The Legends Games: Embracing Active Senior Living

Arnold00:00:00

The Legends Games is the next generation of Senior Olympics, a master style athletic competition that promotes lifelong active living for adults ages 50 and up. It's held each May. Events include over 90 individual and team sports ranging from the traditional swimming and softball to pinball and poker.Find out more on St. Louis in tune.Welcome to St. Louis in tune and thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston. It's greetings to you on this. I don't know what kind of day this is, Mark.Is it winter, summer, spring, fall? What is it today?

Mark00:00:57

There's no global warming, though. Don't forget that you have one temperature. I know, I know. Good to see you.

Arnold00:01:04

Yeah, it's good to be seen.

Mark00:01:05

Salutations. What does that even mean?

Arnold00:01:09

Salutations?

Mark00:01:10

Is that what it is? Okay, I never knew it. Greetings and salutations.

Arnold00:01:14

Greetings and salutations.That's like our thought to ponder today, which links into what we're going to talk about today, the Senior Olympics, which is now called the Legends Games. And we'll get into that with our guests. But our thought to ponder is don't tell me how rocky the sea is. Just bring the ship in.

Mark00:01:32

Yeah, okay. Don't go through the straight now.

Arnold00:01:35

You would think that's related to some nautical kind of admiral or captain or some seagoing worthy person. Don't tell me how rocky the sea is. Just bring the ship in. Lou Holtz.

Mark00:01:47

Oh, coach.

Arnold00:01:49

Yeah, he was a very outstanding coach. Passed away recently. Very outstanding football coach. Was football coach for Notre Dame, I believe. Arkansas, I believe. He was a pro. Coach, maybe.Washington Redskins, maybe.

Mark00:02:05

Was he a Razorback?

Arnold00:02:07

I think he coached for them for a while. I'm not quite sure, but that's a great one.

Mark00:02:12

I need to ponder that for a while.

Arnold00:02:13

Need to ponder that one for a while. And our guests today. Oh my gosh. One of the most prestigious games for older adult seniors in the country.The Legends games attracts over 300 volunteers and 1200 athletes. This game proudly carry a new name to better capture the spirit of active living in the 50 age plus graduate. Oh yeah,.

Mark00:02:46

That was good.

Arnold00:02:47

I was going to use the Olympic theme, but it would get axed when we put this online. So I thought we'd do one that I downloaded that was for free.

Mark00:02:56

There are license things going on that.

Arnold00:02:58

Was licensed to me. That one. Scott Schwartz is one of our guests today.Along with Roger Scherck and Scott, if he wore all of his gold medals that he's won, he would be more. He would be brighter than Mr. T wearing gold bullion.

Mark00:03:14

Oh, no. Okay.

Arnold00:03:15

And the other thing he has to watch when he wears all his gold medals, he has to watch the overpass and the bridge weight capacity. That's how many medals this guy's won.And on the other hand, Roger Scherck, he's run so many marathons when he practices, he's worn out the inside lane on most high school tracks in the area. And modot has subcontracted him when their asphalt compactor went out.So when they put asphalt into the potholes, they asked Scott or Roger to come out and jump on them. And he was running in place. Wow, you guys are just crazy.

Mark00:03:46

They're crazy.

Arnold00:03:47

Unbelievable. Kind of help in the St. Louis area here. Welcome to St. Louis in Tune.

Scott00:03:51

Thank you for having us.

Roger00:03:52

Yeah, thank you for being here. I appreciate that.

Arnold00:03:54

Yeah, I threw them a wild curveball, didn't I, Mark?

Mark00:03:57

Yeah, you're a wild man.

Arnold00:03:58

I am a wild man. Roger is actually the director, event director for track and field. And Scott leads the golf nine hole tournament closest to the pin.He's an event director for several other events, but he's also competing in 30 plus events. 30 Plus events. My gosh. How do you get it all done?

Scott00:04:17

It's a lot of running from event to event. It's exhausting, but I absolutely love it.

Arnold00:04:22

What are some of the events you participate in?

Scott00:04:24

Oh, my God.Anywhere from the 50 meter run, the 100 meter run, standing long jump, running long jump, football throw for distance and accuracy, softball throw for distance and accuracy, soccer kick for distance, football punt, football kick, darts.

Mark00:04:43

My knees are hurting just hearing this.

Arnold00:04:46

I'm ready to take a nap.

Scott00:04:48

I've always been very athletic, and when I discovered the St. Louis Senior Olympics, which is now called the Legends Games, it just opened up doors for me to continue active in sports.

Arnold00:05:02

That's tremendous. That's tremendous. And what events do you participate in other than running, I'm sure.

Roger00:05:09

Well, I've been out there doing all kinds of events to get out there to participate. Everything from setup to help with promotions. I've been to the Hub to make sure we're getting athletes out there advertising.So I'm on the back end of it as event director. And also I work still full time. My task is to get these games out there so people can see them. It's so intriguing for me.I've done this now for about the Last eight or nine years and event directing. Anna's a volunteer. And these people walk up and they're 50, 75, 65, whatever age they are.And they come up and they say, this is my activity for the year. Which is just so astounding.I'm a 63 year old guy, but then seeing an 8 year old guy doing 5, 6, 7 events in the track and field, it's astounding, Andy, to see this. Because every year they're like, I don't do much during the year.I get my training done and I work out, but this is my jam and this is my thing that I look for every year. And to see the beaming and the light in these eyes of these people are just amazing.And so that's what I do to bring these in games to make this experience just amazing for these people. People like Scott.But everybody that walks into these games and I've seen Scott the track wheel and he is out there competing and giving his best and win or lose, it's just that they're out there and every year, wherever it is, I'm going to be there and I'm going to compete and I'm going to support my other athletes. And so that's my.

