Published October 05, 2005

Student Activity Coordinator for Lee College, Mike Spletter, worked double-duty Tuesday when he organized numerous events for the Greater Baytown Area Senior Olympics.

“I love my job,” Spletter said. “Where else do you get to (play games) and get paid?”

This is the 31st annual Senior Olympics put on by Lee College, the City of Baytown and Harris County Pct. 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia's Senior Program. The competition is designed for people over 50 and with upwards of 30 events scheduled, it's fun for everyone.

The disc golf, billiards and pingpong events were the highlight of the activities at Lee College Tuesday.

The disc golf competition was outside the student center at Lee College and was well attended. Each competitor circled a three-hole course twice-tossing a Frisbee at a basket instead of hitting a ball into a hole. Each toss counted as one stroke and the person with the lowest number of strokes for two rounds won.

As the first players were about to tee off, Spletter decided to make it interesting.

“As the first contestant in this competition, I will offer the keys to my car if you make a hole-in-one,” Spletter said while dangling his keys in the air.

Spletter is still the rightful owner of his car.

“That's 31 years in a row that I get to keep my car,” Spletter joked.

Inside the nearby Lee College Student Center, the seniors were about to start the billiards and pingpong competitions.

For billiards, seniors played 8-ball in two divisions split by gender. The only shot they had to call prior to making it was for the 8-ball. Paul Lemmon said he has never really focused on pool, but he said it is a game he could learn to enjoy. Having fun is the point of the Senior Olympics after all.

"I guess that is what keeps us up and going," Betty Flewellen, who continued bowling in competition Monday despite suffering an injury. "We want to (do this); that is what is important."

One of the most exciting, and least serious, events of the day was the celebrity basketball free throw contest after the opening ceremony Tuesday morning.

State Representative Wayne Smith, R-Baytown, unseated Baytown Sun Columnist and two-time defending champion Jim Finley in the competition. Baytown Mayor Calvin Mundinger finished last and mumbled something about making budgetary adjustments to install basketball goals at Baytown City Hall.

"I wasn't able to let Jim win as I have in the past," Smith said of his victory.

Smith explained that his hands were tied in the second round because Finley missed all of his shots-forcing Smith to claim victory.

Finley, ever the class act, said a toothache kept him from performing to his usual championship standard. He recalled an old adage to bring closure to the issue.

"It's not how you play the game, it's whether you win or lose," he said.

The fun keeps going today with plenty of events for people over 50 to compete in. The bean bag toss starts things off at 8 a.m. in the Highlands Community Center basketball arena. Bean bag baseball, a very popular event, will be in the Highlands San Jacinto Pavilion at 8:45 a.m. Checkers and skip bo, a card game similar to uno, start at 9:30 a.m. in the Highlands Community Center.

After lunch, the water balloon toss is outside at the Highlands Community Center park at 12:45 p.m. Dominoes and 42, another game played with dominoes, begin inside the J.D. Walker Community Center in McNair at 1 p.m. and the bridge competition is at the same time but it is in the San Jacinto Building in Highlands.

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