ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
The 2018 Florida Senior Games Athletes
of the Year may be complete opposites
in stature, but when it comes to their
performances on the field of play, Pickleball
and Table Tennis player Deb Harrison and Track
and Field athlete Brian Hankerson are at the
top of their game.
For their performances at the 2018 Florida
Senior Games, presented by Humana, in
December 2018 in Clearwater and Pinellas
County, Harrison, from The Villages, and
Hankerson, from Hollywood, were named the
49th and 50th Florida Senior Games Athletes of
the Year, since 1994. Besides their outstanding
performances in 2018, the pair have been
regular gold medal winners, not only at the
Florida Senior Games but at the National Senior
Games.
Standing just more than 5 feet tall, Deb
Harrison has used her quick reaction time and
knowledge of the game to win 31 Pickleball
medals since 2005. She began playing Table
Tennis in the Florida Senior Games in 2010 and
has won 18 gold medals over the last 10 years,
in women’s singles and doubles and mixed
doubles.
“Experience is helpful too,” Harrison said.
“I’ve been playing Pickleball for 16 years and
teaching the game for many years. It is a
disadvantage to be short. It affects your reach
for high and wide balls. You have to be superb
to overcome that.”
In 2018, she won her 13th mixed doubles gold
medal dating back to 2004 and after winning
on top Deb Harrison and
the Women’s Singles gold medal, it marked the
third different age group she has won a gold
medal (55-59, 60-64, 65-69). The 2018 Women’s
Singles championship was her eighth overall
women’s singles title since 2005.
She competes on a national level and is a
Pickleball instructor in The Villages. At the 2019
National Senior Games, she won a silver medal
in Table Tennis and three Pickleball medals,
38 OFFICIAL PROGRAM | 2019 FLORIDA
of their
game
Brian Hankerson are
Hollywood’s Brian
Hankerson won two
golds and a silver
in the 2018 Florida
Senior Games.