Scott00:06:35

If I can piggyback off of that for a second.

Arnold00:06:37

Sure.

Scott00:06:38

One of the things that makes the game so great is the camaraderie because we see each other every year and everybody helps one another and we'll share tips and it's just great. The whole it's a community and the camaraderie is phenomenal.

Arnold00:06:53

Now how long has this been going on in the St. Louis metropolitan area? Can you give us a little history of that or.

Scott00:06:59

I believe this is the 48th year.

Arnold00:07:02

Wow.

Scott00:07:02

And what's interesting is the Jewish Community center actually invented the Senior Olympics. Nobody else in the country was doing it. And other states or communities started to pick up on it. And now there's actually a Nationals Games.

Mark00:07:19

Wow.

Roger00:07:20

Who knew?

Mark00:07:20

I never knew that. Yeah.

Roger00:07:22

So some of these athletes, we tell them this, says that I'm looking at my times. They're saying like I'm a pole vaulter, I'm running.Said I've got these national games coming up and I've got to compete so I'm ready for that next level. That's what makes the. Scott said, makes it.

Arnold00:07:34

Do you have the amateur or the high school athletes that like maybe didn't do anything in college or after that and they want us to stay in shape? Do you have. I guess maybe some.I Don't want to say pro athletes, but people that compete on a regular basis Here do you have just the average Joe and Josephine who want to have a good time or whatever?

Scott00:07:56

Yeah. First of all, I want your listeners to know that a 50 year old is not competing with a 70 or 80 year old.

Arnold00:08:02

Oh, darn.

Mark00:08:03

Oh, that's good to know.

Scott00:08:06

It's in five factual. Yeah, it's in five year increments. So like 50 to 54, 55 to 59, 60 to 64 and so on.But yes, a lot of our athletes are X high school athletes, ex college athletes. We have a lot of ex high school coaches. So yeah, there's some really good athletes out there.

Arnold00:08:30

Now let's go to some of these events because I think most people would know you mentioned quite a few of them that the softball throw and then it's for accuracy in the football and there's running events, I'm sure like 50 Hunt, maybe the 1500 meter race or you probably don't do any steeple chase or anything.

Mark00:08:48

But there's golf and it all starts at 50 years old. Is that it? Yes, that's the minimum.

Scott00:08:54

That's the minimum.

Roger00:08:55

Okay.

Mark00:08:56

All right.

Arnold00:08:57

Must be 50 by December 31st of the competition year.

Mark00:09:01

Okay.

Arnold00:09:02

But I'm looking at some of these things. You got a bench press, there's billiards, cornhole darts, high jump, washer toss.

Mark00:09:13

I love it.

Scott00:09:15

There are a lot of games as opposed to sports and that's for a lot of the people that maybe aren't as athletic but they're not gonna pole vault, but they could throw a dart. So there's something for everybody.

Arnold00:09:29

And that's really fascinating, Mark, because there's bridge, there's mahjong, there's poker, rock climbing, shot put, shuffleboard. I'm just going to table tennis.So maybe you don't think that I'm not one of those athlete athletes that runs around the track or can throw the softball 65 yards. Check out jcc STL.com legendsgames and you can get a lot more information.Matter of fact, what's coming up is the deadline to compete, to sign up, and that's this Thursday.

Mark00:10:03

Oh my.

Arnold00:10:03

Yeah. So the deadline is going to be May 7th and you need to get in there. And the games are going to be held at the end of this month. Correct.

Scott00:10:14

The games actually run from May 18th to the 31st.

Mark00:10:18

Good. I was going to ask that certain.

Scott00:10:20

Not every single day, but mostly on the weekends and there's a few events.

Arnold00:10:24

During the week and where are these held?

Scott00:10:29

All, all over St. Louis. The track and field is going to be at least Ledoux High School. Golf obviously is at a golf course.I think the bike races are down in the Valley, Chesterfield Valley. So just various venues around town.

Roger00:10:45

Yeah. So part of the grasp of this, as Scott said, is the variety of activities.But it's also as committee people and event directors, we meet prior to this.So it's the planning process with the JCC and Scott, we have to do a shout out to Stephanie Ray because she really coordinates all this and she's amazing to get all this together.But it's also reaching out like pickleballs at this new place called Bedell and Pickle and highlight a new place, get in there and do the pickleball games. But just to reach out to these, hey, can we use our facility? I think can we use that? Can we use this area for swimming? Can we use an area for darts?So it's getting out in the community and it's getting kickback. So if you've got some games there, you also highlight an area that maybe some of these people have never seen and they're out of facilities.Said, hey, I never actually shot golf here. I've never been to the J for this. Maybe I want to join the J. Maybe it's an opportunity. We're open for everybody there.Or maybe it's a first time gamer and they say to themselves, hey, I'd like to do this again but where are these held? So you know, Scott said they do a variety of things. It opens up. But I did want to mention I believe the 18th is coming up.That's our opening ceremonies and that's a key thing to really push people out to get not just the advertising but again as Scott said earlier, that community building to get people out to gather to, to talk about the Games, what it's about a festival with families and athletes and to really promote it out there and a kickoff like most opening ceremonies. So there's that, that really sidebar and that whole push of its games and it's kind of Olympic focus.So they give an opening ceremony to say, hey, we're going to start these games off in the 18th and we'll culminate them on the 31st. So it gives some kind of bookends there, but also gives it a little bit of a focus of yes, these are Olympics, these are games that we're really.The athletes are serious about. They want to compete.

Arnold00:12:31

So at this opening ceremony at the Hub, do the athletes do they do like the Olympics and walk around, walk in or something like that.

Mark00:12:37

Or with a flag. Right?

