Local veterans earn their stripes
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    Local veterans earn their stripes

    Local veterans earn their stripes
    21st annual Golden Age Games gave residents chances to face athletes ages 55-85 from around the U.S.

    By BETTY L. MARTIN
    Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

    Some area military veterans said the 21st annual National Veterans Golden Age Games in Houston was a chance to see fellow soldiers from throughout the country — a band of brothers and sisters who have become a family that time cannot diminish.

    Still other former military men and women representing the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, 2002 Holcombe Blvd., said the highlight of the competition Aug. 26-31 at the George R. Brown Convention Center was the chance to compete against 670 former military service members from throughout the country.

    But most local veterans, such as Westbury resident Basil Morehead, who served in Vietnam, enjoy both.

    That's one reason he and others in the age 55-85-plus category plan to register again in the future in one or more of the event's categories — air rifles, bicycling, bowling, croquet, discus, dominos, eight-ball pool, golf, horseshoes, shot put and swimming — in ambulatory, wheelchair, and visually impaired categories.

    "I like the camaraderie, seeing some of the old veterans I was in service with and being out there competing," said Morehead, 60.

    An Army paratrooper in the 173rd and 82nd Airborne from 1966-69, last week's match was his first time to enter the games. He competed in air rifle, dominos and nine-ball for ages 55-59 and ambulatory, or with no physical disabilities, category. "I'm looking forward to next year."

    Henry Fagans, who lives on Braeswood Boulevard after retirement as a welder at oil and gas refineries up and down the Texas coast, was an Army paratrooper in the 101st Airborne and served in Vietnam from 1967-68.

    He competed in bicycling, air rifle and bowling in the age 55-59 ambulatory group.

    "The (veterans) hospitals are sponsors and they give benefit drives to raise money so we can go to the games," said Fagans, 58. "This year it was in Houston. Last year, Richmond, Va., and next year it will be Indianapolis."

    The competition will be in Honolulu in 2010. Fagans said he wants to represent Houston alongside other veterans who have received treatment at DeBakey VA.

    The Rev. Andrew Burks, pastor of South Park's Bailey Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, 7913 Sexton St., took the gold medal for in the 25-yard swim with a time of 22.67 seconds.

    The former Air Force air-traffic controller also competed in golf and table tennis, though he didn't get a medal in his 55-59 ambulatory category.

    "There's a relationship with other veterans," said Burks, 56. "I see people I served with and it's like homecoming. It's a family reunion."

    The Houston event was the fifth year of competition for 64-year-old Marvin Sims, a retired roofer and sheet-metal worker who lives across from the Lindale subdivision near Loop 610. He earned a bronze medal in backstroke at the University of Houston's natatorium in 27.75 seconds. He also placed third in croquet, a game held at Memorial Park this year, in his ambulatory 60-64 age group.

    "It keeps me young, staying active and meeting a lot of people from around the country," Sims said. "It's fun to see the same people you compete with every year."

    Sims was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 1996, 30 years after he was an Army infantryman in Vietnam from 1966-68, and in one of that war's most infamous and bloody periods, the Tet offensive.

    He said he likes to keep busy, one reason he goes to the games every year and he takes art lessons in acrylics at the Art League of Houston, 1953 Montrose Blvd.

    Gloria Morris, who lives near Bush Intercontinental Airport, served in the Army from 1958-60. She was a secretary on an air base in charge of writing captions and filing photos.

    Now wheelchair bound, 67-year-old Morris took gold in horseshoes and bowling in the age 65-69 wheelchair category. She also received a bronze in shuffleboard.

    It was her sixth year of participation.

    "When you get in a wheelchair, you think this is it, you can't do anything else," said Morris, who has volunteered as a crafts worker with the VA hospital, helping people with spinal cord injuries since 1999. Now she's the state commander of the Women's Veterans of America with an office on the second floor of the hospital.

    "I was an active person before and I never thought I'd get to be active again. Now I look forward to these games every year," Morris said.

    William Van Houten, a water safety instructor who lives in southwest Houston, was a graduate of the International Typographical Union and a newspaper printer.

    At age 77, he's a little older than many of his competitors at the games in which he has participated for several years, but no one could tell it from the 100-plus trophies and medals he's accumulated over the years.

    He picked up four more gold medals in the age 75-79 division's ambulatory category in the half-mile and quarter-mile bicycle races, and 50- (in a time of 55.38) and 25-yard (25.61) swims.

    "I've been to six or seven of these Golden Age Games and it helps me keep healthy," Van Houten said. "I've also done Senior Olympics and I've won over 100 medals for that in the last 17 years. I give them to my grandchildren to play with."

    He was a competitive swimmer in his younger days, swimming the waters of Australia and New Zealand and other spots.

    "I swam from one island to another in Hawaii, the Waikiki Rough Routh Water Swim," he said. "I enter everything and I ride my bicycle. Only missed one event one year, when my truck broke down because my fuel pump went out. But last year I got a trophy from the veterans hospital — most valuable player."

    For more information, visit www.veteransgoldenagegames.org.

    betty.martin@chron.com


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