By Del Moon, NSGA PR Specialist

Dr. Vincent Pearson, 60
Owings Mills, Maryland

Dr. Vincent Pearson has a long list of accomplishments and passions, highlighted by a busy career as a pharmacist and a solid family life. The successful bowler has won amateur events, earned Senior Games medals, bowled on a PBA regional tour and coached. Along the way, he also became a tournament chess player, runner and licensed pilot.

With so many achievements, it may surprise you that Vincent has battled Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a form of depression, since he was young. In the following edited conversation, he describes his life as a roller coaster each year, with thoughts of emptiness and desiring to be left alone coming in the fall and winter, then receding as spring advances. The cause of SAD is unknown, and treatment was not available when Vincent was growing up in the ’70s.

How did Vincent work through this potentially debilitating disorder? Read on to find out, but his bottom line was the voice in his mind that told him to take a step to do something. As a youth, he buried himself in solitary hobbies like model building to keep the dark thoughts at bay. As an adult, family and faith play a significant role in his support, and his hobbies and sports keep him moving forward.

Vincent happily reports that after a rough patch following the pandemic in 2022, he found the right combination of therapy and medication and feels the best he has in his life. Bowling remains a constant, and he looks forward to more PBA and Senior Games competitions. Vincent now enjoys social interaction and has found the lanes he can roll with to continue to live a fulfilling life.

That voice inside Vincent that said, ‘Do something,’ gave him the spark to persevere through challenges. This attitude signifies a Personal Best journey through life. His positive outlook and forward thinking will surely translate into the best years of his life. Listen to your voice, and keep moving!

We have a lot to unpack with as many things as you have done so far in your life. You just earned a medal at your first National Senior Games in Pittsburgh last year, so let’s start with your bowling history.

Photo courtesy Maryland Senior Olympics

I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version. My first encounter on a bowling alley was at nine years old with my cousin and my brother. I was fascinated by the game and took it up at an intramural level in high school. I didn’t make the cut for the high school team, but still liked it.

I didn’t take it seriously as a competitive sport until after I got married. My wife also bowled, and we did doubles leagues for the first few years. It wasn’t until after our son was born in 1997 that we really got into it. Our daycare provider needed a couple to join her triples league team at the local bowling alley. So we said okay, we’ll give it a try. And it turns out people started saying, ‘Hey, you know what? This couple is pretty good. Especially Vince here.’

Long story short, I have done 25 years of elite league and amateur bowling and joined the PBA in April of 2020. I bowled on the Eastern Regional Tour for about a year and a half. I have won four titles on the amateur circuit, nine state senior Olympic medals and a National Senior Games medal. Oh yes, and two perfect games, although only one is sanctioned. The second one was at a holiday party. But it sold the concept to my wife and son that when you guys come to watch me bowl, good things happen.

However, I took some time away to get my own mental health squared away. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. You can’t separate the body from the mind. If the mind is a mess the body is going to follow suit.

Are you dealing with mental health issues?
I have dealt with seasonal depression since childhood, and I waited for the spring and summer to come around to pull out of it. It was like a roller coaster. When school started, the depression would start and go deeper until it hit bottom around Christmas time. Then as it went towards springtime, the days get longer, and things just started to click again.

People were always asking me, ‘Vincent – you are doing so well here. What happened over here?’ I would never have a good explanation. How do you describe wanting to disappear from the rest of the world? How do explain you feel like you don’t exist and that you just want to be left alone?

I would be perfectly content sitting in the corner, by myself in the dark with a little light from the door crack. I felt like my spirit had a hole punched in it and my essence was flowing out the hole like water through a drain. I knew it was a bad thing, but I didn’t have the gumption to try to stop it.

Wow, this is an unusual turn. Where do you think this depression came from?
Oh, who knows? People are spending their entire careers trying to answer that very question. Back in the ‘70s children that had psychiatric disorders were not treated as they are now. Many of those children were usually kept at home or put into institutions. Nobody thought to ask, ‘Is this child really undergoing a psychiatric disorder?’ I mean, people didn’t think that way.

My condition is now called Seasonal Affective Disorder, but it was not made a defined diagnosis until about three years ago!

You sound like you’ve found some solutions and are moving forward. Is that how you feel?
That’s exactly right. It’s been a combination of things. I see my therapist about every six to eight weeks, I take light treatments, and I’m on prescription medication.