Roger00:12:38

Yeah, yeah.

Scott00:12:41

There actually is a ceremony where we, a representative from every age group will carry a torch and pass it off to the next age group.

Arnold00:12:50

Okay. And is there a closing ceremony at the end or is it just after the race is over? That's. That's done.

Scott00:12:55

Yeah, there's not a closing ceremony, but.

Roger00:12:57

This is like it's. The hub is out in Chesterfield and it opened to in May with hopefully nice weather on evening.They have concessions and they have other activities going on and it's very family oriented. And so it, it brings it to again as you're talking about that whole community feel that their athletes there, but it's also a presence.Say hey, bring people out. It's an evening we went pro.Maybe, maybe your uncle's doing the games, maybe your grandpa's doing it, maybe your grandma's doing the game, maybe a parent who knows it is. But you're getting people out to games and that whole community feel makes it really welcome. So that's the other purpose.We're starting the games, but we're also bringing that feel like hey, we're starting and we want to bring family because I know in mind, Scott could probably attest this as you go out to track and field and you may have three or four of your fans out there in the stands rooting these 70 to 75 year old people on doing these games.They said, hey, I saw advertise at Hub and then we're going out there, we've got the opening ceremonies and here we're out there in the games and we're participating. So that crowd presence to give any athlete wants that. We know athletes strive on that.They get their mojo, they get their whole drive, their motivation from people out there when they get fan support. So that other purpose at opening ceremony is get people to really get energized from those games that are up and coming. Fan support.

Mark00:14:13

The volunteers, you must have a really bunch of volunteers. Oh yeah, we do. It's got to be a huge army of volunteers if you're all over the place. I just can't imagine. So if people want to volunteer. Youngins.

Roger00:14:29

Yes, yes, of course.

Scott00:14:30

We need.

Arnold00:14:32

Who do they contact if they want to volunteer?

Roger00:14:34

Yeah, yeah.

Scott00:14:35

Stephanie.

Roger00:14:35

Stephanie on the website. And they can find out there? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. No, volunteers are great because they will have some employees there.But we look for me for track and field. I reach out to. I was working and did some work with Ledoux High school for years as a teacher and a coach.So I'll reach out to them since we host it there. And a key that I use is I sometimes use student council kids at 1 hours or kids or family members. Hey dad, mom are out there doing it.Can the kid come in and volunteer and help out at the track and hand out concessions or do something or help out one day or hand out T shirts or whatever they need to do. So you try to get the family above, but we're always looking for volunteers to help out.

Arnold00:15:13

You can contact Stephanie Ray. She's the event coordinator at 3144-4231-6431-4442-3164 or go to jccstl.com legends games and you can find her information there.This is Arnold Strick with Mark Langston of St. Louis and Tune. We're talking to Scott Schwartz and Roger Scherck about the AKA used to be called Senior Olympics but now known as the Legends Games.And I had a question for you, Scott.Which is the most and it's different because there are age categories, but is there an event or couple events where there's a boatload of people that really show up for the hundred meter dash or something? Or everybody thinks yeah, I'm as fast as Jesse Owens or yeah, especially for.

Scott00:16:02

The softball throws, football throws, a lot of track and field events. Yeah, there's a lot of people.

Arnold00:16:09

Do you have to run multiple heats or something like that?

Roger00:16:12

Oh, yes, yes, I can answer. I definitely run multiple heats. You'll find our 50 yard dash where we find a little bit of changes is more field events.But often common is that an athlete will come out and they do a couple field events and then we'll have those open and then we'll switch over and they'll do some of their running events too. But as that 50 to kind of 60, 60, 65 break, we usually have multiple heats of things that are going on and we have repeat athletes.They'll come in one year and they'll be doing this is their 8th or 9th or 10th year they're doing it. So as they're coming back, they're recurring athletes that will do that.

Arnold00:16:46

But kind of like you. And I guess if you should, you'd have to have a semi truck with all your medals behind. Correct.

Mark00:16:54

You know, security.

Roger00:16:57

There you go.

Arnold00:16:57

Watch the gold back there.

Scott00:16:58

That's funny because when I discovered the Legends Games when I was 55, I signed up for six events thinking, okay, these events I think I could compete in and win a medal and I won three medals out of the six events and I was hooked. So every year I would increase the events, I would train for them, I practice them and they're sports that I've always played anyway.And yeah, I'm sitting on 275 medals right now.

Arnold00:17:30

And Mr. T in his gold bullion.

Scott00:17:34

I hope to go over 300 medals by the time the Olympic season is over. And I've missed some, some legends Games or Olympics due to a surgery one year out of town. Weddings Covid.

Arnold00:17:50

Wow.

Roger00:17:51

So, yeah, that's impressive.

Arnold00:17:52

Now there are.

Mark00:17:53

That is impressive.

Arnold00:17:55

Are there team sport events?

Roger00:17:57

Yeah, there are some team things. I know for track and field we're promoting, which is great, having the radio show. A new one this year is we're doing a 4x1 relay.We'd love, love, love, love to get some people out there. It's slowly getting some registration. But if we could promote this on Facebook, that would be amazing.We highlight this because as a group event and of course more Stephanie's brainchild than anybody else, but we, we thought it would be good. And it's a culminating event, which makes it even more interesting.You're doing the 50 yard dash, you're doing the field events, you're doing shot put, disc and so forth. And then the highlight is let's watch this relay go forth and these people really work hard to finish it. So if we could promote that.We are at a small number now, but we'd love to get a few more people. It doesn't matter the age group get out there so people can sign up for that finish.Because typically we would end with a 50 yard dash or something that would kind of push. Let's get some of these ending and get our field events taken care of. But this four by one will be very interesting to see that unfold.Hopefully we get more people. We still got time to sign up, but it'd be great to get more people out for that. That's the one kind of group.Otherwise, most of our events, at least in our area, track and field, are pretty single. That's what they're doing. They're individual ones.

