How many times have you heard sports announcers proclaiming, “It’s a young man’s (or woman’s) game? We are under no illusion, of course. The vast majority of sports stars are in their 20s and 30s, as the rigors of the job can take its toll, especially with some of the more physical sports.
But there are plenty of older sports athletes still going strong – and there always has been. The experience and know-how can really show through once there have been a few years in a career, and these players tend to be leaders in their chosen field. The players who give their teams a better chance of winning are quite regularly those who have seen it all before and are able to direct younger players in the right direction.
Although we will always want to see young players coming through for our teams, we thought it was only right that we also celebrate experience in sports. So, with that in mind, here are some of the more senior athletes who continued to play at the highest level.
Kazuyoshi Miura
There are soccer players performing at the top level these days that were born well into the 21st century. Even some of the more established will be in their late 20s and Cristiano Ronaldo has been labeled as a freak of nature because he is still playing in his mid-30s. But Kazuyoshi Miura has shown that soccer is for all ages.
He is officially the oldest professional soccer player in history and, at almost 57 years of age, he is still turning out for Oliveirense, a second-tier Portuguese team. He has played in Brazil and Australia, as well as his native Japan, and is the oldest player ever to score in the J-League. It is incredible to think that his career has lasted over 34 years at the top of such a demanding sport.
Jason Peters
NFL careers are notoriously short. Even the healthiest of players who escape any serious injury only expect to play five to ten years at most. Tom Brady is probably the biggest name in football to keep playing into his 40s, but when he retired, Jason Peters was left as the oldest player in the league.
Having just turned 42, Peters has just ended a season with the Seattle Seahawks but has also played in Buffalo, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Dallas. In his 20-year career, Peters has won a Super Bowl as well as being named an All-Pro three times and made it to the Pro Bowl on nine occasions. He was named in the NFL 2010 All-Decade Team and it wouldn’t surprise us if he made the 2020s team too.
Bernard Lagat
There is a long history of incredible middle and long-distance runners coming out of Kenya. But few have enjoyed a career as long as Bernard Lagat. After moving to the US as a teenager, Lagat won a number of NCAA titles before representing his home country at his first Olympics in 2000.
He transferred his allegiance to the US in 2005 and has now competed at five Olympic games and won 13 medals at major championships. Five of those medals were gold, and he is still the American record holder for the 1,500m and mile run indoors.
Gordie Howe
Hockey is one of the most demanding of sports, so to keep on playing in the NHL – the world’s best league – at the age of 52, is quite something. Gordie Howe even suited up for a single game for the Detroit Vipers of the IHL in 1997 at the age of 69. It is not surprising that he was known as “Mr. Hockey”.
But Howe’s hockey career was not just long. He was considered one of the finest – and toughest – players in the league. His records for goals, assists, and total points were only beaten by “the Great One”, Wayne Gretzky, and his umber nine jersey now hangs in the Detroit Red Wings home arena.
Jack Nicklaus
Widely considered one of the best players to ever play golf, “the Golden Bear” only played his final US Open in 2000 (when a young Tiger Woods won his first title) and finished off his career at the age of 65 at the Open Championship at the world-famous St Andrews course in 2005.
Nicklaus retired with 73 PGA Tour wins, as well as 18 major championship successes. The fact that he won those majors in three different decades just shows the sheer longevity of his prowess. He is now the owner of the most prestigious golf course design company in the world and still going strong.
Satchel Paige
Baseball pitchers know all about wear and tear on muscles and joints, so to be able to finish a career spanning 40 years is quite an achievement. Paige started off life in the Negro Leagues and played there for 18 years before becoming the oldest debut player in Major League Baseball in 1948 at the age of 42.
He immediately set the majors alight and won the World Series with the Cleveland Indians in 1948. But that was far from the end of his sporting story. The first black pitcher to play in the American League, he played his final MLB game at the age of 59, giving up just one hit in three innings.
Everything is Relative
When you look at some of the athletes profiled above you may think that they are not that old, depending on your age. But we have included a wider spectrum of ages here to demonstrate that “senior” can mean a lot of different things in a lot of different sports.
Age is still considered a negative when it comes to sports for a lot of people and these stars showed that they could keep on going and play at the highest level long after many pundits would have told them to quit. They are an inspiration to us all to keep going in some capacity, no matter what level of sports you play.
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