself and try to qualify in racquetball. The top three guys qualify at each age level, and there were only four guys in my age group in the Ro cky Mountain Senior Games in 2008. I figured I might find my way through it, but instead I got fourth place and didn’t qualify.

But I also signed up for some of the swimming events just in case the racquetball thing didn’t work out. I thought about which events wouldn’t have a lot of guys in it, figuring I could come in the back door in that way. I didn’t really have a personal background in swimming races like my two oldest brothers.

Tom with Brian’s family in Houston at The Games in 2011

I showed up at the pool in flowery long swim shorts, and I couldn’t figure out how to keep the goggles on. So I wore a diving mask, and that meant I had to start in the water. The guy next to me turned out to be a former captain of his swim team at USC. He had his head and body hair shaved with the lazers [LZR swimwear] going on and all, so we were quite a contrast. I did qualify though. And when we got done, the timer came up and told me, “You know, if you learned how to do a flip turn, you might have beaten him.” The Nationals were out at Stanford for 2009, and the week before I learned to do a flip turn. I did okay considering everything.

My brother Brian is really the biggest success story out of all of this. We both went down to Houston for the National Senior Games in 2011, and also swam in Minnesota just last year. He has often expressed his gratitude because it greatly improved his health. Here was this guy who was out of shape following neck and shoulder surgeries, and had really gotten concerned about his health. Then, together with help from his arthritis medication, he was back in shape. Not only that, he had his kids come out to watch him swim, and they got inspired and took up swimming and compete in state level events up in Minnesota.

For me, the reason Brian’s kids are competing and doing well really starts with their grandfather. It went from him to me, from me to their dad, and from their dad to them.

It’s the kind of collateral thing where you really don’t know who you’re going to impact, and my dad is at the heart of this.

Has it been difficult to get up to speed and train to swim in Senior Games?

I’m not really a swimmer like my oldest two brothers, so it’s a still a little bit tougher for me to stay motivated and train during the off season. When it gets to be around April, I ramp up and fight to fit back into my suit so I can get qualified. Last year, I picked the right events. Everybody does the freestyle, but I saw that not many in their 60s like to do the 200 breaststroke or 200 backstroke. So I pretty much strategized that I could do well by doing those events.

Last July in Minnesota, I really targeted the 200 breaststroke and did a personal best time in it. There were two guys seeded ahead of me by several seconds. Being the accountant and statistician, I was figuring out ahead of time what each person had done in the 50 and in the 100, how they’re going to be in lane placement and I’ll know where to look out from and so on. My strategy was to ride behind them a little bit and hope I had enough at the end. But when I came off the blocks I was ahead, and I just kept going and holding on.

It was exactly the opposite of what I thought I was going to do. They did not do their best and I ended up three seconds faster than I’d ever done and got first place. And I also finished second in the 200 backstroke.

So you didn’t expect to win a gold medal. How did it feel to accomplish that?

I felt satisfied more than euphoric. In my mind, I knew I worked hard enough, and I wasn’t doing the 50 or 100 free, or the IMs that are more popular. I’m doing the events that not as many people are doing, so I’m in the mix that way.

It was more satisfying in that I had done the prep work mentally to know that I had a legitimate shot if the stars aligned. I took advantage of the opportunity when it became available, because it might not come again.

I try to be realistic about this stuff. There’s all of these former varsity swimmers and All Americans out there. There’s a lot of guys here in Colorado of my age that are so busy with their masters swimming events that they don’t even choose to go to the National Senior Games. So it’s not like I’m beating Ohio State for the football championship. [Laugh]

I just know that if I keep constantly improving, whatever times I’m swimming are the best I’ve ever done. It’s not like I’m doing way slower than in my 20s, because I wasn’t swimming back then. So almost every time it’s my personal best record.

Well, it shows you are improving the more you do it. And you are keeping active as a result.

After last July, I stayed in the pool two or three days a week until around Thanksgiving, then took a little break until January and it got away from me. Three weeks ago, I got back in and my swimsuit ripped out. So it hasn’t been that regular.

But on the other hand, if it wasn’t for these games to motivate me to get ramped up during those periods of time, where would I be? I don’t want to oversell it, but I would likely be sitting at a TV watching sports and not getting into the pool with the thought that the games are coming up. The games are a motivation that gets me off the couch. I needed to have that.

For me it’s just as much the social aspect of it combined. I don’t like to get in shape by going to the gym and beating mysel f up. Isn’t it nice that this can be a vehicle to meet more people and feel like the world is a small place when you see the same people from other states at these games?

Your point of view represents a large number of people with average ability and who enjoy the benefits of being in Senior Games, be it local, state or national level.

It’s like, how do you want to continue to feel alive? Part of it is the physical well-being, and the other is the mental stimulation you get by being with other people. You don’t have to excel to participate and enjoy the process.

Bob McAdam at the Cowtown 5K where he clocked a time of 37:13 at age 91.

Back to Bob McAdam. Have you gotten your dad interested in joining The Games?

Dad knows his body, and the last year or two has taken a bit of a toll on him. His eyesight and hearing have gone down, which makes racquetball difficult. I’ve asked him if he would want to run in the Senior Games, but he says “I don’t want to run if I can’t do the quality of run I know I can do.” He’s earned the right to do what he wants to do. He would be in the 95 age group now.

Four years ago, Dad had me fly down to Texas because he decided to do the Cowtown 5K race in Fort Worth. He was as sick as I’ve seen him in 20 years, and Mom wanted me to talk him out of it. But he thought running it would help him break his cold, and he went out and beat the American record time for his age.

In March of this year, a few weeks after my mom died, Dad did a 5K on the treadmill and his time would have broken the American record for a 95-year-old by two minutes. Of course, it was inside and he was holding the rails, but I think he would do really well.

He likes to run in solitude. I’m a bit afraid if he did a 5K road race without a pacer he would go off course because he wouldn’t see which way he’s supposed to go. But then again, a pacer might not be able to keep up with him anyway! [Laugh]

The Great Awakening – Cheryl Cherry, 67, Clermont, Florida

To watch Cheryl Cherry cycle in competition, one would not believe she only took up the sport less than four years ago at age 63. But there she was, at the top of her game, winning a gold medal in the 10K and silver in the 5K time trials in the 2015 National Senior Games presented by Humana.

To meet Cheryl, you would not know from the smiling face and upbeat personality that she has endured challenges that include a harrowing battle with one of the deadliest forms of breast cancer. But here she is, loving life and spreading enthusiasm to others about the benefits of being highly active at any age.

The self-described tomboy grew up running, bike riding and playing informal sports around her neighborhood in the Brandon area of Tampa Bay in the ‘60s. Since girls did not have many school sports options at that time, Cheryl became a cheerleader and discovered she had natural dancing talent. Her high school sponsor recognized this and secretly signed Cheryl up for the 1968 Miss Tampa pageant, which she won. At the Miss Florida event, she won the talent competition. She even danced professionally for a brief stint before setting it aside to start a family.

She took up distance running and masters track in her 30s, but a bad knee that eventually needed replacement ended her involvement. From this point she began to have weight management problems.

At age 43, she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. A then-experimental procedure for a modified radical mastectomy requiring a team of surgeons was recommended, and the surgery lasted eight hours. Cheryl applied positive thinking to fully recover, and has remained cancer-free.

However, as you will read in the following conversation, the weight problem continued to affect her wellness until she had what she calls “The Great Awakening” in 2011. It was then that she decided she was going to become trim and fit again. With the help of her husband Tom, a former physical education teacher and football coach, and her son, who introduced her to resistance training, Cheryl transitioned from spin bike to road cycling and has gradually melted off 50 pounds. The competition bug bit again when she entered her first time trial in 2013, and the National Senior Games became her “carrot” goal to keep training. Her husband also joined in and the couple rides and trains together.

Cheryl also introduces us to a novel way for anyone to raise money for a favorite charity while walking, running or biking with a “Charity Miles” smartphone app supported by corporate sponsors, including Humana, our National Senior Games Presenting Sponsor. To date, she has logged over 11,000 miles and says helping others while exercising is another great motivator for her to keep going.

Cheryl Cherry offers a great example of positive thinking, preferring to view life challenges as “adventures” and to keep her vision on the road ahead. Read on to pick up a little Personal Best sunshine from this Florida native.

You live in Clermont, Florida, which was the headquarters for USA Triathlon for many years. Have you done a tri?

Oh, my, no triathlons for me! I have way too much metal in my body. I have plates and pins in my arm from a bike crash in My husband Tom and I also have both had knee replacements. But we do feel very fortunate to cycle and train alongside some of the best athletes in the world.

Well, tell us about your sports background. You’re a Florida native, right?

Yes. I was born and raised in Tampa, in the Brandon area. I was a tomboy and loved to get out to run and play, you know, ride bikes and play football and softball with the neighbor kids. But I really wasn’t in any organized sports growing up.

In middle school, I was a cheerleader, and then became a “dancerette” at Brandon High School. I made the varsity team as a sophomore. I just had some natural ability for dance. The sponsor of the team encouraged all of the girls to participate in other events, and she actually signed me up for the Miss Tampa pageant without my knowledge. [Laugh] Well, she helped me get ready, and I was named Miss Tampa in 1968. By winning that, I was awarded a scholarship to a dance school to get me ready for the Miss Florida pageant. I went on to win the state pageant talent competition with my dancing, and was third runner-up overall.

I danced professionally for a brief while. But I stopped to have children and got busy with life. My first job was as a legal secretary in 1970, and I went on to have a 25-year career as a legal assistant. I loved the work but it was stressful. I tried to stay healthy but things kinda added up. I did start running in my 30’s once the kids were in school. I met a woman who did marathons

and she got me interested in running. I trained pretty heavily for distance running and mostly did masters track events, and did work up to a half marathon. But I started having problems with my knee around the time I was 40, and that led to having trouble managing my weight.