Arnold00:19:07

Okay.

Scott00:19:07

There are a few team events such as basketball, three on three. There's a softball tournament. And of course in like pickle or ping pong or tennis, there's doubles.

Mark00:19:19

So. Yeah.

Arnold00:19:20

Well, need a kickball.

Roger00:19:23

Oh yeah, we have to put that one down.

Scott00:19:25

Yeah, that's a thought.

Arnold00:19:26

So you add events each year. Is that how that works? Or you like do the Olympics do this One's kind of fading. Let's swap that one out with this one.

Scott00:19:35

I don't know if we've ever discontinued an event, but we have brought new events in every year.

Arnold00:19:41

Okay.

Scott00:19:42

Last year we started push ups and now this year we're adding, we're adding planks.

Mark00:19:48

Give me 10.

Arnold00:19:49

So how long you can drop and.

Mark00:19:50

Give me 10, Arnold.

Scott00:19:52

Exactly.

Arnold00:19:53

Give me 10.

Mark00:19:54

Yeah, I don't think I give you 10.

Scott00:19:56

Last year we also started a pinball tournament. Who hasn't played pinball?

Arnold00:20:00

Wow.

Mark00:20:01

How many events do you have? Do you know how many you have? You don't even know, do you?

Scott00:20:07

Close to 100. Wow. Yeah. Like I said, there's something for everybody.

Mark00:20:10

And that's. I can't imagine the volunteers, the organizations. You have to think about this all year.

Roger00:20:16

Oh, no. We start in. What do we start meeting in the fall on a yearly basis?

Mark00:20:21

Yeah. But if I'm a competitor, I think it's great that I'll go work out all year long just for this.

Roger00:20:28

Yeah.

Mark00:20:28

Gives me my purpose, my, my goal.

Roger00:20:31

Sure.

Mark00:20:31

I think it's fantastic.

Roger00:20:32

I would say as a group event for me that I've seen because I know my own friends at a particular Pickleball is probably close to one of the newest ones in the last few years. And in St. Louis, it's just kind of just.

Mark00:20:43

Yeah.

Arnold00:20:43

Crazy.

Roger00:20:45

It's just balloon. It's just completely crazy. Balloon. All these matter of fact, one of the places we're having is fairly new in the last four or five years open.But that's highly competitive. And it's not just a 50 year old.There are 50, 60 older people are playing this game, barring knock on wood, that they stay healthy because it's an aggressive game, but it's competitive. But we're getting more and more people. And it's also offered at the J. You can play there. And then people say, oh yeah, I've got that.So the facility owns it. And then you can get that practice in. You don't have to go somewhere else. And you see it there, say, hey, by the way, we have Olympics coming up.We have the league games coming up. We've got to promote it. And then you can get your practice done. You can play with people that are over there. That to me is one as far as team events.One of the most exciting ones that have really been pushed in the last probably five or six years, especially with the environment, St. Louis, how much it's grown. And anywhere we have chicken and pickle here, we have padel and Pickle. We have country clubs that are.They're changing and recreational areas that are changing facilities and adding pickleball courts. Davis in Forest park decided they had tennis courts, and then years ago, they converted six to eight courts just to pickleball.That's all they're doing.

Scott00:21:52

So, yeah, I want to bring up something important that we have not mentioned yet. There's a lot of fun and sports and games, but one of the main reasons we.We promote the Legends Games is because we are promoting health and fitness for people over 50. And a lot of people don't think of it that way, but.Yeah, in fact, myself, before I discovered the Games, I would start to work out, I'd quit, I'd start again, I'd quit. And then when I discovered the Games, that motivated me. And I train all year round now. I practice, I lift weights, I run, I. Whatever. And it has.It's kept my weight down, it's kept my blood pressure down, and I stay fit. And it's a big motivation to keep working out.

Arnold00:22:40

That's interesting, Mark, because it's a goal that's out there and you're working towards that goal rather than. I'm just saying this for those of us who've probably been to the gym and experienced what Scott's been talking about. Okay, yeah, I go. It's.I'm a little tired today. Oh, I ate too much last night. Oh, I've got to go here and do this. My schedule's busy.And you don't have that goal out there that you're really pressing towards. Unless your doctor says you got to do this or else that's another goal. But that's a great way to do that. That's a great way to do that.

Roger00:23:11

And I'll pigmy up in that. Especially track and field. He could probably test it, too. You have some of these 65, and I'm close to that or 70. They are really good athletes.They will get out there and not only do four or five events, but they are smoking the 200. Or they're really. They're performing at their highest level. And they said last year, yeah, here's my time. And they're coming with their information.Like, I just. I got a medal, but I just pr. I got my best record and I'm just each year improving. And you are. You're getting that fitness in.But this may be their one thing they do, but they're also doing that training.And maybe later in the years, as Scott said, maybe they're not doing it or they were athlete younger and they found these games and said, wow, this is something else. Maybe I'm not day to day. I'm retired and I'm not getting myself off the couch. But now I have something to look forward to.I've got that May date on my calendar and by goodness, three months before I'm going to be throwing that javelin or I'm going to be training, I'm going to be throwing the shot, I'm going to be out there training. So when the day comes, I am ready, I'm prepared, I've got it, I've locked in.And they are out there performing and they're giving their best and some are really good and like Scott said, some are doing four or five events just on the one track and field alone. And myself, my, I couldn't do that. I do one or two events, I'd be done. I'd be taking a shower, have a cup of coffee and eating a donut or something.I mean, come on, I'd be finished for the day.

