Jack Eckenrode, 94

Bulger, Pennsylvania

 

Some athletes inspire others with their ability. Others inspire just by their example.

For cyclist Jack Eckenrode, it has taken 17 years of competing to win his first National Senior Games gold medals at the 2022 Games held this year in Fort Lauderdale. But Jack has a happy army following his healthy example, including 12 children, 42 grandchildren and 48 great-grandchildren who are keeping active like him. His son John is an avid cyclist who has run several endurance events including two Boston Marathons, and other “kids” have done road races and triathlons. He has had more than one grandchild complete Iron Man races.

The Pittsburgh area native and his first wife Margaret were both avid recreational cyclists when they heard about National Senior Games coming to the City of Bridges in 2005. A new world opened up and they both enjoyed traveling, competing and making friends every two years at Nationals. When Margaret passed in 2021 some were concerned that Jack might not rebound. But as you will read in the following edited conversation, a strange coincidence opened a new chapter, and he is now remarried and living in his dream house in Washington County nestled next to a public trail where he enjoys riding and meeting others who pass by.

Jack has dabbled with track sprint events, but cycling is what turns his wheels. The Korean War veteran bikes almost daily on the trail and rides up to 30 miles twice a week to train.  He hopes to feel good enough to complete both the 5K and 10K Time Trials and the longer Road Races when the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana come to Pittsburgh. If he completes either the 20K or 40K race at age 95 he will become the oldest athlete to do so in the Games history.

His daughter Susan Rendulic says his National Senior Games competition experience ‘has been a true inspiration and motivation to keep him healthy and active.” While being physically fit is crucial to successful aging, that’s not the whole equation. Athletes who display our “Personal Best” qualities also show a positive attitude and engagement in life, and everyone around Jack points to his good cheer. His wife Eleanor sums it up by saying, “He’s just a happy person. I think he’s so healthy because he never is mad, never gets upset about anything. All he does is smile and he keeps me smiling. That’s why I love him so much.”

Happy Cycling, Jack!

 

Jack, how long have you been riding a bike?

[Laughs] Since as long as I can remember. I went out for football and baseball in high school but I always biked when I was a kid. It was just something you did in the morning when you woke up and had breakfast and then you were on your way. You jumped on a bike to get there and everywhere else because it was the quickest way to travel. So I’ve been biking all my life.

I am biking everyday here and I’m putting in 18 to 30 miles a couple times a week. I live on a paved asphalt trail that’s 8 to 10 feet wide and it’s fairly level. You can go almost 40 miles on it if you want to.

 

Are you a native Pittsburgher?

I grew up in Mount Lebanon and have lived in this area my whole life. I’m lucky this time because I won’t have to travel too far to go to the National Senior Games! I’ve been to all of the cities all around for the past 20 years. I got to the point where I saw the same people every time which is nice.

 

Do you think it will be an advantage to have The Games so close to home?

Oh yes. The event is stretched out over two weeks and lots of times you can only go for a week, so there’s some races you want to compete in but you just have to go home. I can compete in everything I want this time because I’m local. So we cyclists have a big advantage here. We know the bike trails and we know the elevation before anybody else does. I hope to do the road races.

 

 

You must have brought 20 family members down to Florida for the 2022 National Senior Games. We even included a clip of them cheering in our latest Showcase Video. How many children do you have, anyway?

I have 12 children, 42 grandchildren and 48 great grandchildren. I am getting another great grandchild in February of next year.

 

Wow! Do any of your kids follow your example?

They’re all active. Most of them bike because I bike. I have some that did swimming in college. They’re now in that age group between 60 and 70 and can compete, which is going to be hard because they have great competition. Some of them want to start Senior Games.

 

You are among several Pittsburgh athletes who started in National Senior Games when we came there in 2005. 

I was in my 70s at the time. My first wife Margaret and I started it together. She biked her whole life too. We were down on a farm in Greene County and used to bike hills there. That’s when we got interested in Senior Games.

She was very good biker. She was a gold medalist, which made me mad because I wasn’t that good. I’d get bronze or silver and she’d always get gold. Last year I got a chance to get 5 golds and I was so happy that I finally got some. Margaret died the year before so she didn’t get to see that.

 

We felt the loss too, Jack. We know the Eckenrodes were a popular couple at Senior Games. But you have remarried, right?

Yes, and it’s interesting how we met. Margaret and I were in the process of buying some property and putting in a double wide trailer on it out here in Washington County. We purchased the land from the couple across the street from us. Margaret died in May and the lady that sold me the property lost her husband in July. Eleanor and I became buddies. I helped her and she helped me get over it, so we got married. I was 94 and she was 82.