So you’ve had a challenging experience with cancer. When did that happen?

I have to set the scene for you to appreciate what it was like. When I was 43, I was in West Palm Beach. My daughter was in serious training for ballet in Boca Raton and picked up a full-ride scholarship to train with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company in Seattle, Washington. Since she was only 16 years old, and I was a single mom at the time, I decided to rent out my home in Florida and go out there with her. I loved it there. I found a great law firm to work for and enjoyed the city and the mountains. I started skiing but that eventually led to my needing a total knee replacement a few years ago.

Things were going well and I thought I was relatively healthy, so it was a shock one year later to be diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. It’s a very aggressive type. The five-year survival rates were much lower than other types of breast cancer. And I was 3,200 miles from home.

I decided to have a modified radical mastectomy with a procedure that was new in those days, a tram flap reconstruction with reduction. It was a serious and lengthy procedure that had never been done in that hospital.  The University of Washington sent over their resident students to observe. The surgery lasted more than eight hours with several doctors coming in to do all the different things that had to be accomplished. When I woke up, it felt like a Mack truck had gone through my torso. Immediately after that, I started six months of chemotherapy treatment. The challenge was definitely there, but the doctors and support staff were all wonderful and I got through it.

But you know, I don’t even like to refer to it as a challenge. I look at everything that happens in my life as an adventur e. My journey is always forward-thinking. I’ve always been that way. I never get depressed or look back, I always, always, look forward. So I decided I was going to get through this with minimal bad memories. If I was positive, everyone around me would be positive too. The attorneys and their wives all helped get me to therapy and supported me. We actually made it fun. I believe that attitude will always propel you through the worst of times.

When did you return to Florida?

A month after my chemo treatments, I saw my daughter was doing well enough on her own and decided to go back to Florida and get some sunshine. [Laugh] I did have one more brief scare when two cysts were found in my healthy breast that required a lumpectomy. I’m very blessed that they turned out to be benign, and that it’s been 22 years since that first surgery.

I came back to West Palm Beach and I got together with Tom about a year later. I was volunteering at the dance school where my daughter had studied, and his daughter was also a student there. Our daughters had danced together when they were very young, and he was just an acquaintance. His girl told me he was divorced.

I wasn’t so sure this would work out because I knew he had been a football player at Penn State and with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was a high school coach. So I thought he would be too macho for me, but maybe if he would go to a ballet performance with me he might be a keeper. He did, and 18 months later we were married. [Laugh]

So you say you had a long bout with your weight, but you look great today. How did that “adventure” go?

I had what I call my “Great Awakening” in 2011 when I decided I had to get control of my up-and-down weight. I was at my highest weight of 172 pounds, and that’s a lot to put on a small 5’ 3” frame. I had my knee replacement in 2005, but I just hadn’t been able to get myself back on track fit wise. Both Tom and I had medical issues that kept getting in our way of exercising to the degree as when we were younger.

Here’s how it happened. I went to spend some time with my grandson who was an infant. I was struggling every single moment, to get on the floor to play with him, to pick him up out of his crib, to climb the stairs. I realized this was not th e way I wanted to live the rest of my life, as an overweight, unfit person. I could beat this! I looked at Tom and told him, “I need your help. I need you to motivate and push me, and don’t take no for an answer. I will do it this time.” He replied “I could lose some weight too, let’s do it together.”

It didn’t all come off right away. It’s taken four years to get myself down to 122 pounds. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but as I’ve said I am forward thinking and I decided that’s it, I am gonna beat this thing the same way I beat cancer. And I will never, ever go back.

Cheryl, Tom and Derek celebrate a win.

Is this where cycling came in?

It started with my son, Derek Snowden, who is a master instructor with TRX resistance training. It’s a way to exercise without having impact on your body. He introduced us to the program and told us it would change our lives. It was the beginning of an entirely new lifestyle for us and we’re glad we took his advice!

As we gained more strength, functionality and flexibility, we moved to other forms of non-weight bearing exercises, like elliptical and indoor spinning, and finally, long bike rides on hybrid mountain bikes. We also incorporated a vegan diet. Everything all came together at once.

One day Derek told us, “You guys are really amazing with what you’re doing. Why don’t you get some real bikes and go out and train for the Senior Games?” I didn’t know what that was, but it sounded like a fun goal. On March 1, 2013 we entered our very first time trial event. We fell in love with it. It was like, “Wow, we can compete again at this age!” We’ve done virtually every mile together.

The next year we both won the Georgia Golden Olympics, and I also won and set the new age group state record for Florida Senior Games. Derek was with us at the National Senior Games in Minnesota when I won gold in the 10K time trials. He was so happy for me. Tom came in 17th and 18th in his races, but there were 60 men in his 65-69 age group. But he said he did well for a guy with two knee replacements and two rods in his back.

I had 10 in my groups. I think I could have won the 5K too, but I made a stupid mistake. I thought my foot was clipped in, but it wasn’t and came out right at the start and I actually went down briefly. I came in 15 seconds behind Kathleen Pratt, who is the 2014 US Masters cycling time trial champ and a great competitor. I was disappointed, but I did take the silver, and it gives me something to work toward next time.

It’s amazing how quickly you have risen to be a gold medalist in your first National Senior Games.

To go from being overweight and feeling uncomfortable on a bike to where I am now, going an average of 23 miles an hour in a time trial, that’s an accomplishment. But if I can do it, anybody can do it. Yes, I was a dancer and had done running, b ut I’m not a star athlete. I would have laughed at you if you had told me three years ago I could get on a bicycle and race.

Tom will tell you it went to my head a little. A little while after we got home from Minnesota, we were out riding and going around a corner with a couple of younger cyclists ahead of us. Tom’s being polite and staying back, but I go up and shout, “I’m passing on your left!” and take off. He pulls up and tells them, “My wife just won a gold medal at the National Senior Games. She thinks she’s hot you-know-what.” [Laugh]

We were told you’ve been raising money for charity with your smartphone. Can anyone do that?

Yes! Charity Miles is an awesome phone app you can download. It’s free and tied into GPS. You can bike, walk or run. You choose from a list of several charities, and then you raise 25 cents a mile for walking or running, and ten cents a mile for biking. When the miles are recorded they tweet back an appreciation. Unfortunately, you don’t get miles when you are on a stationary trainer or spin bike, but it is a big motivation to get in as many miles as possible outside.

I do it for the Alzheimer’s Association in honor of my father who died from dementia, and for another family member and other friends affected by it. Corporations and foundations provide the funding. In fact, Humana is a big corporate sponsor as well as of the National Senior Games, so I feel even better about that. They actually made me one of their Humana Health Stars for the Charity Miles newsletter last August.

Over the past two years we each put in over 7,000 miles training before the Nationals and our goal was to hit 10,000 by the end of 2015. We reached that goal after training for the Florida State Senior Games last December.

It’s really a nice thing to know every mile we rode was raising money for charity while we trained. If we got to 28 miles on a day, we would decide, ‘Let’s ride until we get 30.’ We put in a lot of hours of hard training. I hoped all the extra training would pay off, and it did!” [Laugh]

I can really thank Charity Miles for giving me the extra motivation to train harder. I’ve been promoting it since I started with it because it’s a phenomenal and healthy way to contribute.

Now that you’ve made the big changes and earned some rewards, what new goals have you set?

The next big goal is the National Senior Games in 2017. In fact, we’re thinking about going up to Birmingham, Alabama on a vacation this year to check out the site. We’ve also joined up with the Senior Games here in Lake County to help with some of the sports and try to coach some. And we recently opened up a little TRX fitness gym in Clermont and we train other people now.

On the Charity Miles, we’d like to get more people to do it, and to personally get our miles in quicker. So our goal is to get 10,000 miles done in one year.

Sounds like you are paying it forward with a desire to share the fitness benefits of Senior Games.

Oh yes. The Senior Games is my carrot, my motivation to keep going and work harder. I spoke to a Silver Sneakers class recently about all the things they could do in Senior Games. I told them if you can just gain control of your mind, you will conquer your body. I tell people “Look, it’s not as hard as you think it is. You don’t have to sit on the couch. You don’t have to be depressed. Get out there and find someone to help you get going.”

My husband and I found that cycling was the best thing for us to do because it wasn’t high impact. Tom has said many times, “If you feel you are old, get on a bike. You’ll feel 18 again.” You can just feel the youth coming back. It’s a happy thing. I’m so much healthier for doing this. He has gotten off blood pressure medication and statin drugs. Everything has evolved from this. We’re growing! [Laugh]

Sportingly Yours – Don Hoeppner, 85, Whitewater, Wisconsin

Will Rogers famously said “I never met a man I didn’t like.” In the case of Don Hoeppner, you could say he never met a sport he didn’t like. In fact, he often writes the closing line “Sportingly Yours” in his letters and emails.

The retired CPA has always loved to run, jump, hit, catch, bounce and throw, and has made good on his goal to remain active throughout his life. Baseball was one of his earliest loves, and when his father gave him a right-handed glove, the natural left-hander adapted and learned to throw righty. As time progressed, Don learned to adapt and do most things from the right side, including writing.

Don lettered in tennis and played football in high school, and then contributed to the success of a championship intramurals basketball team at the University of Wisconsin. Once he launched into an accounting career, he avoided the sedentary life by playing sports with his church and in adult baseball and basketball leagues. Like many others in Wisconsin, Don also enjoyed outdoor activities with his family at their lake camp, and actively participated in Boy Scout activities with his sons.

Entering his 50s, Don joined a new senior softball league and they decided to get into the Wisconsin Senior Olympics. He has since participated annually in all of his state games, and in all but one National Senior Games since 1989 when he first became eligible to compete. With each new year, Don would thumb through the state games event guide and select a new sport to try. You name it, he’s probably done it. This year, Don is entered into eight different sports at the Wisconsin games. He still does shuffleboard, horseshoes and lawn bowling with Nancy, his wife of 61 years. The Games have become his adult playground for 29 years and counting.

