Pennyrile Senior Games article

On a recent chilly spring morning, 92-year-old Carl Hadden stood just beneath and to the side of the basketball goal in the gym of the North Drive Community Center. He calmly sized up his quarry and then took his best shot, sinking the ball on his very first try.

   Hadden didn’t make any of his subsequent baskets, but it didn’t matter. The Elkton man went on to place first in his age category for the basketball shoot at the 19^th annual Pennyrile Regional Senior Games in Hopkinsville.

   The oldest male participant in this year’s games, Hadden also took part in a one-mile walk that was the first event on Tuesday, and he planned to compete in the bean bag and washer tosses as well as other events later in the day.

   The senior games kicked off on Monday with golf at Western Hills Golf Course and bowling at the Indian Hills Bowl, both in Hopkinsville. Activities will end today at Ruff Park in Hopkinsville, with billiards, shuffleboard and horseshoes, croquet for the men and lawn bowling for female participants.

   A banquet recognizing the winners of the event is slated for 4 this afternoon at the community center (formerly the Hopkinsville-Christian County Recreation Department) on Thomas Street in Hopkinsville.

Programs Coordinator Pam Rudd said this year’s senior games included 265 participants from the nine-county area of the Pennyrile region, which includes Todd County. Participants came from all nine counties, although Rudd said she couldn’t say how many came from individual communities.

   She did say that there were a few less participants in this year’s games, but that didn’t dampen people’s enthusiasm for the event.

   “They’re real excited,” Rudd noted on Tuesday morning. “They’re all excited and enjoying themselves. It seems to get better every year.”

   Inside the gym of the community center, game participants squared off on both ends of the court for some friendly basketball competition, while competitors outdoors waited their turn for the washer toss.

   Vendors offered cold drinks, coffee and snacks for the participants, and Jennie Stuart Medical Center had a table set up in the gym where the seniors could have their blood pressure and eyesight checked.

   Elkton resident Donald Hood said he usually takes advantage of the medical screenings, and he likes taking part in the different events and getting to catch up with his friends and neighbors.

   “It’s good for your morale,” the Pond River Road man observed. “It’s good for you mentally, and it’s good for you physically because you do get some exercise. I look forward to coming over here every year and participating in it.”

   Donald Hood and his wife, Laura, have been taking part in the annual games for several years now, and the two said they planned to compete in every event this year except walking.

   Laura Hood noted that she always wins ribbons when she participates in the games, and she said she likes getting out and doing something she enjoys.

   Todd countian Barbara Draper described the games as a “day of getting out and being outside.”

   “I love it,” declared Draper, who lives seven miles outside of Elkton. “I’m glad they have it. It’s nice for seniors to be together and fellowship. I just like to get outside and participate in it.”

   Along with Hadden, Draper and the Hoods were among an estimated 25 to 30 residents of Todd County who took part in this year’s senior games. Some made the journey on their own, while others like Hadden rode together on the Todd County Senior Citizens Center bus.

   Bus driver Penny Hyams accompanied Hadden while he walked the one-mile lap near the community center early Tuesday morning, and she stayed with him as he competed in the games’ other events.

   Hyams said she expected to glimpse a sea of ribbons on her drive home later that afternoon. She pinned a blue one on Hadden’s tan sweater as he sat on the bleachers waiting for his turn in the games.

   In front of him, competitors flung red washers at white boards, trying to get their washers in the holes on the boards, and bean bag game participants did much the same a few feet away, flinging their red and black cloth squares at similar game boards lined up in the grass.

   Hadden was just trying to stay warm in the cool morning. The Todd County native, who is legally blind, could see only shapes on the playing field.

   This past week was his third year as a participant in the games. Widowed in 1999, Hadden decided the games would give him something to do, and he said he enjoys trying to be active as well as being with people and getting to meet folks.

   Two years ago, he carried the torch for the opening ceremonies, and Hadden, a former teacher and car dealer and an Army veteran of World War II, said he enjoyed the whole thing.

   “I enjoyed being with people,” said the older man, a resident of South Main Street who was born and grew up on a farm north of Elkton. “I guess I just like the people, being with them, that’s the main thing.”

Source:

Todd County Standard

By Tonya S. Grace