You wonder how did it happen, why did it happen? It was just one of those things.

 

Does Eleanor bike with you?

She doesn’t bike or anything and that is OK with me. We walk a lot of the trail together. She has a little bit of fear of falling off the bike.  She knows how to ride, she is just unsteady. Maybe I shouldn’t be biking at my age either, but I just love it and have good balance and that’s the most important thing you’ve got when you’re older.

I love meeting people on the trail here. I installed a little water fountain out there for them to get water. They’ll stop to say hello and shoot the breeze. Anybody that rides a bike seems to be a pretty nice person. I talk to people of all ages. I have a big Senior Games banner on my trailer for everyone to look at. People will stop by say ‘Wow, what’s going on?’ and I’ll brief them about getting into them or just volunteering at the event. Sometimes I show them the garage with all of the medals Margaret and I won.

 

 

You must be asked all the time how you have stayed healthy.

I get that all the time. I tell everybody ‘I never smoked, I never drank and I don’t go out with wild wild women.’ [Laughs] That’s it.

No, I’ve never had much trouble with my weight. I get on a scale once a week and it’s steady 175.  You must watch your weight. It is so important to do. When you bike a lot, you don’t want to be heavy. I do take vitamin supplements for my eyes. Some of my brothers had eye issues and I don’t want to have to go through that.

I had a lot of temptations to smoke while being in the service for 5 years, but I am so lucky I never did.  That was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

 

So you’ve never had a major health challenge?

I had a broken leg when I was in high school, but I’ve been lucky to always have perfect health. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to go into the Air Force and be a pilot.

 

You were a pilot? What a great opportunity.

Yes, it was right around the Korean war. After I went to Duquesne University I joined the Air Force for five years. I was just a ‘noncom’ for one year and then went into flight school which took another year. I served three years of flying down in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida.

I give a lot of credit to the Air Force because when I went through their evaluation pilot cadet school I did a lot of calisthenics and keeping in shape for a whole year and I use those same calisthenics today. When I get up in the morning I do some stationary biking a little bit and then I do my exercise. Then I go out on my bike and ride 20 miles.

 

Is there any advice you share with others?

I always suggest being active. I go to a lot of senior centers and talk to people and notice what goes on you know. You see a lot of the older guys come to the Senior Center and they have a cane for the first time. I always ask, ‘What are you doing with that cane?’ and they will tell me that they fell. Then next thing you know, they get a walker and then a wheelchair. I say to them, ‘Your legs are so important for your balance.’

I’m not suggesting that you don’t have to jog or run but I know a lot of people that have a hip replacement or knee replacement and they did a lot of jogging and running when they were younger. If you don’t want that and you want to be active, the best thing to do is bike and swim. That’s good for your joints. You’re not going to have knee problems and hip problems if you take up sports like that.

 

So it’s safe to say Jack Eckenrode doesn’t sit around much.

No. I do not sit around much. I go to a church down at the end of the street here and they have services every Monday, Thursday and Sunday and I go to them. I just feel bad if I don’t because it’s a block away. My whole life I’ve gone to church and I feel good after I’ve gone.

I’m 95 years old and lucky I’m still in good health and still competing. I know that it’s getting thin on the end as far as having competition, but I’ve seen years ago what happens when people get older, they’re not competing on a regular basis or like in my case running and biking. I’ll keep going as long as I can.

 

 

 

 

Lindsay Tise, 103
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

It’s an achievement to live to a ripe old age. The real hope is to also have good health, a clear mind and an active lifestyle to go with it. It’s one thing to get there, but quite another thing to BE there.

Lindsay Tise is “there.” At 103, he is still playing golf, working out and participating in church activities. He doesn’t dwell on the past, and in recent years he has overcome the loss of his wife of 71 years and the pain of losing one of his sons to cancer. He says his parents gave him his positive attitude which keeps him looking forward.

His love of golf started early. Lindsay began caddying at a local country club as a kid and was befriended by an assistant pro who often took him to play the back nine in the evenings. He played other sports in elementary school but by his teens he was working at his father’s soft drink bottling facility and fixing up people’s bicycles from a shed in his back yard. Then came World War II and a career in electronics that sidelined his opportunity to play golf until 1966. He’s been prowling the paths ever since.

While he has never scored a hole in one, Lindsay has often been able to score below his age since his 90’s, something that not many get claim. He’s never been motivated by tournaments or even shooting low scores, though. He just loves “being there” out in nature, seeing old friends and getting some fun exercise. He looks forward to going to his third National Senior Games with his son Tim, who describes himself as Lindsay’s “road manager.” He likes The Games because there are more guys close to his age there.