At National Senior Games, Don has focused on his best sports, including softball and volleyball, and in recent years, basketball, tennis and track and field events. Not making the national medal stand very often has not diminished his enjoyment of being part of the action with thousands of other like-minded active people. He cherishes the gold medals he earned playing softball in 1997 and with his Wisconsin 80s basketball team in 2013.

Don Hoeppner is a great example for how you can achieve your own Personal Best of optimum health and contentment through sports and regular activity. Another way to recognize a Personal Best athlete is by how he or she inspires and helps show the way to others. Don has always been in the middle of recruiting and organizing teams, and is always telling others to “get into the game” to enjoy the same benefits he is deriving. Wisconsin Senior Olympics has recognized his contributions by inducting him into their Hall of Fame.

As Don relates in the following conversation, he realizes he is not a naturally gifted athlete, but he enjoys the challenge a nd work required to learn and become better at what he sets his mind to. Winning medals has never been the biggest motivator. What drives him (and most senior athletes) is maintaining his best health, enjoying social connections, testing his own limits, and sharing experiences in a team environment.

To listen to you speak, Don, there’s no doubt you are from Wisconsin.

Oh yeah, I always played basketball and regular baseball up until I was 62. Then I played softball. When I was in my 30s, I played basketball in the church league and helped coach them too. I’ve always enjoyed swimming. Being in Wisconsin, we had a lake cottage for quite a few years and the family did waterskiing, swimming, tag and dodgeball in the water, those kinds of things, you know.

I was also the founder of the Tosa Little League for Wauwatosa. There’s about 600 in it now. My players who were in it at the beginning are now running it. [Chuckles] One thing that made it sorta neat was that we didn’t organize teams by schools or areas, they came from around the city. So the ball players got to be friends with people from the other school.

Right now I’m organizing two teams that are playing in the Wisconsin Senior Olympics, and I’ll be playing on one of them.

Doing accounting work can be a sedentary job. Did you work out or play sports as a younger adult?

Don (lower left) with Tosa players in 1978.

I was born in Milwaukee, and have lived in different places in mostly southern Wisconsin. I was a CPA and owned my own accounting business in Wauwatosa for many years. I lived there most of my adult life, and I’ve been in Whitewater for seven years now.

We’ll get back to your senior sports, and you do a ton of them. Have you always been a sports nut?

Oh yeah. I lettered in tennis on a pretty good team in high school. I also played football, but I was not good enough for the varsity, so I concentrated on other things like being a cheerleader. I did some intramurals when I was at the University of Wisconsin. My basketball team was the league and campus champion. I belonged to a fraternity but was not on their team. We were very happy to beat all the fraternities, you know. [Laugh]

What has been your biggest challenge in sports?

Well, you just have to work at it. I’ll tell you one big thing, though. When I was about seven years old, my father bought me a baseball glove. I was left handed, and asked if it was a left-handed glove. He said, “Yes, it’s on the left hand, isn’t it?” [Laughs] So, I turned into a right-handed baseball player.

At Thanksgiving dinner, they were always worried about having me in the left corner of the table so I wouldn’t be bothering everyone else with me eating left-handed. When I was 15 I said to myself, “Gosh, I can learn to do this right handed.” Now I eat right handed. I do all sports right-handed now, like golf or tennis or whatever.

Shot Put at 2014 Wisconsin Senior Olympics.

It’s a brain-teaser to “change your wiring,” so to speak.

After I finished college at the University of Wisconsin, I was drafted into the US Army and sent to North Carolina. I was going to be an accountant, so I decided at that time to learn to write using my right hand too. I’ve been doing it that way ever since. But now, still, sometimes I find myself doing some things the other way. Like shoveling snow. People don’t think you can do things one way or the other, you know? I can do many things with either hand.

So, let’s hear about your long career as a senior athlete.

When I was 55, a client told me about a softball league they were organizing. There was a team from Briggs and Stratton, which I had done work for earlier in my career. So went out to practice, and there’s all my buddies that I hadn’t seen for years and years, and they’re all trying to play ball. When I came home from practice I told my wife Nancy, “Aw, you’ve got to come see this. This is softball in slow motion.” [Laughs] Well, we went undefeated for about three years in that league.

The league was in the summer, and the Wisconsin Senior Olympics was in the fall, so we did that too. I played softball and also did some track that first time. This year I’m doing eight sports. I can’t get enough of it.

They tell me you’ve done just about every sport over the years at the Wisconsin games.

Yeah, I guess it just came about gradually. I just saw all of the things listed in the book you could do, and I’d pick something else to do along the way. I’ve just always participated in a lot of different things. As the season came up I’d just start pl aying the sport and did more and more and more.

Don (2nd from right) on his way to qualifying in the 100 meter dash at 2016 Wisconsin games.

I think over the years I’ve probably gotten 400 medals in the Wisconsin Senior Olympics. But when you get to the national level, boy that’s pretty competitive. I think I’ve won three medals in all my years there, and none of them as an individual.

Nancy does some sports, but she’s more into sewing and collecting. I call it shopping. [Laugh] She does have about 40 medals in shuffleboard, horseshoes and lawn bowling. We do those three sports together in the Wisconsin Senior Olympics. She’s only competed at the Nationals once. We don’t have that much money to stay longer. I tell people she lets me do all this sports stuff. [Laugh]

I guess I’ve been in every one of the Wisconsin games since I started up. I talk it up wherever I go. I give out booklets and flyers, and in the past I was on the phone a lot organizing the softball teams and basketball teams.

You’ve been a regular at the National Senior Games too.

I started when I could. You had to be 55 to get in back then; it’s 50 now. I wasn’t old enough for the first one, so I started in 1989 in St. Louis, and I’ve made every one since except in California in 2009. I just didn’t have the money to go that far at that time. I wish I could have.

Next year in Birmingham, I hear they’re adding an 85+ basketball group if they get enough teams. If they do, I’ll be on one of them. Otherwise I’ll be in the 80+ group. Basketball is very special to me at Nationals, because my team took the gold in Cleveland [in 2013]. It was special to win it all there.

Don with 2015 basketball team members Gerald Rieder and Bill Jankovich.

Now, in Minnesota last year, we only had three players because Ken Head, our fourth guy, had a death in the family and couldn’t make it. So we all played every minute of our games. We won the first four, but lost to the eventual gold winners and ended up in fourth place. The team we lost to had a guy who was seven feet tall! Our center is only six foot three. [Laughs]

So I’ll be there next year for basketball, and will also do some track like I’ve been doing for the past few Nationals. Last time, I got 8th in two events, in long jump and the 50 meter. For me, that’s very, very good.

So you’re not discouraged about not winning many medals at Nationals?

So I’m not a superstar. [Chuckles] But I consider myself fortunate to be able to do what I can do. It’s also interesting to compare yourself to see what you can do against the world. Some of those guys are naturals who really have it going for them. I probably work at it harder than some of them. I’ve always thought that what makes a pro is to be a natural who works hard at it.

Another thing about going to Nationals is to just be there for all of the excitement, meeting people and seeing the ones you’ve competed against before.

It’s nice to visit different places too.

Oh yeah. I think we do more sightseeing than most of the athletes. We go to the zoo, the theater, parks and so forth. We like to look around at the shops too. The River Walk in San Antonio was really neat. Stuff like that, you know.

One of the other big things I enjoy is just getting together with other fellows who have the same ideas, doing things together and so forth. And the effort and goal to keep in shape is really the big reason.

Obviously, your sports activity has contributed to the great physical shape you’re in today, right?

Oh sure. It really helps mentally too. I keep pretty healthy. I’ve had a few crashes in sports, you know. I’ve been laid up for awhile, but it didn’t affect me for too long. I tore my Achilles practicing basketball once. That happened right before the National Senior Games that were down in Orlando [in 1999]. I was in a cast and couldn’t do anything, but I had organized a team playing volleyball. So I went anyway, and I also helped coach third base for my softball team.

Don and son Lee with Boy Scouts including two of his grandsons at a recent camping trip. Scoutingly Yours?

I’ve always been very active in the Boy Scouts, doing a lot of hiking and camping and sports with my three sons. I was a Scoutmaster for many years. These days, I follow my grandchildren around. The next generation, you know. I was just out there with them for a week at scout camp. There was a group doing pushups for a fitness merit badge and some of them were lucky to be doing four of them. One of my boys says, “Oh, Mr. Hoeppner can do 20 pushups!” So I had to come over and show them how to do it. [Laughs] I still sort of astonish the kids when I can keep up with them.

You have always been in the middle of the action, and it has inspired many others. Do you have a favorite piece of advice to help encourage people to stay active?

You got to pray a lot, eat good and exercise daily.

I play tennis once a week when it’s nice out this time of year. I mostly play with people in their 50s and 60s and I hear them say, “Boy, I sure hope I can do that when I’m 80.” I tell them you’ve got to work at it.

I guess my number one tip is “Don’t eat too much.” When you eat out, they just pile it on you. They want to charge you more for it. So when the meal comes, divide it so you can eat half there, and take home half.

Another thing I hear people saying is “I’ll get around to it.” You’ve got to set a better priority. You can find a way. You’ve got to work at it.

Catch Me If You Can – Harold Bach, 96, Bismarck, North Dakota

Photo by Rebekah A. Romero

People have always had trouble keeping up with Harold Bach. At 96, the North Dakotan should have earned a dictionary entry under the word “active” by now. He’s pretty fast on the track too, and has been a fixture at the National Senior Games since his first appearance in 1993. He wins his share of medals, and at the 2015 National Senior Games presented by Humana, he logged the fastest times in our history in the 50, 100, 200 and 400 meter sprints for men 95-99. The amazing part is that he never entered a running event until he was 72 years old.