My depression was turning malignant around 2022 as we were coming out of the pandemic. When I was bowling on tour my nerves would get tied up in knots whenever I would go into a place I had never bowled before. And more often than not, I was there by myself, and my nerves would go completely haywire. I realized I gotta do something about this.

It’s taken quite a while and some experimentation with various things. Now, after going to therapy and being put on medication I’m probably mentally as best as I’ve ever been. I’m hoping to go back on the PBA regional tour this summer.

People with depression often struggle in their careers and relationships. How did you overcome your seasonal experience to go to school, become a pharmacist and pursue all these other hobbies?

Vincent with his wife, Crystall, and son, Terry.

I just had to get my mind to tell me to take the first step. I have three answers that will point you in the right direction. The first is for the patient to ask him or herself, ‘Do I want to get well?’ I knew I was in a bad spot, and it was getting worse, so I answered that question yes. You have to make the conscious decision in your mind.

The second thought is to recall the story of Jesus at the pool at Bethesda. He speaks to the man who’s been laying at the poolside for 38 years, waiting for somebody to put him in the water. Jesus said to this man, ‘Do you want to get well?’ and he says yes. Jesus replies, ‘Rise up, pick up your bed and walk.’ If you want to get well, you’re going to have to do something. The remedy is not going to fall out of the sky into your lap, you have to go and get it.

Now my next thought goes to the old saying the devil makes work for idle hands. If that’s the case, he’s not going to find them here. I said to myself, ‘I’m going to keep myself busy doing stuff, even if it’s puttering around the house, doing house chores, doing the laundry, vacuuming the stairs, cooking dinner, filling the bird feeder, stuff like that. If I stay busy, then I have no time to sit around and mope.’

Allow me to offer another point: If Jesus died on the cross for us to have an abundant life then by Jove, I’m going to have some of this life and have some fun. I’m going to be as big as bold and as loud as I know how to be!

That’s how you get out of that shell and realize that, hey, there are people out there who actually want to see you succeed. I said, ‘Okay, this works. I can work with this.’

When did you come to that recognition?
It was actually about 15 -20 years ago when I started my own journey into different therapies. I tried a course of St. John’s Wort, and it was as if a veil had been lifted off of my head. I said, ‘Wow, so this is what the world actually looks like.’

We’re happy you are part of the Senior Games family now. Let’s look back to how you got there. Did you do organized sports in your school years?
Oh, no, I did not. I was strictly lab test tube, notepad and calculator going through school.

Did you want to be a physician?
I knew that I was going to go into the health sciences, but medical school would have been for my father, not for me. He was an Army medic and wanted to go to medical school and he wanted me to become a physician.

I was interested in becoming a pharmacist when I learned that drugs are chemical compounds that can be synthetic and can be from natural sources. They also have an effect on what the body does and how it does it. Once I learned that I was sold right then and there on what I wanted to do.

And you persevered through the work and your seasonal depression to do it. What was next?
I met my wife, Crystall, in pharmacy school. We were in the same class in the fall of 1984. The sad truth is that they found lumps in her breast in my second year and she had to drop out. We continued to date while I was earning my doctorate, got engaged midway through my residency and married after I finished in 1990.

Did you have any hobbies while you were coming up?
I love chess and played at the tournament level since high school. I got into organizing events in the mid to late ‘90s. At one time I was “Mr. Chess” in the state of Maryland. I was president of the State Association and ran a club that met every Tuesday during the school year for tournaments, plus during the summer.

You certainly put everything into what you do. We hear you got a pilot’s license in recent years?
It came about at this time when I was a chess player and organizer. One night, when I came home from directing a tournament, my wife met me at the door with a look on her face that said, ‘We’re having an argument and you’re not winning.’ [Laugh]

Our son, Terry, at the time was only a toddler. Crystall had taken it upon herself to take care of him and not seek help from other people, even though my parents would have gladly come down and spent time with him so that we could have a break. You need to take time for yourself, especially if you’re new parents. Her bottom line was for me to get a new hobby that didn’t take so much of my time. So, I retired from playing and organizing right then and there.

Preparing for a night flight.

I prayed to the Lord that I had no problem giving up chess in order to help my family, but my identity had been wrapped up in chess since high school. I needed something else.

At that very moment, on comes a commercial on the TV for BeAPilot.com saying your first lesson is $49. Epiphany moment! I’m gonna learn how to fly. Financially, it was a big mistake because it nearly drove the family to bankruptcy. But, but the ability to get up and go pretty much at your leisure is a huge thing to have. You don’t have to go through security line at the big airport, deal with, the airline schedule or pay the fees for the bags.

