It’s No Bull: These Old Guys Can Still Play

Their game is played below the rim--way below--but don’t try to tell the Old Bulls basketball players they’re over the hill.

Courtside at the Oxnard Boys and Girls Club gym, Joe Garcia, 55, brims with confidence as he waits to join a game.

“I think I’m just as good now as I was in high school,” he said.

A passerby suggested Garcia could afford such a boast only because none of his former Montebello High teammates are Old Bulls.

“That’s right, they’re all dead,” Garcia joked. “The truth comes out.”

Unwilling to be put out to pasture, Garcia and the rest of the Old Bulls are hooping it up with gusto.

Comprised of about 60 men 50 and older from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, the Old Bulls send teams throughout California and the West to compete in three-on-three, half-court tournaments sponsored by the U.S. National Senior Olympic Assn.

In May, two Old Bulls teams played in the National Senior Olympics in Tucson. Club members have won more than 25 individual gold medals in skills competitions.

To maintain their fitness, the Old Bulls cram into the tiny gym at the Oxnard Boys and Girls Club every Thursday night and play two hours of slow-moving but fiercely contested pickup games.

Most players keep at least one foot on the floor at all times and the number of knee and ankle braces is staggering, but many Bulls are top marksmen.

“I’ve yet to see anybody dunk; jumping is the first skill to go,” said Leo Alvarez, 63. “But the shooting skills, they’re still there.”

In July, the Bulls made a strong showing at a tournament and skills competition in San Jose, earning medals for the growing collection that founding Bull Al Puetz carries in a briefcase like pirates’ booty.

The Old Bulls’ 55-plus team of Ventura residents Garcia, George Dyer, Michael Lawson and Harold White won its division while Old Bulls teams finished second in the 50-plus and 65-plus divisions.

Old Bull Shig Yabu, 64, won the tournament’s free-throw contest by sinking 22 of 25 shots. Puetz, 66, made 20 free throws to finish second and won the Hot Spot shooting competition by pouring in 41 points in two minutes.

“We can compete with younger guys but they have fresher legs,” said Puetz, who takes between 200-300 shots per day at his backyard hoop in the weeks leading up to a tournament.

“It begins not to be fun because we can’t keep up. We can shoot as well if not better, but as far as defense, our legs get fatigued after one game.”

At least now, the Old Bulls can stand together as a herd. When Puetz first advertised for older players in the summer of 1995 he attracted only two other participants.

Reserving gym time was also a problem, for nearly every slot was filled by youth programs or leagues for younger players.

But after overcoming those start-up problems, the Old Bulls have taken off, attracting older players of varying talent and from all walks of life.

Mixing players with varying competitive backgrounds leads to somewhat uneven and physical play. And there are the usual pickup tensions between the playmakers and the wannabe superstars.

After one game Thursday, Leo Alvarez retired to the bleachers, sweat glistening on his bushy eyebrows.

“Some of these guys are ball-hogs,” he said. “They’re dreaming about 40 years ago.”

Yabu honed his game as a youngster on a dirt court in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. Recently retired after nearly 30 years in the Boys and Girls Club organization, he promotes patience among the Old Bulls.

“There are certain people who just don’t know how to pass,” he said. “But if a stupid play bothers me, I just forget about it. You can’t teach an old basketball player new tricks.”

The overwhelming scene on Thursday nights is one of congeniality. Players committing a foul are quick with a smile and a friendly grasp of the arm. Those tossing a pass out of bounds are encouraged, not rebuked.

The focus, say the Old Bulls, is on having fun and getting a workout.

Don Salado, 63, played at Ventura High, Ventura College and Fresno State and recently concluded a 34-year teaching and coaching career at Channel Islands High.

“I was surprised at how good the level of talent was,” said Salado, who discovered several old high school acquaintances when he joined the Old Bulls. “I like to run and sweat and I get that with these guys.”

Sometimes you get more than you bargained for, said George Hodges, 53, who sat out Thursday night’s workout with a sore back. Hodges has lost a tooth and suffered other minor injuries recently on the court.

“You’d think guys would settle down at this age but the aggression really comes out when you play,” Hodges said. “More elbows come out because you can’t stay with someone on defense as well.”

Alvarez said the intensity only goes up at tournaments, where some opponents are former Division I college players.

The Bulls’ 50-plus team played against former Laker center LeRoy Ellis at a tournament last year.

“I’ve seen a guy get hit in the jaw with a closed fist and the referee didn’t call it,” Alvarez said.

Sitting nearby, Jack Wiltfang said with a laugh, “That was your fist, Leo.”

None of the Old Bulls questioned can remember seeing a group like theirs when they were children or young men. But with 76 million Americans expected to be over the age of 50 by the year 2000, the demand for similar clubs will likely be . . bullish.

Hodges plays on a team with other players in their fifties in a Thousand Oaks recreation league loaded with younger players. Hodges and his friends joined the Old Bulls last year after word of the group reached them.

“This is a vehicle for keeping yourself younger longer,” said Hodges. “It’s encouraging to see guys our age and older staying active. We thought we were the last frontier.”