Re: Oldest player?

rbinouye <*no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com*> · Tue, 03 Aug 2004 19:39:04 -0000

--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, tfmichael1 <no_reply_at_y...> wrote:
> I have three potential rivals for the honor, but I'm afraid I don't 
> know their ages; and in two cases don't recall names.
> 
> In the mid 1990's, Brigham Young had a player who was getting his 
> undergraduate degree after serving 25 years in the military. He was 
> at least in his late forties-early fifties, possibly older. Perhaps 
> someone from that squad who still reads this list will remember. 
> He's certainly the oldest person I've ever seen play as an 
> undergraduate. He also seemed to get more enjoyment out of playing 
> the Sport than anyone else I've ever seen.

As has been noted elsewhere, this is Norm Gillespie, who I had the
distinct pleasure of playing with during my years at BYU.

> Finally, at Philadelphia Experiment I, I recall a player who put 
> together a team that included his father, a sibling, and a fourth 
> whose relationship to him I never caught. That was a one-off team, 
> and it might be very difficult now to recover the father's name and 
> age.

This team was the Taber family, with various qb connections.  John
(who as I recall did not play in PEI) was on the BYU team in the mid
90s.  As I recall, the PEI team was led by his brother, Alan, who
played for Stanford.  The rest of the team were members of his family.
 I believe the story is that he was preparing to go on an LDS mission,
and the Philly Experiment was a fun thing to do before he left -- his
family came along for the ride.  I believe sister Lisa was at that
tournament.  She had a brief involvement in qb at BYU later.  I don't
know how old the parents were.  

Here's a link to the rosters for that tournament:
http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=alt.college.college-bowl&scoring=d&as_drrb=b&as_mind=12&as_minm=7&as_miny=1994&as_maxd=3&as_maxm=9&as_maxy=1994&selm=30rfh2%24p5c%40netnews.upenn.edu

The Tabers are the Robber Barons.

Anyone with more info/better memory, feel free to correct this story.

> 
> There are probably other examples. But 55 is quite impressive, 
> indeed; and, I say, commendable. This is a Sport where what you
know 
> should be what counts, no matter what the age.

There was a team at CB, Inc. Nationals from Midwestern State
(http://www.collegebowl.com/schoolhistoryrpt.asp?CustomerID=220) which
was notable for the average age of its players, who were all roughly
the same age as Norm G., who was also at the tournament.  Easily the
team with the highest average age in qb history.  Does anyone have any
 other info about this team?

The BYU teams with myself, Norm Gillespie, Darren Roulstone, Bill
Atkinson, Jonathan Green, and others in varying combinations were
usually the team with the oldest average age at any given tournament,
as many of us either were graduate students or returned LDS
missionaries, or both.

--Bryce I

/returning to lurkdom