So now tell me about Dr. Vincent Pearson the runner. How long have you been running?
Seven years. I was big into bodybuilding and hit the weight machines and free weights several days a week. My wife said I was building up a lot of muscles but didn’t have any stamina anymore. Running made sense so I put the Couch to 10K app on my phone in 2017 and have not looked back.

You have done some Senior Games races at the state level, but it’s mostly for exercise and fitness?
That’s correct. I joined a social running group in Baltimore called RunnersRun, and we are entered into a team challenge with all the other running groups in Baltimore City.

Is retirement in your near future?
I’m a pharmacist, I have worked retail, both the chains and independents. I’ve worked hospitals. I’ve taught. I’ve done research. I’ve worked for the state associations. This year will mark 38 years that I’ve been a licensed pharmacist, and quite frankly, I really don’t see myself doing anything else. I joined Ascension St. Agnes hospital back in January and it will probably be my final chapter as a full-time pharmacist.

Then it’s just more time for all this fun stuff.
Yep, that’s right. As long as I can get this house paid for and my son’s student loans taken care of, I think I can safely fly off into the sunset. [Laugh]

Well now, flying off into the sunset includes continuing to let bowling balls fly. You bowl at PBA Tour level where you have a higher level of competition. What benefits does Senior Games offer to you?
I want to play with them for two reasons. Number one, you want to bowl! The mere fact that you are as good as you are means that you spend a lot of time getting to that level. So you want to bowl and the Senior Games gives you an opportunity to bowl.

Number two is the people and the atmosphere. There’s not a lot of smack talking at the Senior Games. Now, talking smack may get a lot of people fired up at the tournament clubs and on the tour. But at Senior Games it is actually somewhat frowned upon. You are here to try to win, but at the same time you’re making friends and enjoying life.

Welcome to the Senior Games family!
Thank you very much! I appreciate the chance!

By Del Moon, NSGA PR Specialist

Norma Minkowitz, 86
Westport, Connecticut

Norma Minkowitz has drive. She doesn’t know why or how she got it, but it pushed her from modest beginnings to attain world recognition as a fine artist. It also manifested when she took up running in midlife, found her way to masters track competitions and captured attention with a world record and Senior Games gold medal.

The child of Russian immigrants, Norma grew up in the Bronx of New York City. Her father was a concert and club pianist, and her mother was an aspiring singer. Norma says her brother, Paul, got all the music genes, because she spent her time sketching and doodling. She sat with her mother making stuffed dolls and crocheting on nights when her dad was performing. She dreamed of pursuing art.

Norma was fortunate to attend the prestigious Cooper Union School of Art on a full scholarship. She met her husband, Shelly, there, and her Cooper Union education earned her a job at a large art company as a textile colorist, taking original art and making color combinations of them. In the following edited interview, Norma relates she started selling some of her own designs and got a big break when she started showing craft pillows and other stitched and embroidered items at the American Craft Council’s Museum of Contemporary Craft in New York.

It was then that Norma Minkowitz elevated her work from crafting to fine art. Read on in her words how she has evolved her own style transforming crocheted fiber and found objects into intriguing art statements. Her works are now in the permanent collection of 35 museums internationally.

This is where the story takes its twist. Norma only played street games as a kid but loved to run and knew she was fast. In her 40s she wanted to get more exercise, and her husband bought her running shoes. She never looked back, entering three New York City Marathons in her 50s and learning the importance of training and coaching. She dropped back to shorter distance races and local races for several years, but that competitive drive to test her limits eventually led her to enter masters track and field and Senior Games in her 80s.

Last year Norma surprised everyone – including herself – when she set a world record in the W85-89 400 meter event, and a national record in the 800-meter race at the 2023 USATF Masters Indoor Championships. Incredibly, it was her first attempt at an indoor event, and she had to adjust to a banked track. She then went on to Pittsburgh and set an American record in her 400-meter event at the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana.

Norma is now both a world-renowned artist and athlete, a combination never seen before in Senior Games. While unusual, Norma says it makes sense because her activity complements her artistic endeavors. She now exhausts herself running and then can better sit and focus on the often-tedious creative work that has captured the imagination of millions.

Norma Minkowitz may be famous, but her example shows that anyone can improve and enhance their life and well-being by finding their own drive. In our conversation she shares that she is still learning how to fine-tune running and has gotten faster in recent years due to coaching and focused training. We can’t wait to see how she does in Des Moines in 2025. Competition, take notice. This lady is bringing her Personal Best drive!

