Even with pacemaker, this Olympian sets a hectic pace

Stephen Curran

Friday, Sept. 13, 2002 | 2:37 a.m.

For more information on the Nevada Senior Games, call 242-1590 or visit their website (www.nevadaseniorolympics.com.) The deadline for applications is Sept.23.

Like many men, Roger Hall fancies himself an amateur athlete.

He is an avid golfer, walks two miles every day, enjoys free-throw contests and can hold up his end of a 50-meter dash.

And he's 82 years old.

At an age most men are enjoying life at a slower pace, Hall, a retired engineer and resident of Southern Nevada for 51 years, is gearing up for the 2002 Nevada Senior Games, which begin Sept. 28 and run through Oct. 6.

A kick-off expo was scheduled for 9 a.m. today at Dula Gym, 441 E. Bonanza Road.

Hall has taken part in the games for 22 years, competing at the first Nevada Senior Games in 1980 and serving as president when the organization became part of the National Senior Olympics in 1985.

He has since stepped down to focus on athletics, he said. This year he will compete in eight events -- shotput, discus, javelin, the 50-meter dash, golf, the basketball free-throw, bocce and shuffleboard.

He would have run the 100-meter dash too, but his doctor thought the distance would strain his pacemaker.

"My pacemaker can't keep up with me," Hall said.

Hall will be one of a record number of athletes expected to take part in this year's games, Vince Addamo, executive director for the Nevada Senior Games, said.

Since its inception the program has grown from about 23 participants to more than 700 last year. The highest numbers -- nearly 1,200 participants -- were recorded in 1998, Addamo said.

"We started small but we've gone through a tremendous growth," Addamo said.

Before 1996 the games attracted between 100 and 200 competitors, but grew rapidly after that, thanks to increased promotions, he said.

The most popular events remain track and field, swimming, tennis and bowling, Addamo said.

In fact, the games have grown so much that they have expanded to include competitions in Mesquite, Minden, Reno, Ely and Elko. Future sites are planned in Laughlin and Pahrump.

The added publicity has made all of the difference, Hall said. To help defray insurance costs, the games now have corporate sponsorship.

"We've grown like Las Vegas has grown," he said.

When the program first started, it cost only $1 per game to compete, Hall remembered. When the company was incorporated and had to take on additional insurance, it was forced to raise event fees.

Hall estimates that it now costs him about $150 to compete.

"In the beginning you could compete in every doggone event for $20," he said.

For Hall, though, the program's success has been a mixed blessing. After serving as president from 1986 to 1991, he decided to step down.

But his lifelong love of sports kept him involved in the program, he said. A quarterback and basketball player at Iowa State and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif., Hall grew up in a competitive family where sports were a way of life.

Growing up in Long Beach, he and his younger brother were co-captains of their high school's basketball team. His brother recently retired as a basketball coach at Colorado State University.

"He still tries to beat me in golf," he said.

His love of sports has since translated to a part-time job coaching youth sports for the Henderson Parks and Recreation Department.

He also holds season tickets to Las Vegas 51s baseball and UNLV football and basketball.

In fact, he loves sports so much he and his wife keep two televisions in the kitchen, one for her and one for sports.

"I walk in and my wife immediately turns my TV to sports," Hall said.

Since he started competing, Hall has garnered 119 medals from games in Nevada, Utah, California and Arizona, medals he keeps displayed on eight coat hangers in his Henderson home.

For most of the competitors, competing is a life-long obsession, Addamo said.

The oldest athlete he remembers is a 93-year-old woman who competed in swimming last year.

"We tend to attract the kind of people who were involved in sports all their lives," Addamo said. "A 93-year-old doesn't just start competing."