James Bishop carried the torch proudly, its construction-paper flames leading the way. Behind him, 17 others paraded through the halls of the Flint Hills Care Center using walkers and wheelchairs as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played on.
Bishop was a proud torch-bearer and Hall of Fame competitor for the Kansas Special Olympics before health problems pulled him out two years ago. Now, the center’s Senior Olympics had given him a chance to compete a little again.
“I just came out of retirement,” he joked.
As the parade came to a stop, he wheeled in front of the others to speak the Special Olympic oath again.
“Let me win,” he pronounced. “But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
The care center’s games on Wednesday were part of National Nursing Home Week. They used to be a citywide event, with care centers and nursing homes gathering at the Flinthills Mall to compete. These days, each location holds its own Senior Olympics, but the participants remain enthusiastic and even devoted in some cases.
“We have a lady who passed away who had never won anything in her life, but she won some medals at the Senior Olympics,” said Emily Ayers of Holiday Resort, which held its games Thursday. “She asked to be buried with them on. They meant that much to her.”
Bishop can understand that — he’s asked to be buried with the Special Olympics flag. He still has great memories of running the torch through Emporia, or shooting 10 of 10 free throws in basketball, or setting records at the 100-yard race. But the best memory of all may come from the bicycle race.
“There was this boy on a three-wheel bike and he fell off ... right in front of me,” Bishop said. “I had a choice. I could have gone ahead and won the race, but his arm would have been broken. So I turned and flipped my bike.”
The bike was damaged. But Bishop and his competitor were both OK.
The Senior Olympics don’t run much to bike races. Wheelchair races, yes, not to mention bean-bag tosses, horseshoe throws and the odd bit of bowling. Each produced cheers from the workers and the competitors as the games went on.
At Flint Hills Care Center, Audrey Krom had to angle her wheelchair carefully before starting to flip her bean-bags gently toward the wire basket on the floor. But once she found her rhythm, she kept it. In one round, she landed six out of eight bean-bags right on target.
“Tell me you can’t do that!” her daughter Joyce Branson cheered. “Ha!”
Krom ended up with a silver medal.
As the tosses and throws ended, Bishop lined up for the first heat of the wheelchair races.
“I won’t try any ...” he said, trailing off with a grin as he pantomimed throwing his elbows.
The race started. Bishop and Donnie Larcom pushed off down the hall. No elbows were thrown, though there were a couple of close calls on pinched fingers.
The two came in neck-and-neck. Both won and ended up splitting a bronze medal.
How appropriate. Regardless of the medals and the placings, everyone could come away from the day feeling like a winner.