For family and friends who know Harold, it’s not surprising that he is still going strong, nor that he would take up a new passion as a septuagenarian. Growing up during the Great Depression in a rural area, Harold and his family moved several times and learned how to be resilient and creative. After high school, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and bought himself a scooter. He was then drafted into World War II, where the Army tasked him with driving a truck delivering ammunition and bombs in North Africa and Sicily. Then, in Italy he was a messenger driving a Jeep between field locations and Army headquarters in Rome.

After the war, Harold moved to Seattle to look for work, and convinced his sweetheart to ditch college and go with him. They were soon married, and he talked his way into a good job with the Boeing Company. However, the couple became homesick for North Dakota. Returning home, he taught school, bought into a hardware store and lumberyard, was elected mayor, and then settled in as a rural mail carrier from 1959 to 1987. It was only fitting that the job he stuck with longest kept him moving every day.

Did we mention he flew airplanes, raced snowmobiles, and owned a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, which he drove to the famous Sturgis Rally in South Dakota every year for three decades? You are beginning to get the picture now -taking risks and trying new things is also part of Harold’s DNA.

Harold enjoyed bowling, golf, hunting and other activities, but was only a matter of time before running track became an avocation. Harold has entered competitions in California, Arizona, Utah, Minnesota, Montana, as well as South and North Dakota. He loves going to the National Senior Games, both for the added competition and to see new places. With a lean, 5- foot-3 frame, Harold says he can’t gain weight no matter what he eats. That could be his compensation for a lifetime of nonstop activity, and his vitality also likely helped him survive a bout with lymphoma ten years ago.

Harold Bach is a salt of the earth guy who shows by example how to live a long, healthy life: just keep moving. Even in conversation he has a fast wit, and once he gets started he finds it hard to stop talking. That’s OK, because he has a lot to say and has seen and done a lot of things over nine decades. Settle in for a tomato beer and enjoy his Personal Best story.

Harold, you’ve won a lot of gold medals, but you were past 90 before you got into the NSGA all-time records. How do you feel about being Number One in the 95-99 age group in all four sprint events you entered last year?

I feel kinda lucky about all that. I didn’t have a lot of bad things happen to me. So I don’t think I would have accomplished all these things without the word “luck.” Maybe something in the genes too.

There’s training goes with it too. It’s sometimes a bit of a chore, but you have to do that because that’s the difference for your heart and your lungs, you know. That means running regularly, practicing your sprints. Keeping yourself in shape i s the best way to avoid injury.

You had never competed before you started Senior Games at the age of 72. What would you say to people who think they can’t do this because they haven’t tried it before?

You can start any time. The main thing is getting started. Enter anything you want that you feel comfortable with, that’s the way to go. But if you don’t do anything at all, you’ll be in trouble. Walking is the best exercise there is. Don’t just sit in the house and watch TV.

There are a lot of health gains to it. You meet a lot of people going to these games, too. If you don’t get out and socialize, it will hurt you mentally. Like people for who they are. You never want to say bad things about others. Everyone has a different personality.

Have you had people say you are an inspiration to them?

I’ve gotten a lot of TV and newspaper stories around here, and they always say I’m an inspiration. You know, several times when I’m coming home from these competitions, there’s usually someone from the locality at the airport to greet me. It’s nice to see them there, so I guess I am an inspiration.

I’ve had school kids write articles in school papers and send me letters. One time, I was on an Honor Flight where veterans were given a chance to go see the World War II monument after it opened. We met some students and they wrote letters thanking us for what we had done. They really put us up on a pedestal. Similarly, after the Senior Games in Cleveland, a grade school class wrote me a very nice letter saying I was an inspiration. It gave me a nice feeling.

Do you have someone who has been an inspiration to you?

I would say Jesse Owens, the Olympic runner. Germany was wanting to wipe out everybody in the world and he just made a fool out of them. It was a terrible blow to Hitler because he had such high expectations. So Jesse Owens was a hero of mine at that time. He just changed everything in the line of sports.

Yes, and he taught Americans a bit about human equality too.

That’s right, that’s right.

You grew up during the Great Depression in rural North Dakota. It’s hard to imagine the hardships you and your family experienced during those times. Tell us a little bit of what you recall.

Living in the Depression was an experience to remember. To me, those were the good old days. People were much more humble and you could trust almost anybody. Sometimes a handshake was as good as a contract. Today you almost have to have an attorney’s permission to talk to your mother-in- law! [Laugh]

There was very little employment and the weather was bad. There was a lot of dust and a lot of insects in the air. But you didn’t think too bad of it because everyone was in the same boat. After it was over, everything went back into the positive.

I was born in a stone house outside of Regent in North Dakota. When I was six months old my folks moved us to Minnesota, to a horse farm owned by some wealthy English people who lived in St. Paul and had top show horses. On weekends they would come out for fox hunts in colorful clothes.

Another thing I remember well was everyone going out looking for honey. When they found large bees’ nest hanging from a tree they would bang on it with pots, pans and anything that made a loud noise. The bees couldn’t stand it and took off, and we stole the honey. I still like honey. But now, I purchase it from the store instead!

Anyway, my dad heard about a job back in North Dakota so we loaded up in our old Model T and headed back and lived with my grandparents on a homestead 12 miles outside Regent. We had to walk a mile and a half cross-country to a small school where one teacher taught all eight grades.

My dad delivered gas in rural areas for Standard Oil Company. We had a Model A truck with barrel holders on the sides, and my brother Archie and I would ride on them when we went visiting on Sundays.

We also got some cattle on the edge of town and it was our chore to go get the cattle in to the farm every night. This was no easy task because the pasture had cactus. Most of the time we didn’t wear shoes, so you can imagine what happened. In winter we walked behind the cattle, and we took the temptation to get our cold feet in their deposit. I still think about it to this day. Now you know the rest of the story! [Laugh]

We then moved to Havelock just east that had a population of 150. Archie and I delivered milk around town. I love that little town, so much that I later bought five lots. I still own them today, and I like to go out there with a metal detector looking for something antique and old. The last time I went I got to thinking the only old thing around was me, so I went back home! [Laugh]

Anyway, we moved back to Regent where my dad was manager of Farmers Union Oil until 1941. I graduated from school there in 1939.

Boy, you moved around a lot as a youth. You got plenty of exercise with chores and odd jobs. Were there organized sports in school when you were growing up in the Depression?

Really, not. I had basketball in high school. I was a good shooter but I’m not tall at all- I’m a long way from being a center.

And all the little towns had softball teams, but I really didn’t compete individually in any outside sports at all.

By then, most kids had bikes but I didn’t have any bucks so I borrowed three dollars from my sister and bought a used one. I also did some golfing and skiing and other school activities.

After high school, I was looking for adventure and joined the Civilians Conservation Corps which the Army ran. I was sent to Aberdeen, South Dakota and then Miles City, Montana. I painted and installed wood signs, built fences and fought a few forest fires. In 1941 I bought a motor scooter.

Then came the World War II. What did you do?

I went into the Army in September of 1941. We were put on a ship in New York harbor and our supplies were put on another ship, which was sunk by German U boats before it got to our destination. Leaving shore and taking one last look at the Statue of Liberty was a hollow feeling.

Anyway, we went to Glasgow, Scotland, and 50 days later I was on a ship convoy with nobody knowing where we were going. We passed the Straits of Gibraltar and soon hit the beaches of Africa. My main job while there was to drive and deliver bombs and ammo wherever they were needed. These were up to 2,000 pound bombs. It was very dangerous because the Germans had air superiority and were always overhead. We lived in foxholes, and on one of the raids a bomb landed 75 feet from me and made a hole big enough to drive my truck through.

I left Africa and was sent to Sicily and Italy. In early 1944 we entered the port of Naples and set up camp 30 miles south of Rome. I ended up with the job of running messenger between there and Army headquarters in Rome. I was issued a Jeep, a brief case and a .45 caliber pistol. It was one of my better positions but it was also scary driving those country roads alone, especially up in the mountains. On one of my trips, I even ran into my brother Archie whose outfit helped take Rome.

It was over 70 years ago, but in a way it seems like as though it was last year. It’s hard to believe that the loss of life was so high. I would never want to go through it again, because the odds weren’t all that good on coming back you know. And yet, I wouldn’t want to trade the experiences I had during that time.

This is all interesting. Before we get back to your Senior Games years, tell us briefly what you did in the next six decades. After the war, I went back to Regent and worked for an oil company, and then was asked to come teach school as teachers were hard to get. Those unlucky kids. [Laugh] Veterans could get college paid for, so I qualified and took up pilot training at a flight school in Mott. But after awhile I called it quits because I was getting a little reckless and took too many chances. So I decided to keep one foot on the ground at all times.

I decided to go west to look for work but didn’t want to go alone. I had been seeing Evie on and off since she was in the eighth grade, and I figured sooner or later we would get together. She was supposed to take a train to college, but I talked her into going to Washington with me instead, without telling her parents. You can imagine how her folks felt, but it all worked out well. We were married in Seattle.

I went to apply for a job at Boeing and the employment line was very long. They were turning almost everyone away. I kept my ears open and heard the secretary at this big desk say “No” to the applicant in front of me. I was thinking fast and desperate. She asked what my skills were and I blasted out, “I’m a secretary!” very confident like. I did take typing in high school. Well, I was in as a shipping clerk.

I was working the night shift, but had more college coming on the GI Bill. So I went to private detective school by day. Even though I had a good job at Boeing, we got homesick after I finished school. We hitched up the trailer we were living in and headed back to North Dakota. I worked for the oil company, and then as a carpenter for $1 an hour. I also worked part time as a postal clerk. During this time, I was elected to the city board and voted in as mayor. Evie’s dad had been mayor in 1910, my dad Fred Bach was mayor in 1940, and now I was mayor in 1950. I served 28 years on the board.

In 1954, I purchased a lumber and hardware store in Regent. After three years, two postal carriers were about to retire, so I took the civil service exam with about 20 others and I ended up being picked. I understood afterwards that of the top four, two of us were World War II veterans and the others were not and that was the difference. So I sold my half of the lumber business and became a letter carrier.

