Columnist Susan Snyder: Seniors not ready to graduate

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 | 8:09 a.m.

Francell Morgan's retirement looks more like a second childhood.

"My children can't keep up with me," the 75-year-old Las Vegas woman said. "When they visit, I insist they walk with me. We walk 30 minutes a day."

So far, only one of her daughters can walk faster. But it's hardly fair. After all, Morgan is a medal winner in the Nevada Senior Olympics, an event for people ages 50 and older sponsored by Nevada Senior Games Inc.

I caught up with Morgan and a few of her fellow athletes at Saturday's Helldorado Days parade as they awaited their turn to march in the Fourth Street procession.

Nevada Senior Games, created in 1997, attracts more than 2,000 athletes to olympiads in seven cities across the state. They compete in 32 events, from basketball, bowling, badminton and cycling to running, volksmarching, volleyball and weight lifting. There's pistol-shooting, table tennis, croquet, golf, swimming and three kinds of dance.

If it uses a ball, racquet, paddle, bullet or otherwise gets you up and moving around, chances are there's a medal for it. Check out the list at www.nevadaseniorolympics.com.

The national games this year in Pittsburgh are expected to attract 10,000 to 12,000 senior athletes. Another 7,000 typically compete in the Huntsman World Senior Games, conducted annually in St. George, Utah.

Forget the rocking chair. Grandma wants a pair of running shoes.

"It's wonderful to see so many people 80 and 90 years of age out there," Morgan said. "It helps us maintain our physical beings and keeps our minds active."

Hal Rhea, Nevada Senior Games president, is a retired Indiana University health and physical education professor who has competed at the senior level since 1991. Now age 69, Rhea focuses on cycling, as does his wife, Fonda, 59. The games give families a chance to see their oldest members in a new light.

"Everybody brings their children and grandchildren out," he said.

Debbie Lorenzo, 53, said she played badminton competitively until 1990, when surgery on both feet knocked her out of the game. But the Nevada Senior Olympics has given her the opportunity to play again.

"It's been a motivation for me. Now I have a chance to be competitive again," said Lorenzo, who also volunteers in the organization's office. "I'm an athlete. I was born one and raised one, and I will die one."

Probably not soon. Competitors pushing 80 are common, and some athletes are much older. Rhea said a 90-year-old Nevada swimmer recently set a world record in the 50-yard freestyle.

Maybe it's having all that time to train. In any case, if population trends are any indication, Western states will continue to create some of the nation's best senior athletes.

U.S. Census figures show Nevada led the senior migration boom from 1990 to 2003, when the state's population of residents 65 and older doubled. And seven other Western states were listed among the nation's top 10 for growth in the senior population.

At least half of the nation's Baby Boomers will be 50 or older by the end of this year. For such people as Rhea, the competition could be getting stiffer. But he's ready.

"I've bought four bikes since we've lived here," he said.