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BY DAVID ROBB
david.robb@nwitimes.com
219.548.4362 | Sunday, June 22, 2008 | (1 comment(s))
HAMMOND | The first time Ron DeLoach told his wife he was quitting basketball, she believed him. The next 20 or so times, she just laughed.
With his 60th birthday approaching, DeLoach made another promise. Again, his wife believed him.
"She really took me seriously when I said I was going to quit when I turned 60," he said.
Only this time, DeLoach did quit -- for a week.
"She says I'm just gonna die on the court," the Lowell resident said.
At 60, DeLoach is the baby of the grizzled trio gathered at Purdue Calumet's gymnasium on a rainy Friday evening. Valparaiso's Bob Owen, 63, and Highland's Tom Montague, 66, are DeLoach's teammates in a four-on-four game that has started up beneath a corner basket.
Their opponents? Spry 20-somethings. Can you say mismatch? Yep, the youngsters don't stand a chance.
Owen, sporting a sleeveless gray shirt, black shorts, socks and shoes, grabs a rebound and steps back beyond the arc. Swish.
DeLoach, in a black sleeveless shirt that matches the tattoo on his right arm and the knee braces hidden beneath his gray shorts, doesn't miss from that range either.
Montague, the shortest and oldest of the three, isn't much of a shooter. But just try to keep him off the boards.
"We surprise a lot of people," Owen said.
Just not themselves. Bullying guys young enough to be their grandchildren is still rather routine. On this day, the old guys go a perfect 7-0. It's reminiscent of the years Owen and DeLoach dominated local leagues and tournaments.
One year they won 13 of the 15 tournaments they entered. One time they took their 6-foot-and-under team to an open-league tournament in Chicago and won the thing.
"We beat a lot of good teams," said Owen, a retirement planner who offers private shooting lessons in his spare time. "We were never bigger than anybody."
DeLoach and Montague, who still try to play four times a week at Omni 41 Health and Fitness Connection, also had a successful stint as teammates. They once beat two younger guys -- "pretty decent ballplayers," DeLoach recalled -- 15-0 in a pickup game.
"Every once in a while that young kid will come back," DeLoach said, "and I'll ask him, 'What's the worst whooping you have ever had?' And he'll start laughing. He'll say you and Tom."
Then there was the time DeLoach tore his rotator cuff -- while playing basketball, naturally -- the day before a major holiday hoops tournament in Chicago.
"We only had three guys," said DeLoach, an assistant refinery manager for Safety Clean, an environmental cleanup company. "I had to play. We won it."
DeLoach and Montague both played in high school. Owen did not. His story is one of persistence and perseverance. As a kid, the Calumet grad would wake up early, walk to school with his buddy and beg a janitor to open the gym. He would even shoot around at lunch.
At the time, Owen's hard work didn't amount to much. He was cut from the basketball team in seventh, eighth and ninth grade and didn't play on an organized team until he joined a Portage adult league at 22. The next year, he played in three leagues. The year after that, he played in 10.
"When I was in my 30s, I just hoped to play to 50," said Owen, who competes annually at the Huntsman World Senior Games and was nominated for Masters Athlete's "GeezerJock of the Year" in the magazine's March/April edition.
"But here I am at 63."
And here Montague is at 66.
"I never expected to still be playing," he said. "It is so therapeutic for me. It's my main activity in retirement. It's so good for me mentally."
A few years ago, Montague feared his playing career was over. His heart was out of rhythm, and he had a pacemaker placed in his chest.
"I asked (my doctor), 'Can I still play basketball?' He said, 'I've never been asked that question,'" Montague recalled. "So I took that as a yes."
Montague walks with a noticeable limp. Owen has had his knees scoped several times. DeLoach has had surgery on both hands and his left ankle.
"It's weak," DeLoach said of his ankle. "But I don't notice it as much because I've got Achilles problems too."
And then there's DeLoach's torn rotator cuff, which was never surgically repaired.
"It changed my game a lot. I used to shoot up here," DeLoach said, raising his arms above his head. "I can't do that anymore. Now everything's down here," he said, dropping his hands below his head.
Their bodies bark at them more than they used to. They take more time to rest in between games, bending over to catch their breath or leaning up against a large fan in the corner of the gym. They tire easier.
All are signs that some day they'll have to walk away from the sport they've played for 50-plus years, the sport that still gives them so much joy. But with these three, you get the feeling that that day is still a few years away.
"If I feel like I do now," Montague said, "I'll play till I'm 70-something."
SUNDAY SPECIAL
Bob Owen
Age: 63.
Lives in: Valparaiso.
Works as: A retirement planner and basketball instructor.
Plays at: The Courts of Northwest Indiana and Purdue Calumet.
Ron DeLoach
Age: 60.
Lives in: Lowell.
Works as: An assistant manager for Safety Clean.
Plays at: Omni 41 Health and Fitness Connection and Purdue Calumet.
Tom Montague
Age: 66.
Lives in: Highland.
Works as: Retired.
Plays at: Omni 41 Health and Fitness Connection and Purdue Calumet.
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Angela Hartman wrote on Jun 22, 2008 7:45 PM: