2 0 1 7 F L O R I D A S E N I O R G A M E S C O M M E M O R A T I V E P R O G R A M
T H E G A M E S
The Games, by the numbers
8
Welcome to the 2017
Florida Senior
Games, now in
its 26th year, will surpass
50,000 entries since the
Games began in 1992.
Through the 2016 Florida Senior Games,
there were 48,201 entries. The 1,799th
registered athlete of the 2017 Games will
become Mr. or Ms. 50,000!
It’s 50,000 entries because we can’t
honestly say 50,000 athletes. So many
senior athletes, age 50 and over, have
returned year after year, one athlete could
account for 10 or more entries.
Take for instance Clermont’s Charlie
Weatherbee, who will be competing in his
19th Florida Senior Games, dating back
to 1993. He is registered in the 85-89 age
group to swim five events two months
after having a heart attack with 90%
blockage of his arteries. He qualified for
the 2017 Games at the Ormond Beach
Senior Games on October 21 but was not
satisfied with his time.
So he returned to the pool at the Golden
Age Games on November 4 to swim a
better time.
“One of the side effects of the beta
blockers medication I was taking was
shortness of breath,” he said. “It really
affected my time.
Besides competing in the Florida Senior
Games, Weatherbee, a retired paramedic,
is a member of the World Fire and Police
Games Hall of Fame and has traveled the
world competing in swimming events.
With a medal-winning performance
at the Long Center in Clearwater on
December 2-3, Weatherbee will collect his
105th Florida Senior Games medal.
Moving from the pool deck to the
pickleball courts is record-setting
swimmer Pat Sargeant, formerly
of Melbourne and now calling Tallahassee
home.
The 2005 Florida Senior Games Female
Athlete of the year holds 12 records in the
50-54 and 55-59 age group. Between 2005
and 2011, Sargeant set seven freestyle
records, four butterfly records and an
individual medley record that still stands.
She had rotator cuff surgery in 2012 and
several subsequent surgeries to follow
which are keeping her from competitive
swimming.
“I can push but can’t pull,” she says
of the current range of motion in her
shoulder. “Swinging a pickleball paddle is
pushing, but I can’t pull for swim strokes.”
Her women’s doubles partner, Jodi
Yambor, is another swimmer who has
chosen the pickleball court over the pool.
Yambor is a member of the University of
Miami Sports Hall of Fame and earned
six individual All-American honors and
nine as part of relay teams during her
Hurricane career. Sargeant will team with
Ronnie Satterfield for mixed doubles play.
Sargeant followed her own advice
on making the dive to Pickleball. As a
swimmer, she convinced many an athlete
to get in the pool
and just give it a
try. After watching
Yambor and other
play, she decided to
start swinging the
paddle.
“I was one of those
people I used to try
and motivate,” she
said. “Saying, ‘Oh, I
don’t practice enough. I haven’t played in a
tournament.’ Finally I just did it.”
Sargeant was a four-year volleyball
letterwinner at Florida State from 1971-75.
She also played basketball, was a swimmer
and did field events for the Seminoles
Track and Field team.
Forgive the husband and wife
swimming duo, Terry and Patria
McGee, of Big Pine Key for what
might not be their best times at the 2017
Florida Senior Games. They’ve been a
bit busy after the eye of Hurricane Irma
passed right over their hometown in early
September.
“I personally didn’t have a lot of damage,”
McGee said. “I’m putting back the last bit
of fence that was lost around our house.”
The rest of the community took quite
a hit. McGee moved to Big Pine Key in
Charlie Weatherbee
Jodi Yambor and Pat Sargeant Terry McGee