Lindsay Tise has lived almost his entire life in Winston-Salem. His needs are simple and routine, some might say boring. But the quality of life is high and stress is low, and Lindsay likes “being there.” Read the following edited conversation to hear his Personal Best story.

 

Lindsay, great to see you coming back to National Senior Games! Is your son going to caddy again?

Oh, yes. I wouldn’t come if Tim didn’t handle all the details.

In Albuquerque in 2019 you had competition from another100-year old and you beat him pretty good.

I still play pretty well for an old man. I played him in the national games before that and did better that time too.

I still play golf one day a week when the weather’s good. I work out three days a week too. The oldest person I play with around here is 82 and he is a young guy. National Senior Games gives me people to play with that are closer to my age.

Were you athletic when you were young?

When I was a kid, we all gathered at my house and played sports in my front yard. There was a walkway splitting the yard halfway, the walkway was the goal line. When I was in elementary school, I played sports and was a good baseball player.

When did golf become your sport?

I started when I was a kid caddying on a golf course. I lived close to the Forsyth Country Club in Winston-Salem and I started playing when I was caddying. I got to be good friends with the assistant pro there, and after everybody left in the evening we would go play the back side. I did that all through my youth. That’s how I really learned to play.

But when I was older, I was always working and didn’t have time for sports for a long time. But I was always active doing stuff. I was usually up and around and never really sitting down. I was healthy all the time.

So the golf bags went into the attic during your career. What kind of work did you do?

I was an electronic technician. When television first started out I went to Philadelphia and got certified as a technician. I was one of the first people to work on TVs.

Wow. How did you become interested in that?

I’ve always liked tinkering with things. When I was a kid, there were no bicycle shops around so I had a little shed in my back yard and I worked on bicycles for the community. That was when I was in my teens.

Also, my dad was a soft drink bottler and headed a bottling plant. I stayed there a lot when I was a kid and drank my share of pop. [Chuckles]

That must have fascinated you to watch the machinery and how the operation worked.

Oh yeah, I got hooked on it. I did maintenance work on them when I was in my teens. I kept the machines going.

World War II came in your early adulthood. Did you serve in the military?

No. During World War II I worked in Newport News helping load Liberty Ships. I got a job with a guy in the beginning of the war and he put me to work right away as a foreman. I had men working on five ships at a time, and I would have to go between the ships and up and down the ladders and into the holds to check the loading. That was my contribution to the war effort. Every time I got a draft notice, I handed it to my boss and he would call the draft board and tell them I was doing something more essential than carrying a gun.

It took thousands of workers to keep supply lines going. So you went into electronics after the war?

Yes, I went to Forsyth Community Technical College in Winston-Salem and then I spent two years in Philadelphia studying to get my certification. I don’t know why I went that way. It was just something new I guess. I made radios and televisions work.

What do you think of TV and technology now?

Well, it seems like you don’t work on them anymore. You just throw them away! [Laugh] They have come a long way.

Many of our athletes had to hang up sports until midlife. Did you pick golf back up after you raised your kids?

I guess that is about right. I was the president of an electronic association in North Carolina and we had a meeting for all of the technicians in 1966. We had a golf match and that got it going again.

Other than National Senior Games, have you been to a lot of tournaments?

When I was caddying, I went to all the tournaments. When I got back into golf, it was more for recreation. I do it for the love of the game. Just getting out and seeing the nature and scenery is a good part of it. All of the golf courses are very scenic.

Who do you golf with now?

There are usually three guys that all get together on Thursdays to play. We started playing when we all were going to the same church.

What are your scores like these days?

We play 18 holes and I usually shoot in the high 90s. I always beat my age. I was able to beat my age when I was in my 90s too. It wasn’t really a big deal because I just enjoy playing.

I think I play pretty good. I can drive as far and play as good as the guys I play with, and they are younger than me. The best part of my game are my drives. I always hit them straight down the middle.  I hardly lose any balls. Never had a hole in one though.

Well, your health is your best score, Lindsay. You are not only over 100, but you are also in great shape and have a clear mind. Any ideas why you’ve done so well for this long?

Everybody is surprised when I tell them my age. I do pretty good. I don’t have any problems walking or doing anything else. I just live.

I will tell you I attribute it all to my wife. She fed me properly and on time. Frances and I were married for 71 years! She was a good woman, the love of my life. We married young and stayed together a long time.

At the time I met Frances I was running a machine in my papa’s shop. Along the front of the building was glass windows and the machinery was lined up along that side. I noticed a young lady on the other side of the street walking to the store for her mother. She noticed me, too. All of a sudden she came on my side of the street and looked in on my working. That’s the way we met.

