TENNIS KEY TO LONG LIFE FOR DON WEAVER
It’s no secret that daily exercise and community connections are linked to a long, healthy life.
Longtime Y member Don Weaver understands that firsthand. Don has been coming weekly to the Y to play tennis for more than a decade.
“The Y has been a lifesaver for me,” Don says. “I don’t know what I would do without the Y and the friendly atmosphere around tennis.”
Don’s love of Y tennis stems from his relationship with Darryl Wisner, Y Tennis Director. Don now plays several times a week with a group of friends and continues hitting one-on-one with Darryl.
Don looks forward to playing because the Y creates a space for him to challenge himself, connect with a group of friends and continue to work on his skills.
“I play tennis because the surface is smooth and there’s no irregularities with the ground. It helps with my balance,” says Don, who has had 11 major surgeries on his legs and upper body. “Tennis at the Y is physical therapy for both my body and mind. And the Y is welcoming of people of all abilities and ages.”
Don is the Y’s oldest active tennis member—and he isn’t even sure of his exact age!
“I don’t know how old I am,” Don says, smiling. “I don’t have a birth certificate because my birth by midwife was never recorded.”
Don guesses that he was born in either 1926 or 1927, making him 92 or 93 years old today. His nine decades of experience are noteworthy:
Don was one of nine children and grew up in poverty on the West Coast. He remembers selling newspapers to earn money for the family, sometimes using his extra pennies to buy two bunches of carrots, the only dinner that night for the family. He spent time in the local YMCA’s lobby, staying warm and out of trouble but always worrying that he might be asked to leave because he wasn’t a member (he never was asked to leave!)
During his early adult life, he helped rebuild the Naval Facilities at Pearl Harbor after the attack by the Japanese, and then he joined the Marines. He married the Naval Hospital Librarian and became a father of three sons.
Despite only having a grammar school education, Don excelled due largely to his late wife tutoring him in language and correcting his hearing and speech difficulties. He learned so much from her that he later attended the University of California—Berkeley under the G.I. Bill and went on to earn a Ph.D. in paleontology and geology. Don served as a consultant for the petroleum and construction industry for 40 years and taught as a professor for 30 years at UC Santa Barbara before retiring and moving to Oregon in 2003.
Nowadays, Don looks to the future and a renowned, expanded YMCA Tennis Center in Eugene—with a large lobby and new courts that can welcome and accommodate existing members as well as new guests and teams from afar.
“The tennis center is sadly undersized based on demand and how many people use the facility,” says Don. “I want more people to have the same Y experience I’ve had. I am looking forward to seeing the new YMCA, sooner rather than later."
