Profiles of 2007 Champions
More than 12,000 athletes competed in the 2007 Summer National Senior Games in Louisville, KY. Humana is proud to highlight the achievements of several members who competed in those games. Ages shown were during the 2007 Senior Games.
Jeanne K.
Cyclist
73 years old
Rapid City, South Dakota
When she was younger, Jeanne K. yearned to play competitive sports, but there were few opportunities for girls. As she got older, she gradually got more active. She took up running for fitness in her 40s, started entering 10K races, and even ran the Lincoln Marathon at age 53, placing third in her age group. "It was like a dream come true," she says.
Then she discovered cycling. She started biking at age 55 when she, her husband, and her son bought a bike store. 2007 was her first year of competition at the National Games. She participated in four cycling events and placed in them all. "I think of the Senior Games as an incentive for year-round fitness," she says.
"I think of the Senior Games as an incentive for year-round fitness"
Don I.
Track and Field
68 years old
Dallas, Texas
Don I. learned to pole vault when he was 13. He used an old television antenna as a pole and practiced in his front yard. After a break of more than 40 years, he's back at it. "It's a great feeling," says the 2007 gold medal winner. Don also won bronze medals in the long jump and high jump.
Don discovered senior competitions about three years ago, and "kind of got hooked," he says. He competes to experience the friendships and rivalries. "It's a fellowship of people who all love doing the same thing and appreciate each other for what they can do, and for getting out there and trying."
"It's a fellowship of people who all love doing the same thing and appreciate each other for what they can do, and for getting out there and trying."
Walter D.
Basketball and Volleyball
67 years old
Clearwater, Florida
2007 was Walter D.'s fifth time competing in both basketball and volleyball at the National Games, and his fifth time as captain of both teams – both call the Clearwater Aces. At the games, his basketball team came in seventh, and in volleyball, they finished fifth. A lifelong athlete, Walter attended college on a basketball scholarship and has played ever since.
"It's not just that we do these sports. Fitness and good health become a year-round attitude," says Walter, who speaks from both personal and professional experience. In addition to being an athlete, he is a retired doctor. At 6'6" and 225 pounds, he weighs exactly what he weighed at age 22.
"It's not just that we do these sports. Fitness and good health become a year-round attitude"
Flo M.
Track and Field
73 years old
Shelburne, Vermont
Participating in sports is a good way to release stress. "When you're on the track, you don't think about anything else," says Flo M., who won a gold in the pole vault and set a new national record – breaking her own previously set record – for the National Games. She competed in several other events and placed second in the high jump, third in the triple jump, and fourth in the long jump. This level of activity seems even more impressive when you consider she didn't start doing track and field until she was 60 years old. Before that, she competed in tennis at the National Games.
What keeps her going? "I'm the type of person who always likes a challenge," she says. "Some mornings I think it would be so nice to stay in bed, but if you want to do well, you have to get up and train."
"Some mornings I think it would be so nice to stay in bed, but if you want to do well, you have to get up and train."
Joyce and G. Roy A.
Shuffleboard
73 & 75 years old
Water Valley, Kentucky
"I was born in 1934 and women weren't supposed to do anything except be a wife, a mother, a cook … I went to sports events with my four sons for years. When I found out that I could do sports too, I loved it," says Joyce, who started playing shuffleboard 15 years ago with her husband Roy.
The pair won the gold in the doubles shuffleboard at the 2007 National Games, and Roy won the gold in the single men's competition. "We know the game inside and out," says Joyce. Before taking up shuffleboard, both had been runners for a number of years. Together they have 285 medals and trophies and more than 200 t-shirts on display in a barn. "We also enjoy the competition and the people."
"We also enjoy the competition and the people."
Rachel S.
Tennis
70 years old
Hummerstown, Pennsylvania
A six-time gold medal winner at the National Games, including 2007 in the women's singles event, Rachel S. has been active all her life. Growing up, Rachel competed in field hockey, softball, and basketball, and taught herself tennis as a college student.
"You get a great amount of exercise in a short time, plus you're playing against another person and you're always trying to improve," says Rachel. She has won gold in every age division she's competed in at the National Games, and she and her husband Carl have competed in mixed doubles.
"You get a great amount of exercise in a short time, plus you're playing against another person and you're always trying to improve"
Sandy S.
Cycling
67 years old
Seminole, Florida
If you want to talk about comebacks, talk to Sandy S. Just two years ago, Sandy's doctors were doubtful he'd ever cycle again, after he broke his neck at the C1 cervical vertebrae in a cycling accident. The injury is immediately fatal in half of all cases. Sandy had been cycling for just a year before the injury and discovered that he was very good at it – perhaps not surprising, since he'd been a nationally ranked long-distance runner in his 40s.
Surgery was recommended, but Sandy refused. Three days after his accident he began riding a stationary bike for 70 minutes a day, neck brace and all. Thirteen months after his accident, he realized his dream of winning Florida's statewide competition in the Senior Games for both the 5K and 20K road trials. While he didn't do as well as he wanted in the 2007 games, he's already set new goals. "I'm still improving at age 67."
"I'm still improving at age 67."
Phyllis F.
Archery
71 years old
Scottsdale, Arizona
Archery was not something Phyllis F. spent her life longing to do. The 2007 gold medal winner for archery with a compound bow mechanical release says she "had never even looked at a bow" before the day 14 years ago when she held one in her hands for the first time. She started shooting, and discovered a new love. "It was a real challenge," she says.
Phyllis competed in the National Games for the fifth time in 2007, and she's won gold for the second time; Her first gold medal was in 1995 at the first games she attended. This year, she also set a record for the highest score shot in a single day at the games.
"It was a real challenge"
