DENTON, Texas — At Robson Ranch, an active senior retirement community in Denton, everyone is old, but sometimes not old enough.
“They told me I was too young,” said Tom Neagli. “And I’m going, ‘really?! Too young?! I haven’t been told that in a long time.’”
Neagli said most activities at Robson are open to everyone, but one activity and one group has a strict age limit. Senior softball caters to those 70 and up.
There are other leagues for other ages, but few as electric. The seniors often have a crowd of supporters ringing cowbells, like they did the day WFAA was at practice.
Neagli is the team’s rookie, one of the newest softball septuagenarians. The oldest player is 92. Before joining, many of the guys hadn’t played in ages.
“You can’t run like you used to run, you can’t throw, you can’t hit like you used to,” said Larry Studinski, coach of the 75-and-older team.
“The arm doesn’t work as well, you’re not as fast, you can’t hit it as far but you have just as much fun,” 72-year-old Johnny Blecher said.
“The first practice I picked up a ground ball in the outfield, threw it and fell on my face because my feet tripped up,” said Neagli.
The pain, however, is far outweighed by a feeling of joy.
“We’re old men playing a young kids sport and you just love it,” said Neagli.
“Where else could you have this much fun,” Studinski asked.
They say it’s like being in little league all over again, every week playing with your best friends.
Sometimes, though, they play against other people like they did last month at the senior softball state championships. Four teams from Robson competed, and the oldest two teams won a championship.
Still, nothing makes them prouder than knowing when the game is over, next week they get to play again.
“You can tell your grandchildren, ‘your grandpa is playing softball,’ and they can tell their friends,” said 78-year-old Clyde Ziegler.
“We’re not ready to hang up our cleats yet,” Neagli said.
Why would they when they’re still so young?
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