NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES
that’s unacceptable. Somehow, the second day I got
it down to five and the third down to three, which, to
me, is acceptable.”
His three day total of 246, was one stroke ahead of
the second-place finisher, Marvin Selby, of Michigan.
Selby was the leader after day two, four strokes
ahead of Jones, but shot an 86 on the final day to
allow Jones to win the gold medal.
The East Coast Bouncers won the Women’s 75+
Age Group Basketball gold medal winning a total of
10 games in four days, with a center who fractured
her wrist prior to the Games, and coming out of the
loser’s bracket to defeat their nemesis, the Michigan
Spirits twice. Their last four games were played
within a span of seven hours on Friday, June 21
Undefeated in four games of pool play to achieve the
top seed of the eight team championship bracket,
the Bouncers lost their second game of bracket
play to the San Diego Sun, a team they beat in pool
play by 18 points. The Bouncers won their next three
elimination games, including a win over the San
Diego Sun, by 23 points to set up the final with the
Michigan Spirits.
“They have a really tall center, named ‘Big Edna,’ who
scores every time she gets the ball,” said Bouncers
team member Julie Bradley. “We got a tall player
from one of the other teams from The Villages to
simulate her in our practices. “
The strategy worked as the Bouncers defeated the
Spirits by identical scores of 23-19 in the final two
games of bracket play.
“We were behind in both games and came back to
win,” Bradley said. “We double-teamed ‘Big Edna’ and
that was the key. We kept her from getting the ball
and from scoring. Needless to say, we were ecstatic.”
Florida Table Tennis players swept the top three
medals in the Men’s Doubles 55-59 age group.
Garth Jordan of Tampa and Winston Dowridge of
Jacksonville won the gold medal while Ricardo Abril
of Orlando teamed with an out-of-state partner,
Dennis Lee, for the silver. Dwight Newton, of
Melbourne, teamed with William Lee, from Orlando
for the bronze medal.
Deb Harrison of The Villages won a silver medal in
Table Tennis in the women’s singles 70-74 age group
and won three Pickleball medals, a gold in women’s
doubles with Ruth Weil, also from The Villages, and
silver medals in women’s singles and mixed doubles
in the 65-69 age group with The Villages’ James
Hoggatt.
Of the 13,718 total athletes competing at the 2019
National Senior Games, 687 were from Florida.
Since 2001, 5,406 Florida athletes have registered to
compete in the National Senior Games.
2019 FLORIDA SENIOR GAMES REGISTRATION BOOK 23
Patrice Hirr, from
The Villages, won
six gold medals
in six events at
the 2019 National
Senior Games.
LEFT: The East Coast
Bouncers won 10 games
over four days to win the
75+ Women’s Basketball
Gold Medal. BELOW:
Kathy Petrillo, of Jupiter,
center, owns four cycling
gold medals.