At 88, he has 108 medals on the wall

Walter Jaworski hangs another round of gold from the Good Life Games. His neighbors lie by the pool and admire him.

LARGO - Walter Jaworski tossed and turned for days. It's like this before he competes in the annual Good Life Games.

On race day, as the starting gun fired for his 5-kilometer (about 3 miles) run, his worries turned to determination. He fell into a smooth gait.

A man with white hair zoomed past him. Jaworski knew it was best to pace himself.

He jogged through the grounds at the Sunshine Center in St. Petersburg and onto the city streets, where sweat dripped from his body and he fought for each breath.

Then, with a mile left, a sharp pain shot up his right calf. He wasn't sure he would finish. But he wasn't quitting.

He hung in. He raced past the white-haired man. Then aching and exhausted, he sprinted past the finish line to win the race in his age group - the 85- to 89-year-olds.

Since 1992, 88-year-old Jaworski has been competing in the Good Life Games, a multisport event in Pinellas County for athletes 50 and older.

His first year he brought home four medals, and each year he brings home more. Now, 108 framed medals adorn the hallway in his Ranchero Village home in Largo, which he shares with his wife, Penny, 78, who prefers crafts to sports.

This March, he also brought home gold medals in the softball throw, basketball free throw, table tennis, tennis singles, shot put and high jump. He also earned eight silver medals and a bronze in rifle shooting.

Two weeks ago, he received the Gold Torch Award, which recognizes outstanding athletes in each age group. This was the sixth year straight he has won that honor.

It's no fluke.

He swims 15 to 20 laps every day and plays tennis a couple of times a week. That's all the preparation he needs for the games.

"The way I feel now, I can compete next year and the year after," Jaworski said in his Brooklyn accent.

Tuesday, like every afternoon, Jaworski pulled on swim shorts and jumped feet first into the deep end of a Ranchero Village pool. He swam a steady freestyle for several laps. Then he took a five-second breather, flipped onto his back and paddled his way to the other end.

His neighbors watched and admired.

"He's quite a gentleman," said LeRoy Beals, 63, who was sunning near the pool. "I'm highly impressed. He's a model for everyone."

"Walter's the shape we'd all like to be in," said Beals' wife, Shirley, also 63, who just finished her laps.

"I think he's fantastic for an old guy," said Richard Johnson, 70. "It kind of gives everybody a shot in the arm."

At Johnson's age, Jaworski was just hitting his stride.

"When I reached 70, I was in the prime of my life," Jaworski said. "A lot of guys just give up."

Jaworski is not a rarity, said Nick Gandy, communications director for the Florida Sports Foundation.

"It's getting to be where more and more seniors are adapting to a fit lifestyle," Gandy said. More than 2,200 senior athletes participated in the Florida Senior Games, including a 96-year-old who plays table tennis and pitches horseshoes, he said.

Jaworski has never been a couch potato. To support his family, he worked three jobs. He was an inspector for the New York State Department of Labor in the Safety and Health Division, sold furniture and checked in deliveries at a brewery.

"I'm not a guy who sits around," Jaworski said.

For 35 years, the 5-foot-8 Jaworski has maintained a consistent 160 pounds.

He retired in 1989, at 75, and since then, he has divided his time between Largo and Garden City, N.Y. For the past decade, he served as president of the Ranchero Village Men's Club and now he serves on the board.

Jaworski has always been competitive. In the old days, that meant making the best toys for his kids or building pristine cabinets for his wife. Today, it means he's an athlete.

"Whatever I do, I try to do it better or win," he said.

Now, he slows down just a tad, for gardening, sunning and an occasional afternoon nap.

He's a firm believer in pacing himself, beefing up his exercise just a touch in the weeks before the Good Life Games.

"I don't exert too much," Jaworski said. "I time myself. I don't overdo things."

His friends always ask his secret for staying so fit.

"I don't smoke and I don't drink to excess. I just lead a clean life," Jaworski said.

- Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com

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