The mail route was rural and the roads were poor. I did a lot of snow shoveling. But I made many friends. In 1978, I transferred to Dickinson and it was a big change. I had about 300 families and 126 miles to go each day. I retired in 1987.

Wow. We know you move fast, but this sounds like you never stopped moving all of your life!

I was a person who just couldn’t sit still for long, I guess. Our whole family kept active. All four kids took part in many activities-hunting, fishing, hiking, golf, bowling and so on. Evie was on a women’s bowling team and liked looking for fossils and artifacts on farmer lands. The boys and I had cycles and snowmobiles, and I raced snowmobiles for awhile but got quite reckless and quit. I bought a Honda Gold Wing in 1976, and we went to Sturgis, South Dakota many times for the national rally. I went for 29 straight years. I also rode it alone to San Antonio for an

Army reunion in 1979. It was 100 degrees all the way down and the guys all thought I was nuts.

OK, Harold. Slow down, we can’t keep up! So tell us finally how you got into the Senior Games.

It was kind of an accident. I had some relatives that were going to the North Dakota senior games in 1990, and I decided I would go along to Fargo with them. They were good in golf and bowling, so I participated in them too. Well, I got to see the running events and they kinda appealed to me. The next year, I entered the 5K and won the gold medal. I’m still running to this day on that account!

Photo by Rebekah A. Romero

I’ve never missed going to the National Senior Games since the first one I went to in 1993. I have 166 medals now. I got a lot of gold too. I always can’t wait for the next one because we have such long winters and short summers here.

What do you do to stay in shape?

I do a stretch exercise and run or use the treadmill every morning. I bowl once in awhile, and I like to play golf- there’s a good bit of walking in that so that’s really exercise too. I try to play once a week, but the wintertime here in North Dakota gets pretty cold so there’s a long dry spell during that time.

In the winter I go to a senior rec center that’s near me in Bismarck. They have many types of good equipment there. So when the weather is nasty I go walk on the treadmill every day. It’s a must to keep your heart and lungs in shape. If you keep them up, the rest of the body takes care of itself.

I’m sure that’s got something to do with my good health. I did a lot of exercises, and took part in many things over the years. I wouldn’t stand a chance in my age bracket over 90 if I wasn’t staying active. Most runners and athletes have had training, but I just looked in sports magazines and found a lot of help. I just used my imagination I guess.

Another thing: I always have goals to work for. I also have several hobbies, like lapidary. I collect stones from all over the world and have some diamond equipment and make jewelry. I don’t sell any, but all of my relatives are wearing my jewelry.

Have you avoided major illness or injury all of your life?

Well, I have had cancer, really twice.

One was a skin cancer and they just took off a little chunk of my ear for that. I also had lymphoma, that was in 2004. The symptoms didn’t seem all that serious, but they recommended surgery and the two doctors decided to go a little further in their exploration and they found no doubt in the world it was non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. That could be fatal so I went along with whatever they told me to do. I went through the whole chemo pattern, and then I had to take radiation every day for 30 days. I was lucky because they told me it has totally cleared up.

One of my doctors is from India, Dr. Amin is his name. He and I got to be good friends, and I told him, “If I am lucky enough to get a gold medal at the next senior games I will give it to you.” So I did, and he has it hanging on his wall.

Other than that, I’ve never had anything physically bad happen to me. I had a lot of luck with it.

Do you follow any special diet?

Noted physician and professor Dr. Stephen McDonough, a member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, counts Harold as an inspiration and requested to present a medal to his fellow North Dakotan at The Games in 2015.

I tell ya, I have no special diet. I can’t seem to gain weight no matter what I eat. I like everything. Peanuts and graham crackers are favorites. Also vegetables and fruit. But I’m a bad one for sugar. I eat a lot of candy, and I know you’re not supposed to do that. But if there’s a bar of candy around, I’m gonna grab it. [Laugh]

Noted physician and professor Dr. Stephen McDonough, a member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, counts Harold as an inspiration and requested to present a medal to his fellow North Dakotan at The Games in 2015.

I rarely drink, but I keep some beer and wine around, because guests sometimes like to have it. I do like a tomato beer from time to time. I’ll mix the little can of tomato juice with it. You can’t help but like it. I like Bud Light, I guess because I like the sound of the name.

So, we can count on seeing you tear up the track in Birmingham for the 2017 National Senior Games?

You bet. I won’t miss anything here on out unless something happens to my health. I’ve kinda got my mind set on setting another running record. I don’t know which event it would be, more than likely the 400 meter. I won that by quite a bit in Minnesota. It’s once around the track and you don’t run slow. The one who has the best heart and lungs is going to win.

When you run, do you think about beating the other guy, or is it more about challenging yourself?

I tell you, it’s both. You always think you can get better with just a little extra effort. But I am also aware of my competition. I meet a lot of the same ones every year, so I keep track of everybody, and I also try to improve a little bit on my running.

And you know, there’s a camaraderie to all of this too. I like to say I got lots and lots of friends, but I don’t know where they both are now. [Laugh]

Standing Up to MS – Eleanor Pendergraft, 80, Johnson City, Tennessee

Eight years ago, Eleanor Pendergraft pondered her fate. She had been disabled for 25 years with multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. A walker, wheelchair or motorized scooter was her only means of getting around. Her neurologist said she would never get any better.

Undaunted, Eleanor decided to join a nearby fitness club and started working out in a gym six days a week. What was there to lose? As she gradually gained core strength, her goals expanded. While using her walker on the indoor track she saw others flying on their feet and wanted to do that too. Slowly but surely, she went from supporting her legs on a walker to using two canes, then one, and finally taking steps on her own. Everyone celebrated her first triumphant lap jogging around the track.

What happened next takes this story from incredible to being nearly miraculous. A friend who ran in the Tennessee Senior Olympics and the National Senior Games, seeing her progress, suggested Eleanor try competing-if nothing else, for the fitness, fun and fellowship it affords all who participate in them. Eleanor thought she was crazy at first. After all, she had never done anything in athletics, and had been too busy raising six children and finishing college to be very active before MS struck her down.

Why not try it? Eleanor rode with her friends to the state games in Franklin, where she proceeded to not only compete, but earn some medals and qualify for the 2011 National Senior Games presented by Humana held in Houston. She made the trip and was excited to finish third in one of her races. The former invalid was now a National Senior Games bronze medalist.

To date, she has collected more than 300 trophies and medals from all of the running events she has entered in Senior Games and with a track club she joined. Many of them hang on the wall next to the motor scooter in her apartment to remind her just how far she has come. So far, she has only taken minimal medications since becoming active. There have been bumps in the road with small setbacks and the need for double knee replacements, but she hasn’t stayed down for long. Recently, an auto accident put her back on a walker, but she is working with her doctor, orthopedist and coaches at the fitness club to get in shape to qualify to go to Birmingham for The Games in 2017.

Would you bet against her? We wouldn’t either! Read on and take in our conversation with Eleanor Pendergraft to learn more about her amazing journey to now lead a busy life filled with running, working a part-time job and devoting volunteer time to visit and help others to pay forward the kindness she received when she was ill. Propelled by her faith, she advises others that there’s always something people can do to improve the quality of their lives. Just take that first step and you never know where it may lead. This Personal Best athlete’s example is a powerful testimony to this simple truth.

Eleanor, it’s simply incredible that you have put something as debilitating as MS at bay through exercise and sports. Were you athletic as a youth or before you became ill? Never. When I was in high school we had a choice to do either music or phys ed. I chose music.

I had six children, a son and five daughters that ranged from two to 12 years old. I raised them as a single mom after the last one. I didn’t have time to get out and do the kinds of things I would have liked to, or to really encourage the kids to be more active.

I was a music major in college back in the 50s. I went back to the same school [Campbell University] in 1979 after three of the kids had grown. I majored in business administration and graduated with honors and went right to work. So I was never athletic, never really active much until I recovered from MS eight years ago.

When did the disease overtake you? What was life like?

I was diagnosed just over 30 years ago. After I received my degree, the First American Bank in Johnson City offered me a job as a trust officer. I wasn’t interested in leaving North Carolina, but they asked me to just come look it over and meet with them. I agreed and made the move. But I was not able to work very long before the MS hit me full blast. I was dropping things and falling constantly. That’s when I was tested and got the diagnosis.

I started out using a cane, and then two canes, and then a walker. I was having so many head injuries that the doctor told me I was going to have a very serious injury and to not to use a cane anymore. I was to either use a walker or a wheelchair. I couldn’t drive a car without hand controls because I couldn’t lift my feet to use the pedals.

So I was not totally wheelchair bound. I could use a walker for short distances and a wheelchair or motorized chair for longer distances. I still have that motorized chair sitting in my apartment and I have medals hanging over it. [Laugh] It reminds me every time I come in the door how blessed I have been.

There were weeks at a time I couldn’t get out of my apartment, and I like to stay busy. I had always wanted to paint so I did a few landscapes. I wanted to do portraits of my grandchildren so I taught myself how to paint them. I also did portraits of some of the people who have been so good to me over the years. I also used to pass time by making furniture, both full size and miniature.

Now, since I’ve been able to get out and do all of these other things I haven’t had time to paint and do crafts!

So, what happened to turn your life around?

Eight years ago I was getting worse, and my neurologist didn’t give me any hope of getting better. My next door neighbor told me about the Lifestyle Fitness Center near me so I went and looked it over. I joined and started working out every day. When I started, I had a brace on my foot and it was dragging. I could only make it a quarter of the way around the track on my walker.