Mark00:24:34

That's what I did.

Roger00:24:35

These guys are like, these guys are like the Energizer bunny. They're like, when's my next event? Where am I going?

Arnold00:24:40

Signed up for 5,000 events.

Roger00:24:41

Signed up for five events. Tell me when the next one's coming.

Arnold00:24:44

Now hold your thought because we were talking before the show about a really old gentleman who participated and I'm not going to get into it because we'll do that after our break here, but I know you want to talk about something else, but I also want to ask you about that older gentleman who was doing his event. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis in Tune. Don't go away. As strange as it may sound, at Better Rate Mortgage.We love talking to people about mortgages. Everyone in St. Louis promises a better mortgage rate. But what you really need to turn that perfect house into your dream home is a better mortgage.At Better Rate Mortgage, we open the door to so much more. So where are you in the home buying process? Researching, maybe wondering how much you can afford? House hunting.Get a pre approval from Better Rate Mortgage Ready to buy. Our team is ready to make your mortgage process fast and easy.Whether you're purchasing your first home or taking cash out to make your dream home even dreamier. Our door is open. Come on in and get started. Today we'll show you how.Call Sean directly at 314-375-3293 or online at betterratemortgage.com remember at better rate mortgage a better rate is just the beginning. Betterratemortgage.com and mls.id 2401335 and Equal Housing Lender.This is Arnold Stricker of St. Louis Intune on behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation. In 1857, the Dred Scott Scott decision was a major legal event and catalyst that contributed to the Civil War.The decision declared that Dred Scott could not be free because he was not a citizen.The 14th Amendment, also called the Dred Scott Amendment, granted citizenship to all born or naturalized here in our country and was intended to overturn the US Supreme Court decision on July 9, 1868.The Dred Scott Heritage foundation is requesting a commemorative stamp to be issued from the US Postal Service to recognize and remember the heritage of this amendment by issuing a stamp with the likeness of the man Dred Scott. But we need your support and the support of thousands of people who would like to see this happen.To achieve this goal, we ask you to download, sign and share the one page petition with others. To find the petition, please go to dredscottlives.org and click on the Dred Scott petition drive on the right side of the page.On behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation, this has been Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tunes. We're talking to St. Louis legends greats Scott Schwartz and Rager Scherck. You like that, Mark?

Mark00:27:33

I know.

Arnold00:27:33

That's great music, isn't it?

Mark00:27:34

It is. I wish you can Watch us on YouTube and Facebook Live, but the guys here in the studio, they were flexing their muscles, folks.

Roger00:27:43

Come on, it's the guys. We have to.

Mark00:27:45

Right?

Scott00:27:45

We're getting warmed up.

Roger00:27:46

Yeah, Come on. We only have a few weeks to train.

Mark00:27:48

They were showing off, that's for sure. But that's okay.

Arnold00:27:52

Before we went to the break, Scott, you were getting ready to say something and I kind of held you back. I would be buffering right now, trying to remember what I was trying to think about, but we were talking about.

Scott00:28:03

People's motivation and how serious they are, and they're competing. I know several of us, me included, that we actually keep track of our scores or our times or our distances.And every year we'll look back at last year's scores and we try to beat that, and that's. That's motivation.

Arnold00:28:22

Even with your age increasing, which is.

Scott00:28:26

Which is getting tougher to do.

Arnold00:28:28

Yeah, but that's a great. That's a great goal because it really pushes you and stretches you.

Scott00:28:33

I know myself if I Can't beat last year's records. I get mad at myself.

Mark00:28:38

Yeah, I believe it.

Arnold00:28:41

Yeah, it's the flexibility. It's the. Oh yeah, it's, you know, I'm not.

Mark00:28:45

Going to get old.

Arnold00:28:46

Yeah. And I'm going to, I'm going to ask you about your diet.

Roger00:28:50

Okay.

Arnold00:28:51

I'm going to ask an athlete about an older athlete about their diet and preparing for these things. Gee, I eat steak and eggs the.

Scott00:28:58

Day before and a lot of beer.

Mark00:28:59

A lot of beer.

Arnold00:29:00

I noticed that the closing ceremonies also has a happy hour.

Mark00:29:06

It goes along with it, hors d'. Oeuvres.

Arnold00:29:08

But are you taking all these enhancements and all this stuff to make you look as buff as you do to carry all that, those thousand gold medals that you wear around every day?

Scott00:29:19

I have a couple 25 year old bodybuilders that carry my medals around.

Arnold00:29:31

How do you. What is your regimen during the year? Just for those of us who are out there who might be your age, 50, 50 on up. Who. How do I get back into shape?This really sounds interesting. I'd like to participate. What do I do?

Scott00:29:44

It's very simple. I never believed in pills, crazy diets, enhancements, none of that. It's very simple. Cut back on sugars, cut back on carbs, don't eat sweets.Vary your diet. Chicken, fish, some meat and that's it. That's what I do.

Arnold00:30:05

And he looks great, doesn't he Mark? Yeah, he's in shape.

Mark00:30:08

Good looking guy there. Yeah, he's in shape. He is.

Arnold00:30:11

He has a face for television, not a face for radio like we do. Are you still competing? You run in marathon? You've run a gazillion marathons.

