Well, today marks a special day.  Your favorite speed coach is 40 years old today (I’m talking about me in case you couldn’t figure that out).  As I hit this milestone birthday, my body is definitely feeling it a little more than usual.  The days of me doing physical activity, such as playing pickup basketball games, and feeling no worse for the wear are long gone.  Which makes me appreciate older athletes that much more.

Several months ago, I had written an article about older athletes and how they need to prepare their body to still perform the tasks they can do at a high level.  So, this article, I’m going to list off some of the professional athletes that had some success after the age of 40.  Keeping your body in top physical shape once you are past 40 is imperative to do well in these sports.  Especially when you are competing against people, literally half your age.

  • George Foreman – Boxing seems to have its fair share of older boxers who do well.  At the age of 45, George Foreman captured two heavyweight titles.  Then he went on to make some grill and name all his kids George.  Even still, going in the ring and getting pounded by younger fighters is not my idea of fun, but he managed to handle it quite easily.
  • Nolan Ryan – Nolan Ryan was the epitome of the long-lasting pitcher for my generation.  Who can forget Robin Ventura racing the mound to fight Ryan and Ryan body-slamming him to the ground and beating him to a pulp (kind of).  Nolan was a tough S.O.B. and threw 2 no-hitters after the age of 40.  You don’t see that too often, a pitcher that can actually fight.
  • Jerry Rice – Dude holds every receiving record out there and kept his body in awesome condition.  He didn’t have awesome speed like a DeSean Jackson, but he knew how to run routes and when he caught the ball for some reason you weren’t going to catch him.  He turned 40 when he was with the Oakland Raiders and had a great season.  He was voted second team all league by some publications.  I can still visualize the picture of Jerry Rice running that famous hill in San Francisco he did his conditioning on.
  • Michael Jordan – Yes, Michael probably hung on too long, but at age 40, he still made an All-Star team and was pretty productive that last game.  There are rumors that he is playing around with his Charlotte Bobcats team and still could play in today’s game.  Obviously, it would be modified minutes, but I tell you what.  My knees the way they are, I could not play 20 minutes back to back nights of basketball, so more power to him that he can still do what he can do.
  • Jack Nicklaus – The Golden Bear was very dominant in his 40’s.  He won 2 majors the year he turned 40 and then he won that last Masters at age 46.  I still remember watching that.  I don’t care what anybody says about Tiger, Jack is the best golfer that has ever played.  He started exercising when he got into his 30’s and it obviously helped to prolong his game.
  • Randy Johnson – The Big Unit got his big league career started a little later in life.  Still at the age of 40, he was named an all star and second in the Cy Young award voting.  He recorded over 70 victories after he turned 40 and was still very feared as a pitcher.
  • John Stockton –  Stock always amazes me with his physical conditioning.  He played the position in basketball that is probably the quickest and most athletic and was still able to hang with his opposition as he entered 40.  His last year of playing he was fifth in the league for assists.

I know I’m forgetting some people, but this is a partial list of some of those great athletes.  Feel free to post some other athletes that you think were successful past 40.  So, what am I going to do now that I’m 40.  Well, I’ll probably play flag football for as long as my team wants me.  I also have something else prepared which if I can pull it off, will be kind of neat to watch.  I will keep you posted on that, but for now, let’s just say I’m training for it.

I appreciate all the birthday wishes.  For my 40th, I went up to Wisconsin to watch my sister-in-law compete in an ironman. Stay tuned to my next post because I will share all about that weekend and give you some insight into an ironman race.