Then I joined the Silver Sneakers fitness program for senior citizens and attended that three days a week. The other days I would walk the track and work on the machines in the gym. As I improved after about four months, I went back to my neurologist expecting him to be as pleased as I was. He said, “You know you are going to relapse.” I replied, “Well, maybe I will, but let me enjoy this while I can.” I didn’t think that was much of a comment. I no longer see him. [Laugh]

I gradually improved, going from two canes to one cane to walking. I saw the other people running around the indoor track and thought “I’d sure love to be able to do that.” So one day, when there weren’t too many people in the gym watching, I picked up my cane and started running. I’ve been running ever since.

I later joined the State of Franklin Track Club. I’ve been racing most weekends for a good while now.

Well, exercise is one thing, but how did you make that big step to become a competitive runner?

That was not my idea. Barbara Bogart, a woman who does swimming, cycling and triathlons, came to me after class one day and said “You should be in the Tennessee Senior Olympics.” I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve never been athletic and have been disabled all these years.” She said “Try it, you’ll enjoy it.” She was absolutely right. This is one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Did you qualify your first time at the Tennessee games? When was your first National Senior Games?

I did. And I took home some medals, which surprised me to no end. Some of my friends were going to compete in the Houston games in 2011 and it sounded like a lot of fun. We had gone together to the state games and I made so many friends. They encouraged me to go, so I did. I’ve won several ribbons at Nationals, but my one and only national medal so far came in Houston. That same year I ran my first half marathon.

Wait, a half marathon? Amazing. So, how many medals do you now have after eight years of competition?

Oh, I don’t know. I guess including the races, with trophies and medals, it must be close to 300.

You must feel thankful you can even run, but has your new athletic passion given you medal fever?

Well, I love to win the medals, but I also love to participate and push myself to see what I can do now at age 80. If anybody had told me 10 years ago I would be doing all the things I’m doing now I would have told them they were crazy. What the medals mean to me is how far I’ve come since 2008.

I have such a busy life overall these days. I was really shocked last December when I went to the Lifestyle Center and they offered me a job. It’s a part time position helping to promote their Silver Sneakers program and walking club. I never thought that would happen at my age.

I also do a lot of volunteer work. I cook and feed a lot of people in the building where I live. These are apartments for the elderly and disabled. I’ve lived in this facility for almost 23 years now. A lot of my friends are now in nursing homes so I try to visit them on a regular basis.

For you to now be active and ambulatory, doing that must feel like you are paying it forward.

Absolutely! People were so good to me through all the years I was disabled. They visited, and sent cards, and kept in touch during the times I couldn’t get out. That meant a lot to me, so I try to do the same for others.

Back to your incredible triumph over MS, have you been in remission all this time since you shed the walker?

There have been a few setbacks. In fact, I had a little setback the year I went to Houston and came back and did the half marathon. I didn’t give my body a chance to recover. I had to step up medication and rest to get back on track. And I have had a couple of smaller setbacks along the way, but nothing major. I‘m on the very minimum medication and only step it up when the little setbacks happen.

Do you believe your athletic pursuits are helping keep it at bay?

Oh, I think so. After the first year I improved, my doctor told me “Whatever you’re doing, keep it up.” I asked him what research has been done about the effects of exercise on MS, and he said “Oh, we’ve always known it helps.” I thought, “Well man, why didn’t you tell me this years ago?” I will say my orthopedist is very different. He has been very supportive of all of my activities.

To say you are an inspiration is an understatement. Has anyone else inspired you?

Not one individual. But I get a lot from the friends that I’ve made going to these events, seeing the same people from year to year. That’s the best part of the whole thing. It’s like old home week every time you go back and renew your friendships.

There is this one athlete at the Tennessee Senior Olympics that I follow. This little man walks around with a crooked body. He can barely walk, but he finishes his race and falls into arms of the people at the finish line. There’s another man, I think he’s like 90 years old, who does a 5K with his walker.

Della Works told us about you in the interview for her 2014 Personal Best profile. You compete against each other, but she is so inspired by you. Della is funny. She beats me in every race, but last summer I stayed right behind her in one of them, and just before the end I passed her and finished ahead in the race. She wasn’t used to that. She was flabbergasted! [Laugh]

Well, are you still friends?

What events do you compete in?

I do all of the track races except the race walk. At district and state games I do field events too. However, I needed to have my knees replaced three years ago. Before that, I did all the jumps. Since then, it’s just been long jump and triple jump. Last summer at Nationals I just did the javelin.

But you keep going! You won’t have to travel far from where you live to get to the 2017 Games in Birmingham.

Well, this year it’s a little different when I go to the state games. I had an auto accident-not my fault-and broke one of my knee implants last December. I had to go back to using the walker, and I was very disappointed when I thought I might not get to go to the state games this year. But my doctor is working with me on it. I’m postponing surgery to repair the bad knee until July, and before I go compete he is going to give me a double strength injection in my knee so I can at least do as best as I can to qualify for the Nationals in some events. After the surgery, I should have time to get back in shape for Birmingham.

It must be so gratifying to look back and see how you’ve climbed out of this dark place and can enjoy a new life. God has been mighty good to me.

What role has faith played in your process? Everything! If I were not a Christian, I probably would have given up years ago. There’s no doubt about it.

What advice can you offer people to avoid the problems a sedentary life brings?

In most cases, everybody can do something to stay active. It may not be running and jumping, but just get out and walk around your building or up and down your hall. In my building I see people sitting and staring out the window all day. I don’t know how they can stand it, and I try to encourage people to do something. Whatever I can do to help others, I’ll do it.

I’ve often said if I can influence one person to get out and do something it will all be worth it. We have a man here who is in his 30s and is a paraplegic. He was a doctor in the military. He knows I do the Senior Olympics and he stopped me yesterday and said, “You know, you have encouraged me to get out and try Paralympics. I’ve started exercising more and have talked to someone about doing it.”

I’ve been so blessed for the past few years.

A Personal Best Life – Tom Lough, 73, Round Rock, Texas

Tom Lough is, by his own estimation, a man who does not possess special skills or talents, athletic or otherwise. How, then, does he explain a life of accomplishments that includes competing in Modern Pentathlon at age 26 in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City?

Add to this graduating from West Point with a degree in engineering, then ascending to the rank of Major and a distinguished 10-year Army career. As you will read in our conversation, Tom would never have had the Olympic opportunity without his military service. (You will also discover how his growling stomach played a motivating role.)

Military was followed with master’s degrees in geodetic science, physics, and finance, capped with a Ph.D. in educational psychology. Tom applied his learning to pursue an education career that began as a high school science and math teacher and ended with a 17-year tenure as a science education professor at Murray State University in Kentucky. Along the way, Tom has had diverse consulting assignments, including Lego Robotics and conducting science teaching workshops for high school and middle school teachers in developing countries. Approaching his 74th birthday, he has no plans to stop pursuing challenging and rewarding work. ` While he and his team narrowly missed earning a medal in Mexico City, Tom was recognized in the Olympic Movement for serving as national director for the Bicentennial Olympic Project in 1976. He was later inspired to reassemble his 1968 team and has organized alumni reunion events. He was also instrumental in establishing the 1968 U.S. Olympic Team Oral History Project and Legacy Archive at the University of Texas that now houses scores of fascinating teammate interviews.

Tom is most proud to have a successful marriage and family life, and has kept active through midlife, notably with running and race walk events. When he learned of National Senior Games, Tom found a pathway to fitness, fun and fellowship in a competitive atmosphere. He has run 800 and 1500 meter track events in The Games since 2007.

Sounds like a storybook life, right?

Truth is, it did not all come easy to Tom. His Olympic dream was almost shattered by a severe injury during training that hospitalized him for weeks prior to the 1968 trials. Shortly after competing, he was shipped off to Vietnam as a company commander in a combat engineer battalion with the 101st Airborne Division, where he was shot down in a Huey helicopter over Hamburger Hill in 1969. He miraculously survived and led a team of combat engineers to clear a critical landing zone, earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. In typical fashion, Tom shrugs off the recognition and says he has Olympic teammates with more heroic stories.

The bottom line is that Tom possesses a spirit of determination, bolstered by a deep faith base, that drives him to get the most out of everything he does. “He has a standard,” says Dr. Robert Beck, a 1968 teammate. “Tom is going to give you his max. There’s gonna be nothing less. Whatever he does is going to be the best that he can possibly do.”

Tom Lough (pronounced “low”) perseveres through physical, emotional and mental challenges to obtain goals he continuously sets for himself. He is proof that anyone can achieve more than imagined and enjoy healthy aging, regardless of the talent or ability one might have. He is the quintessential example of our definition of Personal Best.

Tom, your resume of military service, athletics, education and professional pursuits clearly demonstrates you have always strived for excellence in everything you have done.

I don’t look at myself as gifted in any particular thing. I guess I discovered some talents where maybe I’m above average, so the combination of them has kept life interesting for me. That’s probably why I enjoyed Modern Pentathlon competition so much. I didn’t have to be a champion swimmer or runner in order to succeed in the combined events.

Yours is not the usual story of a young athlete being discovered and devoting many years to training.

In high school I was pretty good in the half mile run. I broke the school record in my junior year, but that was the only athletic thing I did of any interest.

When I got to West Point, I tried out for a lot of different teams. The motivation was really to get onto the sports tables in the dining hall. The plebes on the regular company tables had a rough time and didn’t get to eat much. The rationale was that if you were on a sports squad you need to eat well to be a good competitor and representative of West Point.

So in a real way, your road to the Olympics literally went through your stomach!

[Laughs] Yeah, well the plebes were all desperate to get on the athletic tables, that’s for sure! [Laughs again] So I ended up on the triathlon club, and that got me on a team training table in the dining hall. I had no competitive swimming background, and had to learn pistol shooting. The triathlon at that time was running, swimming and shooting.

In my junior year they restarted a fencing program that had not been held in 20 years. I was lucky to be able to join the club and represented West Point in NCAA events. I didn’t get any horse riding in until later.

Olympic Modern Pentathlon includes horseback riding, fencing, pistol shooting, swimming, and cross country running. Had you dreamed of competing in the sport?