Roger00:30:20

I've done 15 of them. Boston a couple times back in 2009, 10. I'm doing more in my age down to five and 10 days. I had some health issues recently.Recovering from cancer, prostate. But basically I'm on the. I'm on the men. So I'm still competing in St. Louis. I try to support local things go St. Louis and some local races.I do some out of town ones eventually but still maintain that too. But my thought is the teaching end of it.Coach soccer on the side both that would do high school and then I also do my school too as well down in slps. So I try to. I try to get out there to say and we talk to our kids about that of good fitness, good diet is helpful.Sad said try to prevent even a young age to try to get. But my training was when I Was doing all those, was very strict and I ran most of my race between 35 and probably 55.And you just have to be able to be not only just where are you going to get your. Your runs in cross training? I do a little cheating sometimes. I'll go to the gym, I'll see a trainer. Any cross training is always important.Biking, swimming, but yeah, manage your diet. But you got to live a little bit. So you got to cheat a little bit. Beer has some carbs in it but you don't overdo it.So you just make sure you're kind of. It's that, that fish, chicken, that Mediterranean diet always helps. But getting the training in so you're well prepared for those games.

Arnold00:31:39

Got to get those loaded fries out of your diet.

Mark00:31:41

Oh come on. Curly Q fries.

Roger00:31:44

But those are good. Those are good for post. So.

Mark00:31:47

Yeah.

Arnold00:31:47

Who's boosting your reward? Exactly.

Roger00:31:50

I always think ice cream is a great reward, not just beer.

Mark00:31:52

Especially this one now. Yeah, that's it.

Roger00:31:56

A few promotions.

Mark00:31:57

Yes. Hello.

Arnold00:31:58

Shameless plug.

Mark00:31:59

I like him. That's all right.

Roger00:32:00

Yeah.

Arnold00:32:01

So let's go back to that conversation we had before we went on the air about this elderly gentleman who competed.

Scott00:32:09

There was a gentleman a few years ago that played in the nine hole golf tournament and he had just turned 100 years old.

Mark00:32:16

Oh my gosh, that is.

Scott00:32:20

So if he can do it, anybody else can do it.

Arnold00:32:23

Do you have people that kind of come out to watch and then the next year they're participating because they're kind of catching and seeing what's going on.Or maybe they participate and they get blown away in the 100 meter dash and somebody's five seconds ahead of them and they go man, this is the real deal here. I'm going to have to really get in shape to do this.

Scott00:32:43

Yes, all the above. Yeah. Or if they don't feel they could compete in that event, they'll compete in other events.The coolest thing is we've had several father, son or father daughters compete in the games at once.

Arnold00:33:01

That's great.

Scott00:33:02

A 50 year old woman may have an 80 year old dad and they're competing in the games together. I think that's really cool.

Roger00:33:09

That is.

Mark00:33:10

Yeah. That's neat.

Arnold00:33:11

That is neat.

Mark00:33:11

That is neat.

Arnold00:33:12

And you also have had some what I would call semi pro kind of.

Roger00:33:16

Are they cheating?

Arnold00:33:17

Do they have to start?

Roger00:33:19

These are tired athletes. But it's cool. We had somebody that. That was actually in the Olympics. We've had a pro, I believe, football player. Not here in.I Think it was out of country.But we also had a coach from a school nearby that competed and I think last two years, actually a friend of mine that was a trainer, he showed up and talking about book of medals. This guy got a bookload of. It was like five, six different events.But he's 52 or 53, he's a trainer, he's in great shape and he was just knocking it out. But it was his first, he's only competed maybe in three or four of these games.So he also was convinced, hey, I said this on my docket, I'm not doing racing anymore. I've trained people, I've got the whole regiment going. Why don't I compete in these games? Why not?Yeah, but yeah, so we have had some famous people out that.

Scott00:34:06

I have a funny story about my first year pertaining to that. My very first year I run the 100 meter dash and I'm naturally fast and I thought, oh come, I should win a medal easy.I see this guy in my age group, he's got one of those one piece track leotards on, he's got a unitard on and I'm thinking, oh my God, I'm in trouble.

Arnold00:34:30

Because you don't have to look the part, you just gotta perform.

Scott00:34:34

That guy looked the part and performed and I gotta tell you, I lost the race right out of the blocks. He was like 10 steps ahead. That's when I decided to start training a little bit more serious for that event.

Mark00:34:50

But it's fun just to compete too, right?

Scott00:34:53

Absolutely.

Mark00:34:53

Even though, even though those medals are nice, you can melt them down later and make money off them, but. I'm kidding.

Scott00:35:00

The fun is competing.

Mark00:35:03

Yeah, just being. I can't imagine me just getting into it and finishing event would be great.

Scott00:35:08

That's a reward right there. That might be your reward. My reward is to win a medal.

Arnold00:35:16

And it's not one of these where everybody gets a participation medal either.

Roger00:35:19

No,.

Mark00:35:22

That's great.

Roger00:35:23

Not at all.

Arnold00:35:23

Yeah, I think it's wonderful that part of these games you have mind sports because some people may not physically be able to participate for various reasons, but their mind is sharp and they may. The bridge, the mahjong, the poker, or they even have car show, dance, painting, drawing, photography, textile exhibitions, washer toss.Some people may think you're just throwing, throwing wash. There's a skill to that. You gotta practice that. You know, it's, it's. Is it an athletic thing? It's a muscle memory kind of thing.So it goes back to all those kinds of things. So kudos to you guys for including those kinds of things.Where, you know, I was thinking of people who might be in wheelchairs or using walkers that, hey, my mind is sharp. I can't run down that hundred meter dash, but my mind's doing it. But I can sure do this.

Roger00:36:17

I think that's cool. Yeah, I think the variety really does help quite a bit. And we do have.If you look at the percentage, I don't know what the numbers are, but if I was to crunch the numbers, I would say. And Scott could probably test. This is, we got a lot of returning athletes like Scott.They come year after year and they're like, I've done this for a number of years. I want to better myself. But yeah, I want to do the same thing, whether it's track and field or darts or whatever.But maybe I want to try something new. There's something out there that interests me that maybe I'm. I'm sticking with one part of track and field.I couldn't run anymore, but I'll do some other part or so there's a variety for that purpose to open up. And the recurring person is great, I think, because you see those same athletes year after year because they do look forward to it.