You are a unique person in many ways, Norma. We are all fascinated that a fine artist has also become a world-record holding track runner!
I post some of my running news on my art page on Facebook and most never knew I did that. But I’ll tell you it’s a wonderful combination because my artwork is so tedious. Most artists work with heavy thread but I work with the thinnest possible threads, almost like sewing thread. That means many more stitches but a fine line effect as if I was drawing with pen and ink. So, I like to exhaust myself with running and then I want to sit and do this relaxing, meditative work.

That makes sense. We’ll ask about your track records later, but first we want to meet the Norma Minkowitz that is famous in the art world. Did you grow up around the arts?
Yes, but in music. I was born in 1937 and grew up in the Bronx. It was a low- to middle-income neighborhood of diverse religions and colors, and we all got along. Both my parents are immigrants from Russia. My father was a concert pianist. My grandfather was a composer and teacher and tried to teach me piano, but I wasn’t very good at it. My mother had ambition to be a singer and that attracted her to my father in New York.

My brother and I both went to the Music and Art High School for gifted children, he for music and me for art. I guess he inherited the music gene. I was always drawing and doodling and making pictures. I loved to draw and my favorite technique was drawing with pen and ink. I am attracted to the linear element that came out later in my fiber art because I consider fiber a line and it is connected to my drawings in pen and ink.

I also made stuffed dolls, wall hangings and detailed objects that my mother, Fania, taught me to make. We sat on the bed of our one-bedroom apartment in the evenings because my father played nightclubs and hotels. He had to give up his quest to be a concert pianist in order to feed his family. He played elite hotels like the Barclay and the Hotel Astor as Alexander Chigrinsky and his Continental Music. I remember he took us to the hotel for New Year’s Eve where he was featured.

How were you able to pursue your artistic leanings from there?
After high school I applied to Cooper Union and Pratt and was accepted to both. Cooper Union only accepts 100 art students, but I was able to get in, and it was free! My parents couldn’t afford to send me.

In my last year at school I met my husband, Shelly, who was an engineering student there. He got his first job at Sikorsky Aircraft in Connecticut and asked me to marry him. We got a garden apartment in Stamford and I kept myself busy wearing an apron and being the good wife at home. One day he asked, ‘Did you ever think about getting a job?’ [Laugh]

Ruh Roh! [Laugh]

Norma and her husband, Shelly.

My friend Barbara Kokot worked as a textile colorist, which involves taking an art design and creating three or four different color combinations. She suggested I get an interview, so I went to this big company called Cohn-Hall-Marx, and with my Cooper Union background they gave me a job. It paid $80 a week. I really didn’t know what I was doing at first. I later made some of my own designs which they bought. That was encouraging.

I quit when I got pregnant, and I started doing freelance work for another company, and they printed some of my work. That was my early art history as I started caring for my young son, Steven, and later my daughter, Karen. Shelly wanted a better living so he started a homebuilding company in Westport, Connecticut, with his friend Bill Kokot, Barbara’s husband, and they were very successful with it. We bought a house, and 16 years later built our own house in Westport. We have been here 45 years and have been married for 64 years. Have four lovely grandchildren Max, Sammy, Lily and Jack. Imagine that! [Laugh]

So how did you become a recognized fine artist with exhibits all over the world?
I was always doing sculptural work as well as pen and ink drawings. I joined the Society of Connecticut Craftsman because at that time what I was doing was not exactly fine art. I was making pillows and creative wall hangings and selling them to Woman’s Day and other art magazines. A lot of my work started selling.

The American Craft Council had a store under their Museum of Contemporary Craft, and I started showing craft pillows and wall hangings. I even made a huge stitched and embroidered chair. Remember the folk singer Melanie? She bought that chair, and I was encouraged to continue doing sculptural art.

The museum curator, Paul Smith, really liked my work and included me in numerous shows, and then things took off. I was invited to show in galleries and museum exhibitions. My first major show was in 1976 at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in Ithica, New York, then a show on fiber structures at the Museum of Art at Carnegie Institute, also the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It just kept getting better from there, and my reputation escalated.

My artwork is now in 35 museum collections both here and internationally, and I have exhibited in 20 solo shows that received positive reviews.

Left to right: “Trove,” “Goodbye Goddess,” and “Nesting” by Norma Minkowitz.