We had two boys, Lindsay Jr. and Tim. Frances passed in 2013, and we lost Lindsay Jr. from a tumor in his brain in 2015. He was the district court judge for five counties in Georgia and was a wonderful guy.

What kind of attitude do you think you need to have good health and a long life, Lindsay?

Think positive. Church is important to me and I have been in the same one since 1942. I am the longest and oldest standing member of Fairview Moravian Church. A couple of months ago, the preacher mentioned in the beginning of his sermon that I was now 103 years old. It got me a bit of applause.

I got my positive thinking from my parents. They were always kind and supportive of me and other people. They were super people.

Have you watched your nutrition all of your life?

I have always eaten well. Frances made sure of it when she was here. About a week ago a lady that goes to the same exercise program where I go suggested I call Meals on Wheels. I called them and they started me on it. They have very nutritional meals that they bring me once a day. I still have to cook a little bit. I always cook a good breakfast. Eggs, bacon and biscuits. I always have something left over for supper.

When you wake up, what do you want to do with your day?

I always have something planned. Three days a week I go out and exercise at Wake Forest University. I do the HELPS program that’s about lifestyle change. What is special is getting to be with the other people. I got to know a lot of them, and the trainers are students. We use almost all kinds of exercise equipment and machines. What helps me most of all is what they call stretch circles or weight circles.

On Thursdays, I go out and golf. And Saturdays I usually mess around the house and do what is necessary like mowing the yard. I live in a pretty big house, three big bedrooms and upstairs. My dad gave the one on the corner to my brother, and I have the house next door that I built. Big yard. [Chuckles]

So you have never had any big medical emergencies?

No I don’t think so. I did get into a car crash when I was 95 but I didn’t go to the emergency room or anything like that. A

young lady pulled right in front of me and thankfully neither one of us was hurt but it tore up my car. It was a 1966 International Scout that I bought not long after it was made. That car is like a member of the family to me.

I fixed it myself after the crash. I got the Scout back to my yard and found the parts. I got it back running. I still drive it.

Well, DNA and luck may have something to do with it, but you have also done the right things to keep going. You don’t seem to dwell on the past. Do you think that’s a waste of time?

I do think it is a waste of time.

It is also a waste to watch all that television. I don’t even look at the regular tv anymore. I try to keep up with the news but that is about it. There is a program that comes on television that just has good music and I just keep that on most of the time.

Any other advice you can offer?

Eat well and exercise. That’s what does it.

Do you ever wonder how you got here?

Yeah, I do because I don’t ever really see anyone else my age. I wonder why I am still here but happy I am.

 

 

 

 

Alice Tym, 79, McDonald, Tennessee

Alice Tym has been known by many people for different things. Tennis fans knew her as a rising star of the ‘60s, challenging other rising stars like Billie Jean King and ascending to a #13 world ranking in 1969. Teammates at the University of Florida knew her as the woman who started their women’s tennis team so they could all play. Scores of younger women knew her as “Coach Tym” as she carved out a hall of fame coaching career at UT-Chattanooga and Yale. Other college students knew her as their geography instructor. She’s also been known as a knowledgeable writer for tennis and pickleball publications through the years.

Currently, she is known as “that lady you don’t want to play” in Senior Games. Alice has always exhibited determination, courage, skill and competitiveness, and it’s no different now as she gives it her all playing table tennis, pickleball and badminton at the National Senior Games level.

We wanted to know a little more about the woman behind the whirlwind on the court, and while Alice was all business in fielding questions in the following edited interview, she revealed a deeper current of caring for others, advocating for fairness in sport, and making good decisions leading to her better quality of life. She played as a pro for six years and could have continued, but the path she chose has been rewarding as she raised a family and poured her energy into coaching and teaching. She’s still called on to coach others to elevate their game, and she’s happy to do it for love of the sport and the people who live it.

Alice had the skill and the opportunity to chase her tennis dream but was always aware that most other girls her age did not have organized sports in school. She had to fight to start a tennis team to play her college level, and there would be many more fights as Title IX brought sweeping changes for equal access to sports. Read on to learn how she was personally impacted as a college coach.

It seems like it has been second nature for Alice Tym to pursue her own Personal Best for a lifetime, and she is enjoying the rewards for taking care of herself, keeping active and persevering through life’s challenges, still ready for whatever comes next. Wanna play?

 

When did you start playing tennis?  You were so good you were probably born with a racket!

Actually I started late, in the summer before my senior year of high school. I played baseball (not softball) and it reached a point where your father would like you to do something more ‘lady like.’ [Laugh]  Maureen Connolly came to Illinois and gave a tennis clinic. I just took one look at her and thought, ‘That’s what I want to be’ and I started playing tennis.  Several years later in Miami, someone was needed to give a clinic with her and they asked me to do it. I was just thrilled to tell Maureen what she had meant to my life.