Scott00:36:58

Yeah, it's all about health and fitness, having fun and the camaraderie. And that's why we come back year after year.

Arnold00:37:06

That's a great close to that. I want to let you know that you can get more information at comm. Slash Legends Games. Or you can if you want to volunteer, call Stephanie Ray.She's the event coordinator at 314-442-3164. Do this stuff quickly, folks, because Thursday's the deadline. The games. Actually, the opening ceremony is May 16th.

Roger00:37:30

Is that correct? 18Th.

Arnold00:37:32

May 18th. Okay.

Roger00:37:33

It's on a Monday night, May 18th.

Arnold00:37:35

So events.

Mark00:37:35

Where's that? Where's the opening ceremony? Again?

Roger00:37:39

It's at the Hub.

Arnold00:37:40

At the Hub. Hub. And then the closing ceremony is June 4th. The Legends happy hour and meddling ceremony takes place at the same place. Time to be announced.

Mark00:37:51

This is fun.

Scott00:37:52

Can I add one more thing?

Arnold00:37:53

Absolutely.

Mark00:37:54

Of course.

Scott00:37:55

If your listeners want to still sign up and it's after May 7th, call Stephanie. Tell her you heard about the games on this radio station. She'll let you in.

Roger00:38:07

Oh, yeah, Totally agree. Yeah, because there's still spots. It's not. We're even in our areas. We don't want to close that off too. Yeah, we need people out there.Numbers are good. Not just for competition. But gives everybody a chance, Scott said fitness and wellness and get people out to do it. And it's unique.We don't have a lot of Olympic type. We have races here. But this is really unique to St. Louis. It really is. Yeah.

Arnold00:38:30

Gentlemen, thanks for coming on the show today. Greatly appreciate it.

Scott00:38:32

Thank you for having us.

Roger00:38:33

Thank you for hosting.

Arnold00:38:34

If you guys can stay around a little bit, we're going to take a brief break and we'll be back. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis in Tune. Don't go away. As strange as it may sound, at Better Rate Mortgage.We love talking to people about mortgages. Everyone in St. Louis promises a better mortgage rate. But what you really need to turn that perfect house into your dream home is a better mortgage.At Better Rate Mortgage, we open the door to so much more. So where are you in the home buying process? Researching, maybe wondering how much you can afford? House hunting.Get a pre approval from Better Rate Mortgage Ready to buy. Our team is ready to make your mortgage process fast and easy.Whether you're purchasing your first home or taking cash out to make your dream home even dreamier. Our door is open. Come on in and get started. Today we'll show you how.Call Sean directly at 314-375-3293 or online@betterratemortgage.com Remember, at Better Rate Mortgage, a better rate is just the beginning.Betterratemortgage.com and MLS High Beach 401335 and equal housing lender the United States has a strong tradition of welcoming newcomers and refugees.The welcome Corps is a new service opportunity for Americans inspired to welcome those seeking freedom and safety and in turn help strengthen their own communities. Welcome Corps is a public private partnership that is inspired by what Americans represent to so many around the world. A beacon of hope and refuge.All it takes is a helping hand. Are you ready? To learn more, contact the International Institute of St. Louis at infoistl.org or call 314-773-9090.That's info@iistl.org or call 314.773-9090. Welcome back to St. Louis in Tune. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston.Great having St. Scott Schwartz and Roger Scherck in the studio to talk about the Legends Games.

Mark00:40:40

Mark oh yeah, I'm tired just thinking.

Arnold00:40:42

About I go home, take a nap.

Mark00:40:45

I know my son just got into marathon racing and it's amazing to me. We're actually going to Disney World in January and he's going to do a full marathon. I think. I know. I think it's just crazy.

Arnold00:40:59

You're going to be on one of the ride. Yeah. Keep going.

Mark00:41:01

During the. You. During the full marathon, you run through the parks. They've got about four parks there.And if you get tired, you can stop, ride a ride, and then pick up the run again and get going. But we've gone. I've been going to a lot of the marathons around town. 5Ks and that kind of thing. I think the Biz Bash is coming up on Thursday.

Arnold00:41:18

There's a lot of 5Ks.

Mark00:41:19

We're gonna go to those. Yeah.

Roger00:41:21

You can run almost every weekend pretty much here. Yeah. Yeah. It's a very strong running community. Yeah.

Mark00:41:26

It's amazing. He loves it. It's something that once you do it and you get it going, you can't shake it. I don't thing.

Roger00:41:32

It's that whole mental. And the endorphins are, you know, going, and you catch the bug.

Mark00:41:36

It's pretty neat. Anyway.

Roger00:41:38

Yeah.

Mark00:41:38

What you guys are doing is great.

Arnold00:41:39

It is. Mark, do you have Days of the Day? Is it a National Presidential Fitness Day or something?

Mark00:41:44

I wish it were. It's a Cinco de Mayo. Oh, today is Cinco de Mayo. Yeah. We need a mariachi band in here today. I wish we had one, but we don't have one.National Hoagie Day.

Roger00:41:57

Hoagies and tacos.

Mark00:41:58

Yeah, there you go.

Arnold00:42:01

Have a hoagie. Taco street taco.

Mark00:42:06

It's weird.

Roger00:42:08

Is it meat or is it corn?

Mark00:42:10

I don't know.

Roger00:42:10

What do you put in there? Or just lunch meat? I don't know what's going in there.

Mark00:42:14

That's a problem. Nobody knows.

Arnold00:42:16

It's wrapped on a slab of baloney.

