Senior Corner

"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away," says Dan Cravens (a.k.a. Mr. Table Tennis/Forest Gump) from Nevada. "As for me, it will be slowly off into the sunset out west."

However, last March, this industrious table tennis coordinator proved that the personal sunset can be postponed as long as the mature adult is willing to create a new quest for life! This March, Dan coordinated table tennis at the 2004 Henderson Senior Olympics, with Jerry Ladd’s assistance. This event was a great success and it included senior athletes from 50 to 89 years of age (see results in this issue).

Last year was also another great year for the Nevada Senior Games. 850 athletes competed in the Vestin Nevada Senior Olympics in Las Vegas, a record turnout for a non-qualifying year. Dan Cravens again was coordinating table tennis events.

Many widely known table tennis seniors attended these games. Among them were gold winners Ragnar Falstrom (65-69), Bill Neely (70-74), and Ivan Slade (85-89). Neil Smyth received silver and Byng Forsberg received bronze (75-79). Among women athletes the top winners were Irina Borisova (60-64), Harriet Quon (50-54), and Heather Fox (75-79). Hui Ping Fuschino (50-54), Jinny Longee (70-74), and Patricia Thomas (75-79) took second places.

This May, more than 300 athletes (including table tennis players) took part in the first Laguna Woods, CA, Leisure World Senior Games, hoping to win Leisure World Olympic Medals and to be a part of living history. Olga Kahan was the table tennis games director. These senior games went extremely well, and, according to Debbie Lamb, Director of the Recreation Division of Laguna Woods Leisure World, these games will be repeated annually in Southern California and will be qualifiers for State Senior Olympics.