I learned how to play practicing on the brick wall of my next door neighbor’s garage. I went on to the University of Florida and they didn’t have a women’s tennis team. So, I started the women’s tennis team at the University of Florida.

 

You say that so nonchalantly. This was almost a decade before Title IX came in. You must have faced some resistance.

At that time Florida was the men’s university and FSU was the women’s university. Florida became co-ed shortly before I entered, and I don’t think they felt particularly threatened by having a women’s team because we really didn’t get very much money. I’m not sure anyone saw what was coming on the horizon either. And yes, there were tremendous barriers. Our PE teacher Miss Pie drove us to matches in her station wagon. We didn’t have all of the money that the men did.

 

It’s good you had the talent and opportunity to pursue tennis to a high level. Not very many girls were fortunate to have organized sports in those days.

Title IX impacted me most as a coach after my playing career. I started coaching tennis at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga in 1974 and we won the national championships 3 consecutive years. Yet I made exactly 10% of what the men’s coach made at the same university and he barely won conference championships. The woman who followed me sued them and gained parity.

I went on to Yale where the woman before me had sued and won.  So, I walked from one of the lowest paid into the highest paid tennis coaching job in the country because of somebody else. So yes, I’ve got a Title IX attitude as well.

 

You are a relentless and passionate competitor, and you must have been a fierce advocate for equality.

Oh, you had to fight so hard. There were many real courageous women and there was always a fight. My daughter says that I just like to fight, and I do. But if I didn’t, then what was going to happen?

 

Billie Jean King must be a role model for you. Did you know her back then?

[Laugh]  We have the exact same birthday, and I was actually just reading her latest book All In. I have hundreds of stories about Billie Jean.

When I first started, I was chosen for the Western Junior Wightman Cup team and she roomed right across the hall. I was really a beginner and Billie Jean was already really good at 18.  She treated me and all the players that were coming up really well. There are a lot of athletes that don’t take the time for the lesser players. I remember at Wimbledon, Billie Jean took Cici Martinez to another court and worked with her during Wimbledon to help her. She really was classy about that. Everybody helps the stars, but she helped the lesser players.

 

Let’s stay in those days for a moment. How did your tennis career take off?

Bill, my husband-to-be, played number 1 at Florida and he had worked with a good pro and helped me with strokes and stuff. I always wanted to travel because I had never really been anywhere, so every summer after school I would go to Europe and play. That competition really helped me. I got to play all the players. In those days men and women traveled together and I played all over the world, year after year.

At your peak you were ranked 13th in the world and played at Wimbledon. Must have felt like a dream.

That was in 1969. I graduated in 1964 and got my Master’s in 1966. I played all those years, and then I started playing all year. In those days, you could buy an annual ticket on Pan Am for $1,200. You had 52 weeks to travel, but you had to go back to where you started so you had to progress in the same general direction. I would start in Chicago, play San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, then jump over the Tokyo or Hong Kong or Taiwan, then drop down and play the Australian circuit for two or three months, and then back up to the Indian circuit for two or three months, and then you could play the Israeli circuit in the Middle East, drop down to Africa for two or three months or you could come into Europe and there were tournaments all over. One or two every week.

Then you move to Wimbledon. I would stay after and play the Irish championships on grass before going back to the U.S. Tennis Championships.  And then I would go back to Chicago, buy another ticket and then start over again. That was from ’66 to ’70.

 

Wow! Just the constant travel is challenging. Did you realize you couldn’t keep it up forever?

Actually, I never realized I can’t do this forever. My husband wanted to settle down. He had been hurt and couldn’t play anymore so we moved to The Bahamas and I had to make the decision either to go to the women’s tour or to stop and have a family. That was the time that Billie Jean and Rosie Casals decided to sign contracts and became  pros.

Then, Alex Guerry, who was important in southern tennis, asked my husband to come teach his children to play so we moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee. That is where I had my children, and I did nothing but kids sports for 25 years. They played every sport and I was too busy taking them everywhere. My daughter showed horses all around the country. My son Danny had a credit card at nine years old and played soccer and ended up playing professional tennis. And Billy skied. I loved having kids, they were so much fun and they still are. The only match I ever missed while coaching was when I gave birth to my daughter, but other than that I was at every game.

 

You have succeeded as a coach with an elite background. Some like you find it difficult to communicate and teach what comes naturally for them. Was that a challenge for you?

That’s a great question, and you are absolutely right. The USTA made that mistake when they brought in a lot of coaches right off the tour and it wasn’t the same.