Mark00:42:19

Oh, yeah. Okay, let's see. National Concert Day. National Cartoonist Day. I don't know if you have a favorite cartoon. Do you have any favorite.

Arnold00:42:28

I always liked peanuts.

Mark00:42:29

Did you?

Roger00:42:29

Yeah.

Mark00:42:30

Yeah. I'm pretty. Yeah. I'm sad because the Post Dispatch has really cut back on their cartoon or their comics or whatever.

Arnold00:42:38

Cut back on a lot of stuff. Yeah.

Mark00:42:39

It's not as. Not what it used to be. National Foster Care Day. There's one that's close and dear to my heart. Let's see. World Hand Hygiene Day.We could probably use more of that.

Roger00:42:51

Oh, yeah.

Scott00:42:52

Quick, let's go wash our hands.

Roger00:42:55

Yeah. Quickly.

Mark00:42:56

World Asthma Day. I don't know if you have asthma. That's a tough one to have. You get your inhaler out and use that. Man. I Think that's. Let's see.That's about really it really your rope. What is it? European day? I don't know what that is. That's really.

Arnold00:43:12

They feel diminished.

Mark00:43:13

We can go into more couple other days. But that's. I think that's the Cinco de Mayo is the big one.

Arnold00:43:18

Yeah, it is the big one.

Mark00:43:19

You know everyone is Taco Tuesday.

Arnold00:43:21

Spanish Taco Tuesday.

Mark00:43:22

That's right. We're doing it tonight at our house.

Arnold00:43:24

Hoagie.

Roger00:43:25

Taco Tuesday.

Arnold00:43:25

Yeah.

Roger00:43:29

So here's better.

Arnold00:43:30

Here are some memorable multi sport athletes in history and Mental floss has rated Bo Jackson as the number one. He was drafted by the New York Yankees.

Mark00:43:41

Oh my.

Arnold00:43:42

As a high school graduate. But he chose Bo Jackson. He played baseball and football and track at Auburn University where he won the Heisman Trophy.And then he actually played for the Los Angeles Raiders and the Kansas City Royals at the same time. Unbelievable. And had a hip injury which ended his pro career. But he made a throw on the Kansas City Royals. That was just crazy. Unbelievable.Another one, Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe was a member of the SAC and Fox Nation and he was a great athlete.He was in the decathlon and pentathlon and won medals that were evoked because he was playing semi professional baseball. And those medals were returned to his relatives in the 1980s. But we're talking about when he spent this was back at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.So that was a long time for that. And then somebody who you may not know, Babe Dickardson Zaharias. She was a great golfer, nicknamed her.Her real name was Mildred Ella Didrickson, later Zaharius. But she named got nicknamed Babe after Babe Ruth. And it stuck with her career. She played basketball but she was mainly known.She was track and field, but she was mainly known as the co founder of the lpga.

Mark00:45:01

Oh yeah.

Roger00:45:03

Just a minor detail, a bit of information.

Mark00:45:04

Just a minor dazy.

Arnold00:45:06

Okay.

Mark00:45:07

Who would have known that?

Arnold00:45:08

So I thought that was good. Mental Floss for our legends folks that are here. Also, a man burst into a doctor's office yelling help doctor, I'm shrinking.The doctor looks at him and says relax, you'll just have to be a little patient. What do you call the policewoman that draw does the chalk outlines at crime scenes? I don't know, Tracy.

Mark00:45:34

Wow. Wow.

Arnold00:45:36

Here's another one. My wife asked me why don't you treat me like you did when we were first dating?So I took her to a dinner and a movie then dropped her off at her parents house. She also asked Me? Is it just me or is it the. Is the cat getting fat? Apparently. No, it's just you wasn't the answer.

Mark00:45:55

Oh, my goodness. Ooh. This is bad stuff.

Arnold00:45:59

A cowboy walks into a German car showroom and says, audi.

Mark00:46:08

Didn't say any. Right. Okay.

Arnold00:46:10

My wife just turned to me and said, I was talking to you and you yawned six times. Am I boring you? I said those were not yawns. Those were six unsuccessful attempts to speak.

Mark00:46:21

Oh,.

Arnold00:46:25

Wow.

Mark00:46:26

I'm not gonna try any of these.

Roger00:46:30

Let's see.

Arnold00:46:31

I don't know that I can. Yeah, I can do this one. A woman brings her pet duck to the vet. Something's wrong. He looks weak.The vet examines the duck for a moment, then sighs, I'm sorry, your duck is dead. The woman frowns.

Roger00:46:43

Already?

Arnold00:46:44

You didn't even run any tests. The vet nods, then whistles. A black Labrador walks in, sniffs the duck from head to to tail, shakes its head and walks out.Then a cat jumps up, sniffs the duck, lets out a soft meow, and leaves. The vet turns back to the woman. I'm sorry. The results are clear. He hands her the bill. She guess $1,000. For what? The vet shrugs.If you'd taken my word for it, it would have been $50. But with the lab report and the CAT scan, it adds up.

Roger00:47:14

Okay.

Mark00:47:17

Really bad. Encourage them, guys.

Arnold00:47:21

And lastly, I'll just. Let's see. I'll end with this one. I checked into the Hokey Pokey clinic and I turned myself around.

Mark00:47:28

Oh, no.

Roger00:47:29

Okay.

Arnold00:47:30

No.

Mark00:47:30

Okay. Wow.

Arnold00:47:34

That's all for this show, folks. We thank you for listening.If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows at Stland two days where you can follow us and leave a review. Thanks to Bob Berthasil for our theme music, our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage.Our guests Scott Schwartz and Roger Scherck, and our co host, Mark Langston. We thank you for being part of our community of curious minds. St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network.Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy, and let your light shine. For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.