The Legacy of the Massachusetts Senior Games on Campus Continues

By: Damon Markiewicz

Since 1991, the Springfield College campus community has welcomed thousands of older adults across the Commonwealth, and provided them an opportunity to ignite their Olympic flame and compete at the Massachusetts Senior Games.

During the last 30 years, the connection between the College and the Massachusetts Senior Games has become so much more than just an opportunity for the College to provide state-of-art facilities to the participants for competition. Springfield College faculty, staff, alumni, students, and friends have embraced this event as a way to live the Humanics philosophy. Current students from the Springfield College Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Athletic Training programs remain involved in assisting the participating athletes in many different capacities.

It's the mission of providing service to others that had Faculty Emeritus Jack Neumann ’51, G’57, determined to make sure the Massachusetts Senior Games had a home on the Springfield College campus. During his tenure, Neumann was a Springfield College football coach, chairman for the national Senior Games, and a medical psychotherapist. Neumann helped generations of students, athletes, and senior citizens improve and enrich their lives during his 57-year career as an educator.

“Jack was very proud to have the Senior Games hosted on our campus,” explained Springfield College Faculty Emeritus Charlie Redmond ’68, G’71. “He competed in the games, and in those early years, he helped develop a workshop on adult fitness, training, nutrition, psychology, prevention and care of injuries. The workshop was run on the campus, and for a couple of years, we would take it on the road and hold the workshops at YMCA locations across the Commonwealth. The workshop is just one example of the educational component that Jack envisioned when bringing the Massachusetts Senior Games to Springfield College.”

Neumann’s passion for the event also inspired Redmond to take charge in providing athletic training assistance to the participating athletes.

“I was serving as the College’s head athletic trainer at the time, so it was my responsibility to get the athletic training assistance that was needed for the event,” explained Redmond. “Overall, it was a great way for the College to stay connected throughout the city of Springfield and throughout the state of Massachusetts. Especially if it was a qualifying year for the National Senior Games, there were years we had more than 1,2000 athletes competing on campus.”

Even in retirement, Redmond, along with Springfield College Faculty Emeritus Beth Evans ’62, G’70, continue to volunteer at the Massachusetts Senior Games. Redmond continues to utilize the event to mentor current athletic training students as they receive a great opportunity to reap the benefits of experiential learning on the campus.

“I always found it as a great opportunity to learn outside of the classroom,” explained Redmond. “It’s also living our Humanics mission and providing service to others. Jack (Neumann) would be proud to see the Senior Games still having an impact on our campus community.”