I really think it is an academic attitude. I was very fortunate that my husband learned from a good coach and he was very observant. I went to a lot of clinics, and then a lot of trial and error. I taught 90 hours a week for years and you learn what works if you want to be successful. As far as coaching goes, if you want to win, you gotta find a way. Frank Ryan of the Cleveland Browns was my athletic director at Yale and we were on the same wavelength. We wanted to win.

Coaching women is much more difficult than teaching men. All guys think they can do it and think that they are great. Women have to believe if they are going to be any good. You have to make them believe that they deserve to win. For example, you can have them run so they can be fit and if they are fit then they won’t quit. They believe they earned it.  Same with lifting weights. At Yale, I had them lift weights but I always picked the time that the cute boys, like to hockey team, would be lifting weights. One of the girls married one of the hockey players. That was when people thought that their uterus would fall out if they lifted weights, but they were willing to do it because of the guys. Coaching women is a hard job. [Laugh]

When did you get back to playing as a senior?

I happened to be in a store one day and Yvonne Stevenson came up to me and asked me to come play at the Wyatt Recreation Center and to partner in the Tennessee Senior Olympics. We won table tennis doubles in the state together and became good friends. She was a classy lady and one of the great joys of playing. That is how I got into it. Someone just walked up to me in a store and told me about it. [Laugh]

I went to table tennis because back in those days, you couldn’t play a sport if you were considered a professional in that sport. So I couldn’t do tennis and started playing table tennis. There was badminton at the club so I started that, and then they brought in Pickleball.

 

You’re in for anything with a racket. What are you playing in this year’s National Senior Games?

I’m playing pickleball and table tennis – singles, doubles and mixed doubles. The difficulty for me is not everyone wants to travel to different places for meets so I have different partners all over the country.

 

What did you think of Pickleball when it first came out?

I think pickleball is so easy that it makes it possible for people to play who aren’t able to play other sports.  I think it’s fabulous. I would like to see them put it in urban areas where kids can play. It has tremendous potential.

I am competitive about everything, so it fit right in with me. It is much simpler than tennis, but if you want to be successful at the sport then you have to learn the strokes. You can’t be a tennis player on the table tennis court and be a good player. Having tennis strokes and tennis mentality has helped, though. It is chip and charge and that is the way grass tennis is. That is how pickleball is, but it has its own nuances.

You are a fierce competitor by nature, Alice. Is there anything you do to intimidate your opponents?

No, I think you do it with your paddle or with your racket. I grew up where you wore white, you spoke multiple languages and you acted like you’d been there before. You try to be a class act. I wouldn’t want to trash talk someone else because I have as much respect for my opponent as I hope they do for me. You don’t always know what people are going through either. Billie Jean was classy.

I like Senior Games the most because they really respect the seniors. I have made tremendous friends through them, and some have become very dear friends. I think that is true for a lot of us.

 

What about tennis? Still play?

It’s sad. I don’t. I decided to stop because when I would play tennis, I would see how far I slipped. But when I play table tennis, I can see how far I have come. Mentally, I just couldn’t handle being crappy.

 

That’s an honest answer. Are you coaching seniors now?

I try not to, but I do that all the time because people ask. [Laugh] We have a little group that goes and gives clinics and exhibitions in pickleball, and I run drills whenever there is a club that wants me. It’s not a formal thing, but it’s the right thing to do. So many people don’t realize that they need to drill and they need to learn. If I don’t do it, who will?

 

You wrote about tennis for years and continue to write for Pickleball magazine. You were also a geography instructor while you were coaching in college. Do you still teach?

No, I retired about 5 years ago. I loved teaching but I tell you, I haven’t been back since the day I retired. I was so busy with all the other connections that it was seamless. I know people that miss it and they come back. I just went from one life to another. I do think that happiness is a choice and I think your life is a choice.

 

You’ve made a lot of good choices, Alice. Thanks for joining the Senior Games Movement!

Herman Kelly, 67, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

You can talk about skill, physical ability and focus as key elements needed to be a successful athlete at any age. One also needs the intangible boost and motivation that comes from having a passion for your sport to see it through.

Herman Kelly’s passion for swimming goes much deeper than the confines of a pool or his own goals and has impacted many more lives than his own.

Herman grew up at a time when segregation barriers still existed and African Americans had little to no choices for a safe place to swim.  His parents made it a point to get lessons for their children, but neither they or the youngster had any idea how this would shape his growth and later provide a path to better aging.

In the following edited conversation, Herman explains that his name translates as “African Warrior” and his passion for competition is fierce, but a bigger passion led him to the clergy to be a spiritual warrior serving others.