I didn’t know anything about the Modern Pentathlon until I joined the triathlon club and saw a pamphlet. If you go back to the heritage of the event, in the early 1900’s, Baron de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, decided that there should be an event that would appeal to the military athlete. So, I was already doing three of the sports, and the pamphlet said if you learned the other two and showed potential you might make it to the Olympic trials.

By the time I finished at West Point I had won a couple of triathlons and had done pretty well in a couple of pentathlon competitions that I managed to find, including one at an Olympic development clinic, which I won. I was named the 1962 national novice champion. That was encouraging, and seemed to indicate I might have some potential.

Leading up to graduation and military assignments, somebody decided to send me to the national training center in San Antonio for a few months for the coaches to look me over, and then they would set up the course for my Army career in the Corps of Engineers.

I was told I needed to accelerate my troop experience if I wanted to train for two years for the Olympic trials. So I had an assignment to Korea and went to airborne and ranger schools beforehand, which was real fun. I got back and made the Olympic team. I competed in Mexico City in October of 1968, and on November 16th I was on an airplane to Vietnam.

Wow. Just that fast.

That was the other half of the bargain, to get troop duty in a combat situation. I was a professional soldier, and they were willing to move things around so I could get my training time and to compete, but I had to fulfill my Army duties and complete two hardship tours, as they were called.

Well, thank you for your service, Tom. That must have made your Olympic experience even more special.

It almost didn’t happen. I had a rather serious injury with a severely pulled leg muscle in training. I was in traction for three weeks in the hospital. I was pretty discouraged because the Olympic trials were coming up. But then I was rejuvenated by what I guess I could call a spiritual awakening. I told myself to get up off my butt and stop feeling sorry for myself, and to try to figure out how I could stay in shape during my hospital stay.

My teammates brought me a golf ball on a string and my fencing sword so I could hang the golf ball from my traction frame and practice picking at it. I used a weight out of my traction bag to practice raising and lowering my pistol. The nurse rigged up a pulley system over my head so I could practice swimming. I took my crutch apart and wrapped it in some elastic bandages and squeezed it between my knees and ankles and sort of did imaginary rides over the jumps. I did sit-ups, everything I could. By doing all that I didn’t deteriorate all that much. In the same ward with me were wounded men from Viet Nam who cheered me on, you know, “Go get ’em guy!” I really got inspired from them.

It was really a very emotional time for me. I can still remember the feeling that I was being led by an invisible hand, because everything I did was really solid. No one was more surprised than I was to come in at a second place finish in the trials.

I had been selected for a team that went down to Mexico City in 1967 for a run-through of the venues and to give officials and judges practice in the competition setting. They called it “The Little Olympics” and we actually did win a team bronze medal that year. In the Olympics, we just missed third place by nine points out of 13,000 I think. That’s close. But it was a great experience, and I appreciated the opportunity to represent the United States and to be in the company of all those unbelievably talented teammates.

As someone who was not a career athlete, you must have been awestruck by this experience.

I remember flying down to Mexico City on the plane with people I read about in Sports Illustrated magazine. There’s Jim Ryun. My gosh, that’s Dick Fosbury. And here I am with them, this little guy from Shenandoah Valley. It was just unbelievable.

But you are the guy responsible for keeping the 1968 team connected, right?

That didn’t happen until a few years ago. In 2007, I had an opportunity to go to Mexico City on a business trip. There was some free time on the weekend, so I went out to the university and sat for a few minutes in the same stadium where we had the Opening Ceremony. In my head, I followed where we walked through the tunnel and where we stood. It was in those moments I realized how much I missed my teammates. [Emotional chuckle] When I came back home I called around, and others said, “Yeah, let’s see who we can find!”

We got volunteers from all the sports and eventually found everybody. It was good timing, because everyone was at the age of retiring and wanted to look back and reflect on what we had done. So we’ve had a couple of reunions, and are now aiming for our 50th anniversary reunion in 2018. That will probably be our last big event and then we’ll be gone. [Laughs]

Well, you’re not gone yet, not by a long stretch. We’re proud to have you participating in the National Senior Games.

I’ve tried to stay reasonably active. After the Olympics and Viet Nam I had some schooling and went to Germany with the Army and continued fencing. I also did some orienteering. I came back and took a job as a high school science teacher and volunteered to help the track team after school. I started experimenting with race walking and ended up getting my second national title in an AAU competition where people could walk wherever they trained and were witnessed by a certified track coach. I walked almost eight miles in one hour. I thought that was pretty surprising. Then I qualified for the national championships in the 20K race walk in 1978 and finished ninth.

That was when I was starting on a physics graduate program and had academic issues to deal with, so I had to drop out of race walking. After that, it was a series of different jobs so I just enjoyed jogging and staying in shape. I competed in local runs.

Then, in 2007 I noticed that the National Senior Games were coming to Louisville, Kentucky when I was living in Murray on the west side of the state. There was a 1500 meter race, so I started training again to do that. It was just astounding to me to be in the presence of so many older but highly motivated and enthusiastic people. It was wonderful to be surrounded by “good vibrations” from positive thinkers.

I realized continuing with this was going to help me stay in good physical shape, to control my weight and keep my doctors happy. Also, it would give me a reason to travel around a bit. From that point forward I have enjoyed participating in Senior Games at the state and national level. It’s giving me an edge on my health and wellness over the long haul.

How do you compare the difference in your mindset between the Olympics and your Senior Games participation?

There’s a tremendous emphasis on winning in the Olympics, even though the creed says it isn’t the most important thing. It says it’s not the triumph but the struggle, and to have fought well. I subscribe to that. But now, at my age, I don’t go out thinking about my competitors. I don’t dream at night about edging somebody out at the finish line. I look to challenge myself and improve on my personal best every time I run and compete.

I hope people don’t have the false impression like, “Ohmygosh, there’s an Olympian on the track” and go home. No, it’s not that at all. [Laughs] We all have our problems and pains. Whether they come in first or last in the race they are all heroes. They’ve all stuck with it, worked hard to get there and go the distance. They are all doing their personal best. That’s the name of the game at this stage. I actually look to the others for motivation and inspiration.

The other senior athletes might be surprised that an Olympian is inspired by them.

Oh yes. I meet a lot of people in my day-to-day work and other activities. I encounter all kinds of attitudes and mindsets. It’s just a joy and a privilege to be in the midst of so many wonderful people with such optimistic and enthusiastic attitudes. When you get out on the track, it’s everyone for himself. But no one is trying to play psyche out games or cut corners. Everyone helps each other to get there. Athletes are just helping each other all over the place. It’s a fabulous experience.

What do you tell people in situations where you can give advice to other aging folks about how to get going?

You need medium range and long term goals. All anybody needs is some sort of goal or motivation to work towards and to measure incremental progress. When I look back to the time of my Olympic training, I would tell myself every morning if I don’t go to my workouts I won’t make progress towards being ready for the trials. Any of my coaches back in 1966 would have described me as an unremarkable athlete and an average person. But I was faithful to the practice schedule and made little improvements in one way or another. I’m a big believer in the power of incremental progress.

For people our age, you can expect a tailing off of ability and endurance. I know my times in the 800 and 1500 have gone downhill as I grow older. [Chuckles] But I can still push against that and try to do my best each time and measure my personal best over a span of time.

The Senior Games has enough to offer in so many sport activities that it can give someone the motivation to get up and do something two or three times a week over a two-year period, to make progress and maybe qualify at the state level. Of course, I understand not everybody is going to want to do Senior Games, but everyone can do something to be more active and improve their health.

It’s also helps to put a team of support people together. It starts with family, of course, and it’s very important to consult your healthcare professionals–your primary care doctor and any specialists such as orthopedics for example. For those who are spiritually active like me, it’s important to enlist the prayer support of people you worship with. Map it out, and don’t think you need to burn it up the first day, or even the first year. Just make that consistent, regular effort and aim for that incremental progress. With every day you improve, you’ll be pushing out your personal best.

Many think it’s too late to take on a sport or fitness challenge. What would you say to them to believe they can?

Be always curious and don’t abandon your childish nature from earlier years. Just look around, ask questions, and be willing and eager to learn. I believe that just moving more since I became active in the Senior Games has improved and maintained the quality of life for me.

The Sense of Success – Marika Vorosmarty-Blumerick, 71 Shelby Township, Michigan

While all Senior Games athletes strive to perform at their best, the reasons vary as to what motivates them. Some still have the burning desire to win and earn medals, while others seek to maintain health and vitality, to set goals, to measure and compete against themselves over time, or simply to enjoy participating in sport and the camaraderie found in The Games. In truth, the motivation is usually a combination of these and other factors.

Marika Vorosmarty-Blumerick’s motivations are remarkable because she approaches her game as a Deaf athlete competing in a hearing world.

In 1945, when she was 11 months old, Marika’s family sought to escape from the unrest in their home country of Hungary. A bomb exploded on a nearby bridge while the family was traveling on a ferry. The explosion deafened the infant. She was also subsequently diagnosed as “shell-shocked” from the experience. Doctors were able to cure the ailment through electroshock therapy, but her hearing remained lost.

Eventually, her family moved to Michigan through a church relocation service and the International Refugee Organization. Marika went to Michigan School for the Deaf (MSD) in Flint and learned American Sign Language. She found her community, and it was there she discovered how much she enjoyed and excelled at all kinds of sports with her peers. But communication barriers have been a constant in many aspects of her life, including sports. When she began competing outside of her own school, she was left at the starting line in a track race wondering how everyone else knew to begin- the start signal was a gunshot. Later, at Michigan State University, she won a match in a fencing tournament where she was the only female in the competition. A male competitor, angry about losing to a Deaf woman, intentionally poked her in the chest with his foil.

