Senior Olympics

The registration deadline for the 1991 Maryland Senior Olympics is tomorrow. The Games will be held Oct. 10-12 at Towson State University.Athletes ages 55 and older will compete in events that include aquatics, archery, badminton, basketball, billiards, bowling, cycling, golf, horseshoes, racquetball, softball, table tennis, tennis and track and field.For a registration booklet, call the Maryland Office on Aging at 225-1094, or 1-800-AGE-DIAL outside the Baltimore area. The Games are sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland, and last year nearly 1,400 athletes competed.

At 68, Wayne Reisberg likes to stay active. A volunteer track and field coach at Century, he walks a lot, throws the discus and enjoys traveling around the country with his wife Pauline. Reisberg combined sports with travel a few years back and began competing in the Senior Olympics. Last month, he finished ninth in the discus in the 65-69 age group at the national senior games in Houston with a throw of 109 feet, six inches. It was an improvement from his 14th-place finish in the 60-64 age group four years ago in Louisville.

Mary Iglehart "Tony" Duke, a homemaker and Maryland Senior Olympics medalist, died of complications from pneumonia Tuesday at Sinai Hospital. The Homeland resident was 77. Born Mary Iglehart Taylor in Baltimore and raised on Mount Royal Terrace, she was a 1945 graduate of Mount St. Agnes High School and continued to have lunch every other month with classmates. She made her debut at the Bachelors Cotillon. Elected athletic association president while earning a bachelor of arts degree at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, she played field hockey, badminton, tennis, basketball and volleyball.

Leonard Matthews Finley II, a retired employee relations manager for Exxon Corp., died June 18 from Alzheimer's disease at Somerford Assisted-Living in Annapolis. He was 87. Mr. Finley was born and raised in New Orleans, where he was a 1941 graduate of Jesuit High School. His college career at Tulane University was interrupted when he served in the Navy as a seaman from 1943 to 1946. He earned both a bachelor's and master's degree in chemical engineering from Tulane. He joined Exxon Corp.

The Maryland Senior Olympics that start today will be dedicated to a man who was one of the pillars of the games from their inception in 1980.Beach Schultz, who died at age 72 last February soon after swimming in a meet at UMBC, will be remembered during a ceremony before the start of the swimming events tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. at Towson State's Burdick Pool. He was an organizer and commissioner as well as a participant.Schultz, a St. Paul's School graduate, competed as a Masters swimmer at the state, national and international levels.

A torch run from Annapolis and the lighting of a flame on the campus of Towson State University yesterday helped proclaim open the 12th annual Maryland Senior Olympics, a statewide athletic competition for men and women at least 55 years of age.Competition in 14 sports will be held today and tomorrow, with track and field, swimming, and bowling drawing the largest interest. Participation has steadily increased over the years and the weekend program is expected to attract a record 1,500 entries.

The 13th annual Maryland Senior Olympics, open to residents age 55 and older, takes place tomorrow through Saturday on the campus of Towson State University and other selected sites.Sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland, in cooperation with the Maryland Office on Aging, the Senior Olympics is the single largest senior athletic event in the state.In addition to more than 50 individual events, three team events are scheduled, including three-on-three basketball, softball and volleyball.

At 82, Harriett Rogers isn't about to wear herself out training for the Senior Olympics.Although Rogers has won dozens of medals in state and national competition, she considers her everyday chores training enough."

The Maryland Old Liners softball team took the gold medal for the fourth straight year during the Maryland Senior Olympics last week at Towson State University.The team is made up of men 65 and older from Howard, Montgomery and Baltimore counties.The first game of the double-elimination tournament was played in Glen Burnie last month. In the finals Friday, the Old Liners beat Pepco of Montgomery County, 21-10 and 9-1.The Maryland Senior Olympics were held Thursday through Saturday. More than 1,500 seniors participated in the track and field, team and individual events, including more than 60 from Howard.

John Kahnert started heaving the 16-pound shot at age 15. By the Olympic Games of 1948, he had proved himself among the world's best, placing 13th for his native Argentina.Now 63, Kahnert, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound athlete, still is adding medals to his collection. In today's age 60-64 shot-put event at the 11th annual Maryland Senior Olympics, being held at Towson State through tomorrow, Kahnert will try to win his seventh gold medal in as many years."My main objective is always to win," said Kahnert, a physical-education instructor at Catonsville Community College and a Lutherville resident.

Albert J. Havranek, a retired printer and Marine Corps veteran of World War II, died Monday of a brain hemorrhage at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Parkville resident was 84. He immigrated with his father to East Baltimore from Czechoslovakia at age 9, and in 1940 graduated from a vocational high school program. He enlisted in the Marines in 1940 and served in the Pacific theater. He held the rank of sergeant at his 1945 discharge. He began working for the French-Bray Printing Co. in Baltimore, retiring in 1987.