Can you give an example of how your craft work is lauded as fine art?
My major way to work is crochet, which is often thought of as a ‘little old ladies’ technique, but when I take it in my hands it becomes almost a transparent mesh filled with detail and cross-hatching as in the drawings. For example, I would crochet around a mannequin or other hard object, covering it with an open stitch and then I stiffen the fibers, slice the fibers so as to be able to remove it from the mannequin. The view is almost transparent, like looking through mesh. Then I can manipulate different threads with color and accent. I can put things inside of it, a heart or another body, or a bird. A lot of my work has birds and flight motif. I love birds and the idea of the freedom of flight.

Well, let’s break from your art and love of flight to your running. You are pretty fleet of foot yourself! You started running late – have you been athletic all your life?
Yes, I was always a bit of a tomboy and enjoyed the street games, you know, Red Light Green Light and Tag. I always wanted to be the fastest even at that age. Cooper Union had no athletics for girls. We just had a gym class, and I was always the swifter one. I really didn’t do anything sports until I got married and started playing tennis, and I was pretty good at it and won a few matches. I tried skiing with my husband and was absolutely terrible at it. I couldn’t figure out how to lean and turn properly. I was fast but couldn’t figure out the science. I hated it, but we did it for 10 years.

Then I started running in 1985. Shelly had put on a few pounds, and I also needed to lose some weight. I joined the local Roadrunners Club and ran with them every summer. In between I started entering local races and always came in first, second or third in my 50-year-old age group. I had no coaching and followed my gut feeling.

I ran three New York City marathons as I turned 50. In the first one I started too fast and had to stop at 20 miles. They took me to the medical tent and ripped off my bib. I was not prepared. The second year I trained with a local high school coach and finished with a 4:06. The following year I had bronchitis but ran the marathon anyways and did it under five hours.

Norma, center, atop the podium at the 2022 National Senior Games presented by Humana.

You certainly learned the importance of training and preparation.
Eventually I decided I liked the shorter distances better and wanted to do more serious competition with masters and Senior Games. I qualified in 2018 and traveled to the National Senior Games in Albuquerque in 2019 but tore my hamstring and couldn’t run. I tried to run the 400 and qualified but was in agony and withdrew.

Then I went to the 2022 National Senior Games where I won four gold medals in track and finished first in the 5K. NSGA counted the 5K and all the American track records, but USATF would not ratify it by rules because I had to be 85 when I ran it and my birthday was after the Senior Games event. My time was unexpectedly so good, and I went home a little disappointed.

Let’s finally talk about the world record you ran in the 2023 USATF Masters Indoor Championship. Congratulations!
It wasn’t easy. I was injured and my knee was hurting. I had what’s called a Baker’s Cyst. They’ve drained it several times and it keeps coming back. Next time I see the doctor we’re going to see what else they can do. I am back to running now, but I have to address that.

Norma at the 2023 USATF Masters Indoor Championship.

The world record race was on February 25th of 2023 in Staten Island. I had never run indoors before. I signed up for four races but only completed the two I did well in. I ran the 400 in 1:50:99. I was also afraid of the track because it was banked on the curves. Because everybody else was in their 50’s they stuck me on the highest part, probably thinking ‘She’s 85, it doesn’t matter.’ [Laugh] Of course when we took off those young ladies looked like flying saucers and I had to tell myself ‘Don’t look at them! Don’t look at them!’ At least they didn’t lap me in the 400, but a few did in the 800.

I also had to remember the 400 was two laps and I was afraid I would stop at one. [Laugh] The worst part was the races were only 30 minutes apart. I might have done better in the 800 with more time to recover.

But you now have two huge records, especially for a ”newbie.” You set an American record at the 2023 National Senior Games in Pittsburgh too.
Yes, I ran the 400 at 1:50:04 in the 85 to 89 group. I was scheduled to also do the 200-,800- and 1500-meter races but my knee gave out after that 400 and I had to pull out. I felt like I could have won gold in all of them. It was one of the best races – everything was on schedule with efficient officials.

Now I also set the outdoor national record in the 800-meter at the 2023 Middleton Masters meet last March. But they are not going to sanction it because of their errors by not having the proper paperwork. I’m still upset about that.

How surprised were you that you had actually set a world record?
I didn’t believe it, and then the flares were going up and somebody from USATF interviewed me. I don’t remember what I said. I just remember a lot of tall people around me taking pictures- I’m only 4 foot eleven.

Does this success give you more motivation to continue to strive in your running events?

Norma and her coach, Steve Kurczewski.

Yes, I want to do better. I keep thinking my times are going to get slower but they’ve actually improved over 2019! I have a good coach now, Steve Kurczewski, who is an endurance runner himself.

It makes sense, Norma, because you are still learning competitive running and still have the upside to improve. This is bad news for all the ladies in your 85-89 age group!

I had meniscus surgery last October and I’m just getting back to normal. During recovery I run one tenth of a mile and walk one tenth until you hit two miles. I’m up to walking one tenth and running four tenths. I’ll try to run a mile without stopping soon. I’m now running 2.5 miles without stopping. I hope I stay in good condition.

Norma, let’s close talking about your art again. Most artists are known for certain styles or themes. Many of your works we see seem dark in mood.
My art is kind of on the dark side. A lot of it is black and mysterious. Sometimes it’s connotations of death, sometimes struggles, sometimes nature. I like to work and delve into the possibilities of the human body as well as objects relating to the natural world. I also experiment with mixed media and found objects. Many of my works started with interesting dead branches that suggest a body or form. I crochet right over them and make shapes that conjure up possibilities that people may see in a different way than I intended. I like when the viewer is participating and value that the work is speaking to people in different ways. A lot is about me but also about what people have seen in them.

Self-portrait by Norma Minkowitz. Pen and ink and collage.

Your art expresses your darker side yet you do so many positive things and embrace life. You are not a pessimistic person!
I’m not pessimistic, maybe I fear death. But I feel strong and healthy so it’s a weird combination. But there’s also hope in a lot of my work, like a burst of birds flying freely and things that have deep meaning, not laying down and dying but fighting for what you want. I think I fight for what I want in my running. I don’t know where this came from with my sedentary background, but I’ve always pushed myself to the limits. It wasn’t enough to have my work in a craft magazine, I wanted it in a museum.

It hasn’t always worked out running with all my injuries and backing out of races. But I’m still learning and trying to be careful.

“The Indian Runner” Meets His Destiny

By Del Moon, NSGA PR Specialist

Mark Woommavovah, 56
Lawton, Oklahoma

It’s not that unusual to see a runner carrying a flag or banner in a race. But there was something about Mark Woommavovah’s proud demeanor and spirit as he proudly hosted the colorful flag of the Comanche Nation and charged into the 2023 National Senior Games 5K race in Pittsburgh. We had to find out more.

To our surprise and delight, we discovered that Mark is the elected Chairman of the Comanche Nation, located on the Plains of southern Oklahoma. He is also the author of a popular children’s book, “The Little Indian Runner.” This man has layers.

Mark’s is a truly remarkable story of a prophecy fulfilled, as you will find reading our edited conversation below. Mark was raised by grandparents on his rural native land. His “Grandma Vida” recognized his energy and put him to work running messages from Indian house to Indian house, gathering gossip and stories to share in the community. She also told a very young Mark something that he did not understand until he was an adult: that he would grow up to leave his land, travel the world and return to serve his people.

In junior high school Mark earned the nickname “The Indian Runner.” He is still running today.

Mark obtained a U.S. Army ROTC scholarship to the University of Oklahoma and launched a 31-year military career, traveling the world and running in events wherever he served, from the beaches of Hawaii to Korea, Malaysia and even within Iraq’s green zone – in full Kevlar and flak vest. He also organized Army Ten-Miler running teams on his bases and brought that practice back home when he retired and returned full-circle to OU as the Senior Military Instructor for their ROTC program. One of his teams competed and won silver in the Army Ten-Miler college division. He is still a talent scout and advisor, but his people called on him to lead them.

In 2020, some tribal members urged Mark to run for Chairman. Applying the military discipline and organization he learned, Mark recruited a team that included tech-savvy college-aged tribal members. His social media and in-person campaign crossed all boundaries, and Mark was elected in a landslide.

Learn more about the transformative practices Mark Woommavovah has instilled with his people in our conversation. He is a true leader and role model, focusing on the team and uplifting people’s lives. We are proud Mark comes to Senior Games and are excited that he wants to keep his ‘elders’ healthy. He even plans to officially sponsor a large team of Comanche senior athletes to come to the 2025 National Senior Games in Des Moines, Iowa!

Mr. Chairman, thank you for making time to share your story. Our first question is about your name. What does Woommavovah translate to in English?
The name means ‘One Who Encourages.’