The embarrassing incident almost caused her to quit sports, but Marika used it as motivation to grow instead. She has fought to silence those who said she wasn’t qualified or able in every aspect of her life. Sports at her school gave her a platform to succeed early, but she stepped off the field to focus on the priorities of career and raising three children until she could get back in the game later in her life. Professional credits are many, including being the first certified Deaf substance abuse counselor in the State of Michigan, a practice she held for over two decades; serving as a gubernatorial appointee to both the Michigan Board of Mental Health and the Division on Deafness; holding many past and present board positions in organizations of and for Deaf people, and she continues to be an American Sign Language instructor at Macomb Community College. She has also been an active volunteer with various charities, and has been a valued ambassador for Michigan Senior Olympics, which inducted her into their Hall of Fame in 2015.

In 1997, Marika won her first medal as a senior athlete. She set a goal to win 100 medals, not out of pure desire for the awards, but to make and fulfill a promise to her parents to honor them for their unfailing encouragement and inspiration to overcome any challenge in life. Once the goal was achieved at age 65, she immediately set a new goal to win 200. She has enjoyed a variety of sports, choosing to qualify and compete in Track and Field and Pickleball in recent National Senior Games appearances. She’s a fierce competitor, but the satisfaction comes from validating her inner sense of self-worth, and to demonstrate by her own example that anyone can succeed over obstacles and barriers in life if they put their mind to it.

Marika Vorosmarty-Blumerick has been an achiever for her entire life despite the challenges. To her thinking, she has been given much and feels it is imperative to give back and enjoy the gift of life with a smile. To our thinking, she has transformed the lack of a sense of hearing into a sense for success in life. That much is loud and clear.

Tell us what it was like to grow up as a Deaf person, Marika.

I actually became deaf at the age of 11 months. My father was the chief economic advisor for the prime minister of Hungary during World War II. After fighting on the Russian front, and later refusing to cooperate with the German military, he knew we must flee the country to provide a better life for me and for my sisters. He knew that if we were captured, we would be killed by the Germans or by the Russians. But during the escape, I was exposed to a bomb blast that landed near a bridge and the ferry my family was on.

When the bomb went off, there were two siblings with me. They were fine, but because of my delicate infant ears I became deaf. My mother took me to many different doctors. They all told her there was no help for me. Then she found another doctor who said he might be able to help through electroshock treatment. It cured me from being shell-shocked, but I was still deaf.

At the age of six, I came to America where English was spoken. My parents spoke Hungarian, so communication was difficult for me. As a Deaf child I was taught American Sign Language. I developed an ability to speak even though I couldn’t hear the language. There is strong language acquisition ability in my family, and I also had that gift. Speech therapy in school really improved my skills. The Michigan School for the Deaf gave me a strong deaf identity, a beautiful language, and access to a critical education. The value of this experience shaped my life.

Marika (#53) with Michigan School for the Deaf basketball team.

Also, I was fortunate to have parents who refused to see me as a poor little Deaf child. They treated me like my sisters and had high expectations of me. Since they refused to let my deafness be an obstacle, I too refused to ever let it define who I was or what I could do. To this day, even though I face discrimination, I will not let it deter me. I have always been a strong advocate at the forefront of the Deaf community, as a teacher and mentor.

I found an outlet and a way of expressing myself. While I always enjoyed playing games, I immersed myself in sports and enjoying a competitive challenge. Throughout my teen-age years, high school, college and after, I received various medals in karate, fencing, javelin and other sports.

What was the first sport you played competitively?

When I was 14, I fell in love with Zorro on TV. I was absolutely enamored and wanted to marry him when I grew up. [Laugh] So I took up fencing, and found I was good at it. Later on, I found out the actor who played Zorro really couldn’t fence to save his life, and besides, he was already dead. {Laugh]

But back to fencing and sports. There were a lot of challenges. It was very difficult, but when I was at the Deaf school with people who knew me, it was a lot of fun. But when we went out, the hearing people didn’t understand our needs. When I fenced, I didn’t know when touches were occurring or not. But then they started using lights on the foil, so it would light up when you had a proper touch. It really leveled the playing field for me. There didn’t seem to be any more favoritism.

I found other challenges too. At Michigan State University, fencing was an all-male sport. One man lost to me and he became really angry. It was because I was young and a woman. I turned to walk away after the match, and he came right at me, stabbing me right in the chest with such force it broke his foil. It threw me completely backward. It scared me so badly I decided I didn’t want to play sports any more.

On second thought, I decided to later keep going because I’m not a quitter. But it was one of my life’s most scary experiences.

As a young Deaf woman you faced multiple forms of bias and embarrassment in a public setting, no less. But you didn’t let it stop you.

My parents always told me, “You can do anything you decide you want. But you have to fight for your rights.” In my spare time, I travel abroad and have visited over 40 foreign countries. When I travel, I see women treated as second class citizens, or even third class. I think, “Oh no, you are not going to put me there. I refuse to play second fiddle.” I’m going to stand right out front and be involved.

You currently compete at National Senior Games in track and field events, plus you have caught the pickleball wave in recent years.
I do enjoy pickleball, but track and field is still my absolute favorite. I think it’s because of the independence of the sport.

So, your mindset is to compete against yourself more than against others?

Basically, yes. I want to improve my own scores and go for my own goals. Having the other competitors there is part of the overall challenge, which is totally enjoyable. But I do mostly compete against myself. If I screw up, I screw up! If I play with a partner and screw up, then both people are affected. That’s why I like the independence in track and field.

How do you overcome not being able to hear what’s going on around you on the field of play – for example, when you have doubles play with partner?

Right now, I have a partner from Belgium. It’s hard for me to lip-read her because of her accent, so we do a lot of miming! We figure out a way to make it work. There’s also a gentleman I play with, and it’s hard to lip-read him too. At best, only about 15 percent of English speaking can be read. It’s tough enough, but you know, I just pay attention and we get it done.

If there’s a schedule change, or an announcement is made, letting me know what’s going on is the kind of assistance I need. When I compete now with hearing people, they have been nice to me generally. The more people get to know me, the more help I’ve been getting. Sometimes, I do have an interpreter with me or someone to help at events.

I will tell you, when we play pickleball now, a lot of people will hold up their hands to show me the score. Part of that is because there are other older people who are hard of hearing there, and they enjoy having the visual score too. It’s been a positive thing for me to play with older people because they understand where I’m coming from.

Seems like sports have been central in your life since you were young.

Actually, there was a time when I did stop playing sports after my schooling. That was when I was really focused on my family and involved with my kids growing up. I wanted my kids to know who their mother was. Wherever they went, so did I. I taught them to play sports, but my personal interest was not as important. But after they were raised and gone, I went back to sports and have been involved ever since. And they absolutely support me in it now.

Sadly, many people don’t go back to a favorite sport or try a new one in midlife; they decide it’s over for them.

You and other senior athletes refute that notion. I think it’s just so important for people to keep themselves physically fit, to have good muscle tone, strong bones. Being active keeps yourself healthy. I’m very aware of health concerns and I want to remain active and healthy.

You are still so enthusiastic about your athletics. How do sports and doing Senior Games feed your soul? I like all the different competitions I do with all age groups.

It doesn’t matter if they are younger than me or if they are faster with better muscles. I like the competition tough. I’m not saying the seniors don’t give me a challenge, but I don’t mind competing against a younger person. I want to play. I’m always active, crazy, on the go. That’s just my personality.

I am open to losing and being a good sport because it reminds my inner child that there is always room for improvement. To congratulate a challenger who has bested you with a smile is not easy for some to do, but for me, I smile inside because they deserve the accolades.

Some people compete in various sports or games because they have an inner burning to defeat their opponents or challengers; it is what drives them. I have, however, always felt a love for the challenge itself, to better myself emotionally and physically. I want to show everyone how teamwork can bring you joy, or selfishness can bring you defeat.

The really nice effect of continuing with these various sports and activities was the support from my family. My husband and children keep telling me to go for it and keep trying. How strange it is to see your children sign to you that they are proud of you and supported you through all your struggles and challenges! Inside, it feels good and often I wonder, who is the parent now? My inner soul is smiling.

You inspire others, to be sure. What has inspired and motivated you-a person in your life, a book or a favorite expression for example?

For myself, it’s been my mother. She has been the motivating force in my life. She’s always told me I can do anything. It didn’t matter the frustrations I encountered. She kept me there, saying I can do it, and I found I could.

Several years ago, I set a goal for myself to reach 100 medals in total, and promised both my father and mother that I would strive for that goal. I’ve raised my goal to get 200 medals since I reached 100 when I was 65. I have a little over 150 now, so I have a long way to go. It’s important that I set goals to keep myself motivated to work towards them.

She instilled so much confidence in you. In a way, you are bringing her spirit forward to encourage others that they can do it too.

Oh yeah, I’m always quite supportive of others. They say, “I can’t” or “I have a problem,” and I tell them, “Yes you can!” Now, to say I do it like my mom, I’m not so sure! She was a very ladylike woman from a noble family and definitely not the sports active type. Her encouragement came in a ladylike fashion, and I took it into the sports realm.

I try to teach my Deaf peers to grow, to play sports and feel good about themselves. I’m always trying to teach them by example to be involved. They tell me it’s difficult because of the communication barriers, but I encourage them all the same.

Last year you were inducted into the Michigan Senior Olympics Hall of Fame. What does that mean for you?

It feels awesome, what can I say? We have some Deaf players, but never had one in the hall of fame. When they told me I would be in it, I thought “Wow, this is great!” I immediately called my mom and let her know this great thing was happening for me.

The Michigan Senior Olympics community has been very wonderful to me and I appreciate that. All of us older people truly can come together, because we don’t have all the hangups of youth. I don’t feel that judgment like I did as a Deaf child anymore amongst my sport family. To be not only nominated, but inducted, into the Hall of Fame will hopefully inspire some other little child out there who needs some inspiration.

I am so happy that the little child inside me still has that flame which burns with a competitive edge; it keeps my soul young and happy.