Judith Stillman isn't the least bit surprised when she comes home from work and finds a note from her husband saying he's "gone for the day." She knows exactly what he's up to - one of his twin passions of volleyball and softball - and she approves completely. Richard Stillman, 73, is a lifelong athlete who is happy to be "involved in some form of sports just about every day of the week." "You don't have time to think about slowing down when you keep busy," said Stillman, who plays with two replaced knees.

Richard Subock, 72, of Ellicott City has been bowling in the Maryland Senior Olympics "at least since 1990," he said, and has no plans to quit. "I'll do it as long as I live," he vowed. And maybe even beyond that. He doesn't know whether bowling alleys exist in the hereafter, but he suspects they do. Isn't thunder the sound of pins being knocked down? He is joking, of course, but not about his love for the game. He plays five days a week in three leagues, and his best score is 297. All that practice pays off in the Senior Olympics.

Seniors offered information on Medicare program The Harford County Office on Aging is holding a series of informational meetings to discuss the new Medicare Prescription Drug Program for senior citizens and those with disabilities who have Medicare coverage. The new program becomes effective in January. Representatives from the Social Security Administration and Harford County Office on Aging's Senior Health Insurance Program will answer questions about eligibility, cost and benefits during two-hour sessions, and will be available for one-on-one counseling in filing for the benefit.

Wallace E. "Wally" Dow, a retired YMCA director who began a second career operating a booking agency, died of complications of old age June 27 at the Masonic Home in Hunt Valley. The longtime Monkton resident was 96. The Dow Agency, which placed lecturers, writers, musicians and artists from around the world, grew out of Mr. Dow's college experience booking bands and his work directing programs and camps for the YMCA. Along with his wife, the former Elizabeth "Bibber" Sparks, he continued running the business well into his 80s. The agency drew Shakespearean actors, Dickens lecturers and Europe's popular singers to the United States.

Nancy Brown laughs about the fact that she can be a bit pushy when the subject is swimming. It's not uncommon for her to be at a pool, see a stranger doing laps in a less-than-perfect way, and simply go and dispense some unsolicited advice. "Usually, people are very receptive," said Brown, 69, a longtime swimming coach and competitive swimmer. "Most people are very happy. They're struggling in the water, and I'll do anything to make it easier." Swimming is her passion, said Brown, a widowed grandmother of 12. Since moving to Pasadena in 1984, she has coached and swum with the SPY Maryland Masters, an Anne Arundel County-based group that has been competing in age-group meets through the YMCA masters' swimming program - and winning numerous awards in its national events.

Mayo Elementary School Principal Victoria Waidner won five medals in the Maryland Senior Olympics last week and will compete in the National Senior Olympics next spring.She received silver medals in standing and running long jump; and bronze in shot put, discus and javelin."I was at the top of my age group, so I didn't know how I was going to do. I'm thankful," Waidner, 59, said.Although she won no gold medals, she said her showing was good "for a girl who did no sports" as a child.Waidner is a five-time Senior Olympian who has racked up 26 medals in the amateur contests.

When the 12th annual Maryland Senior Olympics open today in Towson, 85-year-old Noel Cook of Annapolis will be there, wielding a mean stick.Cook, the county's oldest participant this year, won't be playing hockey, lacrosse or pole vaulting. The stick he'll be using is a pool cue and his game of choice, billiards.The active octogenarian, who also swims four times a week, said he's participating in the Olympics for the first time this year "for the fun of it" and because a fellow pool player "talked me into it."

Mary Iglehart "Tony" Duke, a homemaker and Maryland Senior Olympics medalist, died of complications from pneumonia Tuesday at Sinai Hospital. The Homeland resident was 77. Born Mary Iglehart Taylor in Baltimore and raised on Mount Royal Terrace, she was a 1945 graduate of Mount St. Agnes High School and continued to have lunch every other month with classmates. She made her debut at the Bachelors Cotillon. Elected athletic association president while earning a bachelor of arts degree at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, she played field hockey, badminton, tennis, basketball and volleyball.

They don't slam dunk or dribble the ball between their legs, and "fast break" is perhaps not the most appropriate term. But as a couple of whippersnappers learned yesterday, the old guys at Bykota Senior Center come to play. More than 30 of them showed up for yesterday's over-60 pickup games after learning that County Executive James T. Smith Jr. would take the court, along with state Sen. James Brochin, a Towson Democrat who had met one of the team members while knocking on doors last summer.