Never too old — Area golfer still swinging at 100 while playing with the kids
Every Wednesday morning in the summer, Jack Shores, Gus Elson and John Elliker meet at Union Country Club for a round of nine holes of golf. One might think that 83, 88 and 100 are high handicaps for the 36 par course they are playing, but it turns out those are their ages, and not a handicap at all.
The three met in the senior golf group about 15 years ago, and are the only members left. Elliker is also the only surviving member of his high school graduating class in Galion, Ohio. He does not find it unusual to be playing golf at 100.
“Golf is the one sport where you are competing against yourself,” Elliker said, “So it’s a good lifetime hobby.”
Shores and Elson said they don’t actually keep score, but if Elliker out-drives Shores, they put it on the score card.
“Most of the time, John is straight down the fairway,” Elson said, “and he can drive about 150 yards.”
Elliker said he is sure movement is one of the things that keeps you young, and he enjoys meeting his friends each week.
Elliker laughed that when he and his family were living in Japan, his wife, Jan, wanted to learn to play golf. “She picked up my driver and drove it straight and far,” he said. “She was a natural, and went on to be the women’s champion at the club.” Jan passed away eight years ago.
“There are two other things that keep you young,” Elliker said, “music and worrying.”
He plays the guitar, trumpet and trombone, and sings in a quartet at the Christian Missionary Alliance Church, where he is involved in Bible study and knows the literature “from front to back.” “Worrying,” he said, “keeps your mind too busy to get old. It keeps you from being senile.” Besides all that, laughter is a large part of Elliker’s youthfulness. “I had a rule that I had to make my wife laugh twice before breakfast every day,” he said.
Each day, Elliker goes to the Daily Grind Coffee Shop from 9:30-11 and reads The Times-Reporter and other papers. Then he goes to Dover Public Library to read the Wall Street Journal. Later in the day, he will read his favorite news or adventure, often Craig Johnson’s Longmire series.
Looking back over his long lifetime, Elliker said he was on the fencing team in high school, enrolled in Miami of Ohio University, dropped out to join the Navy, after which he returned to Miami to finish a degree in Economics. His Master’s degree, from Georgetown University, is in International Law.
The three share their pride in their families. Elliker and Shores, are both widowers, Elson is married to wife, Jo Lane, for 63 years. Elliker boasts John Jr., Jim, Jeffrey and daughter, Jody Weisgarber, 15 grandchildren and “innumerable” great grandchildren. Elson’s children are son, Eric and daughter Lorene Haimerl, and Shore’s include son, Mark and daughter, Tammy Everett.
The careers of the golfers could fill a book. Elson, who is from Magnolia, is the fifth generation owner and operator of The A.R. Elson Co., Flour, Feed Mill and Lumber Yard.
He and his wife also operated Elson Inn Bed and Breakfast for eight years in his grandfather’s home built in 1879. He has been a 39-year member of Union Country Club, and member of the board of directors of the Bank of Magnolia, Lutheran Church Council, Village Council, outstanding citizen of Magnolia and served on the boards of the Atwood Yacht Club and Tuscarawas Mental Health.
Shores, the youngest of the three, was president and publisher of The Times-Reporter, Massillon Independent, Midwest Offset and Mississippi Valley Offset, overseeing 670 employees. He started a nationwide newspaper computer user group which later became Hewlett Packard, formed a national newspaper optical character recognition users group and helped develop management and employee hiring guidelines. Following retirement, he spent years traveling with wife, Sandra, before her death in 2012. During his employment tenure, he served as president of the Chamber of Commerce, Community improvement Corporation and Junior Achievement, on the YMCA board, as a director of Huntington Bank and was one of four founders of the Community Foundation.
When Elliker joined the Navy, he wasn’t eligible for a commission because he was color blind, so he was assigned to be a radio technician. His first job was spent as the only person on the island of Attu, in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, for two years. He passed the time by reading and building his own radio. His next move was to the National Security Agency’s school to learn to design and break codes. That education took him for many years to Yugoslavia, Japan, Korea, Hawaii and Germany. Elliker returned to the states from Germany and began working as an assistant deputy director of NSA at Fort Mead Maryland. He retired from that position in 1986 and moved to this area to be closer to his family.
“During my career I worked under 18 presidents,” he said, “and met the leaders of Germany and Korea.”
Elliker attributes his health to moderation, staying active, music and worrying. He said he believes it helps to keep up with Japanese and German languages. “I had to study languages everywhere I went,” he said, “so I still retain a little of some Slavic too. I think I might like to study French.”
The three friends will be out on the golf course until winter keeps them away. In the meantime, Elliker has to take the driver’s test to renew his license. “There is no question in my mind but what I will pass that test,” he said.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Area golfer still swinging at 100 while playing with the kids
