This is from a great article on Yahoo by writer Jonathan Littman about Olympic Bobsledder, former Chicago Bears NFL Champion, Olympic Sprinter and all around shredder, Willie Guilt.
Nearly 25 years after Willie Gault helped the Bears win a Super Bowl, he races men half his age and holds his own.
The man in blue in Lane 2 looked just like the ripped young runners on either side of him, chiseled from head to toe. Yet there was a subtle difference in his demeanor. Cool and measured, he didn’t leap up and down like the others before settling into his blocks.
“On your marks,” boomed the starter.
Taking his sweet time, the man eased his lean frame into position for the open 100-meter dash at the Mt. SAC Relays in Southern California. One runner couldn’t hold back and popped a false start, but the man in blue paid no mind. The gun fired again, and he exploded off the line, his long, muscled legs seeming to float off the ground.
A football fan might have imagined him dashing under a long pass from Jim McMahon in the 1985 Super Bowl. Any spectator could have been forgiven for rubbing his eyes as if experiencing a flashback.
The man in blue was Willie Gault. A 48-year-old Willie Gault. The same Willie Gault who played 11 seasons in the NFL after getting drafted in the first round – in 1983.
Decades later, Gault still has world-class speed. His 10.80 clocking at Mt. SAC a couple weeks ago – not bad for his first 100 of the season – was only seven tenths of a second slower than his personal best nearly 30 years ago.
Gault shook his head and smiled. “Age is just a number,” he said.
How’s that for good stuff. At 48 years old, Willie’s still hanging with the young bucks.
Time can be especially cruel to sprinters, but Gault keeps clocking swift times and beating the odds. To put his accomplishments in perspective, few professional sprinters win beyond their 20s, and most hang up their spikes for good in their early 30s after the hamstring pulls and the years of pounding have taken their toll. Furthermore, most NFL veterans approaching the half-century mark suffer from arthritic knees and assorted aches and pains. Most consider themselves lucky if they can golf without pain.
Compare that to Gault, who can still crack 10 seconds in the 100-yard dash, and last year ran the 40 in a blistering 4.27. Age-grading track and field tables suggest that his recent 10.80 for the 100 meters at 48 is the equivalent of 9.76 by a man in his 20s – only a step behind Usain Bolt, and fast enough for a silver medal at the Bejing Olympics.
In this steroid and HGH-obsessed age, it’s a fair question to ask: Is Gault on the juice? He said he’s clean, and his consistently swift performances the past 30 years without the injuries associated with drug use would argue against any chemical shortcuts.
“What would I have to gain?” he said. “I’m not getting any money from running. I do this because it keeps me in shape. This is the only body I get. I understood that in high school.”
Lyfe is Good – get on with it!
