Still balling: Seniors basketball team going strong after 50 years
Some players are in their 80s, but the Tuesday Knights keep up decades-long tradition
It's Tuesday night at a high school gym in Vancouver and a group of guys are doing what they've done almost every week for 50 years: shooting hoops.
Shoes squeaking on the hardwood, a man in a red shirt and a knee brace takes a shot and misses. A man in a black shirt grabs the rebound and jogs away down the court.
They call themselves the Tuesday Knights. Back in the day, some of them played basketball for the University of British Columbia. Others played for the national team.
These days, the fast breaks down the court are light jogs and there's not a lot of dunking going on.
No one's paying close attention to the score either.
"There's a camaraderie, and I like playing basketball," said Bob Donaldson, 80, his red jersey darkened with sweat.
"And I'm not bad at it for an old guy."
'The epitome of what sport is about'
The club started in the 1960s. Almost every Tuesday night since then, the group has come together to play ball. Some of the original players are now in their 80s. The newer ones are in their 60s.
Through marriage, children, travelling and careers, it's the love of the game that kept the Tuesday night tradition alive.
"The change room stuff, the comical nights that you have, the ripping apart of each other, it's a great group of guys," said Kevin Hanson, a Knights player and head coach of the UBC men's varsity basketball team.
At 55, Hanson is probably the youngest player by 20 years, he says.
"This is the epitome of what sport is about. Having these friendships, the lifelong friendships and relationships that you build through sport. These guys are living it."
Of all the wild things that have happened throughout decades of Tuesday nights spent on the court, saving a player's life is high up there for many of them.
About five years ago, Donaldson went into cardiac arrest during a game.
A few weeks earlier, the team got a defibrillator and took a course on how to use it. They jumped into action, starting CPR on Donaldson while calling 911.
Donaldson was back on the court weeks after quadruple bypass heart surgery. His red shirt that paramedics cut from him was stitched back up, and he still wears it — a tribute to the teammates who ensured he'd be back playing ball with them in no time.
"You can't live on eggshells," he said. "They told my kids, the doctor said, 'Your dad came in in really good shape.' So here I am."
Doug Brazier, 75, one of the original members who's been playing with the group since 1967, says it's this mentality that has kept the seniors playing for so long.
"If you don't use it you lose it," said Brazier.
And for longtime players like John McLean, there are no plans to call it quits.
"I hope [to play] for another 20 years," he said. "It's fun. It's a lot of fun."