Herman became a lifeguard and also swam with his high school team. He was delighted to obtain a partial scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta, which had the most dominant swim team among historically black colleges at the time. He also shares that he first felt the call from God during this time but fought it off. While earning his master’s degree in education and aquatics at Springfield College, he made the decision to become a preacher and went on to Boston University for a second master’s degree in divinity.

He began as a preacher in Massachusetts, and then moved to Louisiana to lead the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge. He concurrently became an African American religion instructor at Louisiana State University. 22 years later, he is now an adjunct professor teaching African American Studies, but the campus and the greater community know Herman better as a swimmer on a mission.

Part of that mission is personal, because he says his workload caused him to fall off from swimming, and he realized in 2014 he had to get back to the pool to regain his health and fitness. He discovered Senior Games and has been training and competing ever since.

In our talk, Herman reveals his greater mission has been to teach African American youth to swim, a passion that is rooted in his memory of witnessing a friend drown as a teenager. His church operates the only swimming ministry in the state that teaches dozens of children annually. You will also learn how his wife’s battle with breast cancer has created a second passion to raise money for cancer survivors.

Overcoming life’s challenges and obstacles is key to pursuing a Personal Best lifestyle. Herman Kelly’s faith and his parent’s wisdom have given him the “weapons” to forge his path as a spiritual warrior. We all have our own path, and Herman hopes his story inspires you on yours.

Herman, tell us how you started swimming. Who influenced you?

My parents. One day, they told my sister and me that they were going to enroll us in swimming lessons. The only place we could swim was at a segregated pool called Washington Heights in Jacksonville, FL. It was a phobia for African Americans to learn how to swim because most couldn’t swim in a pool, so we would swim in a creek or in a pond. And if you swim in a creek or a pond, you know they have undercurrents, undertows and drop-offs. So my parents wanted us to learn how to swim.

My father would take us to lessons and they were .25 cents each. I remember my coach saying, ‘Mr. Kelly, you will never learn how to swim until you learn to let yourself go and let the water hold you up.’ I kept going every year doing recreation swim, and then I was a lifeguard at 16 and got on my high school team. Everybody knew Herman as one of the best black swimmers in the community. Everybody would want to race against us and we would always beat them. My first swimming trophy felt like a million dollars. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Then I got a partial scholarship to Morehouse College and made the swim team, which was like the football team at a school like LSU. They were the national black champions in the ‘70s. My uncle was my mentor and he showed me a catalog and told me Morehouse was a good school. My classmates told me I wasn’t smart enough and that I was wasting my time, but I got in and made the team. I wasn’t their best swimmer, but I could swim everything and did it all four years. I felt like royalty when I came home from college.

Before that, I got called by God when I was 18 but I wanted to have fun instead of preaching. I fought the call while I was at Morehouse.

 

 

So you became a preacher?

Yes, after I went to Springfield College in Massachusetts for my master’s in education with a concentration in aquatics. Springfield is a mecca for athletes. I wanted to be a swim coach and Coach Silvia hired me as a grad assistant.

While I was at Springfield I joined a church, and the pastor looked at me and said, ‘Mr. Kelly, why are you running from your call?  It’s all over you that you are running.’ That was 1980. I finally surrendered after 10 years. I called Boston University and made an appointment to meet with the dean. I went there and got my Masters of Divinity. After graduating, I started pastoring at my first church in Newport, Rhode Island in 1986. I also worked at a prison as a teacher at the same time in Connecticut.

 

How did you end up going south to Baton Rouge?

While I was in Rhode Island the bishop for both Louisiana and Mississippi asked me to come down three times. The fourth time is when I decided to move. I was in Mississippi first where my son and daughter were born. Then I went to Louisiana where I have been the pastor at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge.

 

You are also currently teaching at LSU. How did that come about?

I had taught religion at the community college level, and when I came to Baton Rouge I saw an announcement in the paper that LSU was looking for an African American religion instructor. I interviewed in the spring of 2000, and next semester will be 22 years that I have been on LSU’s campus.

 

What do you teach?

I was in the religion department for awhile, and then the director of African American studies asked me to join him and that’s where I am now. I teach introduction to African American studies and introduction to the civil rights movement, and I also teach an education course.

 

You are a busy man, and there’s more we want to ask you. But getting back to your swimming, how did you come into Senior Games?

I swam recreationally once I got out of college, but I messed around and got away from it because I was raising a family. That was the beginning of starting to lose it. I had been active most of my life and then let myself go. I hit the wall in 2014. I went to my son’s graduation from the police academy, and when I looked back at the pictures I could see that I had a gut. So I went to the doctor and my cholesterol was off the charts. He said to me ‘If you don’t start exercising, I am going to have to put you on medication’ and I said, ‘I don’t think so Doc.’ He gave me six weeks to get my numbers down or I had to start taking medication.