Amazing. It seems you were anointed from birth!
Yes, sir.

You have another name, Mark. People call you ‘The Indian Runner.’
I acquired that name when I was in junior high. I ran the 800-meter, the mile, the two-mile, and two- mile relay.

Vida Woommavovah, Mark’s “Kaku” (grandmother) and inspiration.

You could have gone in many directions growing up in a poor rural area. It seems obvious to us that somebody put you on a straight path as a child.
It was my grandmother. She and my grandfather raised me. ‘Grandma’ in Comanche is Kaku (kah-ku). She told me something that I did not understand when I was a very young boy. She said, ‘You’re going to travel the world…’ [emotional pause]…and that I was going to meet people, and that I was going to come back and serve our people.

Your ‘Kaku’ was a wise and visionary woman.
Yes, sir. After school I joined the Army. Later I went to the University of Oklahoma and joined the Army ROTC on a two-year scholarship. I graduated as a military police officer and left the area for 31 years, served our country and came back to retire in 2019. My first job was teaching Army ROTC as the Senior Military Science instructor at Oklahoma. So, I went full circle, getting commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and returning as a Lieutenant Colonel to teach the freshmen class there after three decades. That’s pretty cool!

Then ‘The Indian Runner’ became Chairman of the Comanche Nation in 2021. How did that happen?
It is an elected position. Some friends came to me and asked me to run for office.

What I did was to put together a young campaign team and got a couple of books about how to run a campaign. We all met – I called it war gaming – and dissected the books and went to town. These young people set up our social media platforms, set up our fundraisers like tournaments and meet and greets, and people never knew what hit them. Usually whoever has the biggest family wins, but I won by a landslide.

I tell you, these young, educated Comanches are bringing technology to us, and we’re giving them the ability to exercise their voice.

Wow, congratulations Mr. Chairman! That’s a huge responsibility to represent your people. Sounds like you are bringing change there.
Yes. When we came in, I asked leadership and the full-time staff if we had a vision or mission. They weren’t sure so I said we don’t. It had to be short, concise and must bring our people together. I had the first part: Comanche Strong, and the people came up with the second part. Our vision is ‘Comanche Strong- Stronger Together.’

And it has brought our people together. Any time I go to a meeting or event I yell ‘Comanche Strong!’ and everyone shouts back, ‘Stronger Together!’

Just to be clear, Mark, is there a Chief of the tribe plus the Chairman?
The Chairman is the Chief. We are set up with a Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary-Treasurer, plus four business committee people that run for election. I am the only full-time staff member of this group. We have monthly meetings and an annual general council meeting that we call ‘The Peoples Meeting.’ We are a sovereign nation, so we govern ourselves – we have everything from fire, police, court, every program and food distribution among our departments and divisions.

Of the 17,792 Comanche members, 7,000 live within the jurisdiction of the Nation which covers several Oklahoma counties. The others we call Non-Locals, and here’s what I tell them: No matter where you live, you are Comanche.

The Army provided you with the opportunity to travel the world. Did you run everywhere you went? Was it competitive running?
Yes. And no matter where I was stationed, I would always get our soldiers involved and start battalion and company running clubs. We entered 5 and 10ks, half and full marathons and I coached all of the teams. Our physical fitness tests improved, and their health improved because we added fitness and engaged our Army nutritionist so they would be eating right.

I also was the coach for Army Ten-Miler teams and ran with those teams. We took teams to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Army Ten-Miler, which is the largest in the States.

How long were you doing that?
Oh, I was in the Army Ten-Milers until I retired. Even after that, at OU I organized the OU ROTC Ten- Miler Team with our ROTC cadets. In 2019 we took a Ten-Miler team to D.C. to compete in the college division, and believe it or not, they came in 2nd on the big stage! We also organized the Sooner Battalion Running and Triathlon Club.

Your current position must not leave you time to continue as an instructor.
I am still the Leadership and Talent Scout for them. I bring them referrals, usually high school student athletes.

Mark’s book, “The Little Indian Runner,” is dedicated to his nephew, Lucas, who is pictured here.

