It's Never Too Late!: Personal Stories of Staying Young Through Sports

by Kislevitz, Gail Waesche

• ISBN13: 9781891369216
• ISBN10: 1891369210
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: CONSORTIUM BOOK SALES & DISTRIBUTN

Summary

From the editor of the extremely popular First Marathons comes this collection of oral histories from people who discovered their passion for sports late in life. Here are extraordinary, inspiring stories that truly show it is never too late to start, to find your athletic bliss and follow it. These accounts relate the transforming joy, the outright ecstasy (and the innumerable aches and pains) of being a late bloomer in sports-and how sports keep these people vigorous, mentally acute, and fully alive.These profiles include an eighty-year-old woman who swims a mile each day; a bicycle racer in his seventies; a sea-kayaker in his eighties; a ninety-one-year-old runner; a seventy-five-year-old tennis champ who beats men twenty years younger than him; and many more. Each one is eloquent on the subject of how he or she came to discover sports, and in the story of each person's pre-sports life we see a beautiful cross-section of society: the office workers and laborers of the greatest generation, all set to their tasks and set to raising families, putting off athletics for another day. Their blooming as athletes late in life is in each case a source of wonder to them, a treasure trove they're only too happy to share.As with First Marathons, this book is a marvelous slice of life, and testament to the powers of all humanity to strive and succeed. Anyone looking for the courage to start will find it here. This book will be voraciously read by Baby Boomers nearing retirement. Gail Kislevitz is the author of First Marathons: Personal Encounters with the 26.2-mile Monster. She writes for numerous magazines, including Runner's World. She lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	9	(4)
Introduction	13	(6)
cycling	19	(10)
Robert Beal
swimming	29	(8)
Ivy Browne
triathlon	37	(10)
Sr. Madonna Buder
in-line skating	47	(8)
Al Chechik
running	55	(8)
Manfred d'Elia
running	63	(8)
Pierre delFausse
triathlon	71	(10)
Rosemary Ennis
bodybuilding	81	(6)
Joe Gold
tap dancing	87	(8)
Ralph Guild
cycling	95	(8)
James House
running	103	(10)
Sidney Howard
all sports	113	(8)
Ralph Hoyle
swimming	121	(10)
Richard Kane
swimming	131	(6)
Robert Katz
running	137	(10)
John Keston
running	147	(8)
Helen Klein
bodybuilding	155	(8)
Jack LaLanne
kayaking	163	(6)
Leonard LeShay
cycling	169	(10)
Lois Lindsay
cycling	179	(8)
Mae MacKay
running	187	(8)
Muriel Merl
swimming	195	(8)
John Merrill
tennis	203	(10)
Val Orosz
running	213	(12)
Lucille Singleton
race walking	225	(8)
Nona Todd
running	233	(8)
Sis Warnke
swimming	241	(8)
John Woods
bodybuilding	249	(32)
Harold Zinkin
An Interview	257	(10)
Dr. Walter Bortz
``Separating the Medical Myths from the Facts About Aging''
Starting a Sports Program
Running	267	(4)
Amby Burfoot
Swimming	271	(6)
Bill Volckening
Joining a Gym	277	(4)
Joe Gold
Organization for Senior Athletics and Activities	281	(2)
Lessons Learned	283	(3)
Further reading	286