I looked myself in the mirror and said, ‘You can do better than this.’ So I started swimming in the morning and in the afternoon at the LSU rec center. My cholesterol was 205 and after the six weeks it was 166 and I had lost 15 pounds. The nurse said, ‘I guess you are on medication’ and I answered, ‘Yeah, I’m swimming.’ You don’t give an athlete an ultimatum. My name means African Warrior. I’ve been fighting all my life, and I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

 

When did you realize you wanted to swim competitively in Senior Games?  I heard about the state games coming up, and I had a student named Kit Hanley who was on the LSU swim team. I asked her if she would help get me ready because I wanted to compete again. I went to the natatorium after her practice, and she would stay and work with me. I had a second student at the rec center who also offered advice.

I started swimming 10 laps at the university rec center and worked my way up to a mile and a half. Then I swam in my first Louisiana Senior Games in 2018. They had cancelled swimming in 2017, so I organized the games at the YMCA and we got to swim in 2018. I won the butterfly, IM and breaststroke and qualified for the National Senior Games in Albuquerque in 2019.

My son Herman III (we call him Osby so we would know who she was talking to) came with me to New Mexico, and I came in 22^nd in the nation in breaststroke and IM, and 18^th in the butterfly. Osby told me to up my game. He told me that I need to join masters swimming. I didn’t know if I could afford it or if I could keep up with them. I joined LSU Masters Swimming for about a year and got up at 5am to swim and train. I won four gold medals in my age group at the state games in 2019.

I’m now swimming for the team at Crawfish Aquatics here in town. I’ve always taught private lessons at Crawfish, but I swam at LSU because it was convenient. It was a bit of a dilemma – divided allegiance, you know – and I woke up one day and decided to do everything at Crawfish. Besides, because of the pandemic you had to reserve a lane at LSU and there might be three people in a lane. Coach Nan would have the guy open up the pool for me at four in the morning.

 

You’re on track to great things, Herman. What are your goals for the 2022 Games in Florida next May?

My goal for the next Nationals is to be in the top 15 or top 12 in all of my events. My ultimate goal is to be a national champion in 10 years. I will be 77 by that time.

 

One of the great things we heard you are doing is teaching swimming to underserved youth as part of your ministry. Tell us how you began doing this. 

First of all, the reason why more African Americans don’t swim today is because of racism. We didn’t have access on many levels until recent history. I couldn’t have gone to LSU as an African American when I was growing up in the ‘60s, and back then people threw acid in some pools to keep black people out. I couldn’t have joined Bolles school, which is famous for having many Olympians.

When I was a teenager my friend drowned so it was always on my mind. Every summer my heart aches because I hear of African Americans drowning. In 2011, I heard that seven people had drowned in Shreveport and I said to myself, ‘That’s a shame. Somebody ought to do something about that.’ So the Spirit spoke to me and said, ‘You know how to swim, why don’t you do something about that?’

My mission in life is now to teach private swimming lessons for underserved people. I started the Dr. James Haines Swimming Ministry – it’s named after my swimming coach at Morehouse. My congregation serves 66 children. Ours is the only black swimming ministry in the state of Louisiana.

 

Do you have other community projects with swimming?

Yes, and it’s something very close to me. I wanted to swim to raise money for cancer to honor my wife Linda. She got diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014. She was in remission from 2015 to 2019 but it came back as stage four metastatic breast cancer. We thought we had beat it.

I worked with Coach Nan Fontenot at Crawfish Aquatics to organize a “Swim for Life” event and we raised about $7,000. Linda came out of the hospital to be at the event.

Linda passed recently, so next year, I am going to call it “Swim for Linda.” This year we raised about $10,000. After the last one, I got a call from the Patient Advocate Foundation, and they said because we raised so much money they named a scholarship after her for a student who is cancer survivor. The young lady who received the scholarship is a biomedical major.

Now they are doing do this scholarship annually, and I was invited to be on the board of the organization. I like that I get to help pick who gets the scholarship. Last year, we were swimming for Linda’s life, so now we are going to swim for Linda’s memory.

 

We’re proud of you, Herman. You must feel proud to honor her.

Yes. And since she’s been gone I still feel her presence in the pool. I pray to God before I swim, but when I’m in there and starting to lag I call out in my mind, “Help me, Angel Linda” and she helps me finish my swim strong.

 

It’s amazing to see how your life was shaped by just learning to swim, and you are doing great things to serve and help others.

My parents were my Godsend and I have dedicated this journey I’m on to them. I had no idea the impact that those swimming lessons would have on my life. They just told us we were taking lessons, and look where it has taken me.