Before we go further we want to acknowledge you are also known as an author of a children’s book called ‘The Little Indian Runner.’ Tell us how it came about.
I was training an Army Ten-Miler team in Waikiki, Hawaii. I used to go to Barnes and Noble to read and I heard this giggling from the back of the store. It was a children’s book reading. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm and seeing them react to the teacher. I immediately called my wife and said, ‘I’m going to write a children’s book.’ She goes, ‘OK. What are you going to write it about?’ I asked her, ‘What do I love?’ and she immediately said, ‘Running!’ [Laugh]

I got online and did research for how to self-publish and how the process worked. And here’s the way I wrote the manuscript: On my runs I would put 3×5 index cards and a pen in a plastic bag and stuff them in my shorts. When I thought of something I would stop, take out a card, make notes and put them back in my shorts. Then I sat at the computer and drafted the manuscript.

My grandma was an inspiration for the story. I used to run house to house delivering messages for her before we had land lines in our rural community. Of course, I got the messages wrong half the time! [Laughs] But you will see the book opens with him running through his tribe, and he sees his grandma, his friends, his uncles and aunties. I brought our Indian foods into the story, and we end it with a modified version of the Lord’s Prayer.

We dedicated the book and are donating some proceeds to my nephew, Lucas Owens, who has autism. Every year we also sponsor the Peace Walk for Autism with t-shirts and banners.

Mr. Chairman, yours is an incredible history already, and you are still a young man. You’re also very busy, so please tell us how your attention turned to Senior Games.
I read about it online when I found out about the National Veterans Golden Age Games, which only veterans can compete in. I haven’t competed in those games yet because I first wanted to represent our state and the Commanche Nation, so I entered Senior Games. I don’t like to talk about myself, but I took first place in the 5K and the triathlon at the Oklahoma Senior Games, and that took us to the National Senior Games in 2022 and 2023.

What’s more important is that I am bringing in other senior tribal members who are now participating. I’ve invited other tribes who are now getting involved. In fact, one of my Kiowa brothers just finished first in the triathlon in the Oklahoma Senior Games.

You are being a true role model.
Here’s what I learned from the military: Everyone watches the leader. That’s why I lead from the front. I’m at every walking event, every running event, every biking event. Since I came in, we have used our community grants to put on 5K runs and spirit rides, and we formed a group called Comanche Road Warriors. They have a Facebook page. We also formed a group for our seniors called the Wisdom Warrior Walkers Club. We walk regularly and go to the mall when it’s cold outside. We give them goals and incentives. Last year it was to walk 100 miles and if they met the goal, we would give them a banquet. We had 22 elders complete their 100 miles, and some completed 150, 200, even 300 miles. We fed them and rewarded them with FitBits so they can track it. [Raises voice] Ohh, that was the best feeling in there because we had the elder center staff show them how to use the technology!

Sorry, I get excited talking about this.

Mark pictured in Hawaii (left) and Iraq (right).

No apology necessary!
Let me tell you what has also happened. They are able to control their diabetes and blood pressure now. They’re healthy and not sitting in front of the TV all day.

So here is my plan for our Nation and the other tribes who live in this area: There are good golfers, runners, softball, basketball and pickleball players here. We are going to put teams together, we’re going to find sponsors for them, and we’re going to go to the Senior Games.

You mean to the Oklahoma Senior Games?
We are going to compete at the state level so we qualify for Nationals. We are going to invest in them and find sponsors for our seniors.

WOW! That is true leadership. It was an inspirational moment when we saw you running with your flag in our 5K. Now you will have company!
People around the state, and even at the federal level, call me ‘The Running Chairman.’ I run with my flag at every event. I always carry our colors. Always! Because I carry the weight for my people. [Emotional Pause] I carry the flag for those who can’t run. [Pause] I run for those who can’t walk. [Crying] I carry it for our veterans. They show up at races and cheer me on. It’s because of our colors, it’s not me. They don’t salute the person, they salute the flag. We are Comanche.

Now you have us emotional, Mark. Your heart is in the right place, and you are highly successful because the military prepared you for what was to come.
Absolutely. 100 percent. I’ve taken those military values and processes and I’m injecting them into our sovereign nation. I’m not being over-military; I changed the words. For example, what we called an After-Action Report in the Army is called Event Review.

It’s also a lesson in the power of teamwork.
First, I let our people know it’s not I or me, it’s us. WE are doing this together. They just happen to have a leader who is motivated and enthusiastic, a leader who will support them and listen to their ideas. I’m the Chairman that they can approach.

We have a team now, a positive team that’s making a difference in building connections in our local community, and partnerships that we haven’t had in the past. All I am is the vehicle to move it forward. In that vehicle are key leaders who understand the meaning of inspiring and motivating people and giving them the tools they need to be successful.

We are Comanche Strong, Stronger Together!