Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 20, 1990                   TAG: 9006200015
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JIM GOLEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SO FAR, MONTH OF JUNE SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES

It is.

In the merry month of June:

45-year-old Hale Irwin has become the oldest player to win the U.S. Open golf tournament.

43-year-old Nolan Ryan has become the oldest pitcher to throw a no-hitter, his sixth.

52-year-old Harry Gant has become the oldest driver to win a NASCAR Winston Cup race.

Others in the over-40 set have looked good this month, too.

Chuck Daly, at 60 the oldest coach in the NBA, helped the Detroit Pistons earn a place in league history by leading them to their second consecutive championship.

George Foreman, 42, improved his record to 67-2 by knocking out Adilson Rodrigues.

Told by many that they couldn't maintain their level of achievement, these gentlemen proved their critics right. They got better.

Irwin, seen as over the hill by many golf observers, danced over hill and dale in celebration of his sudden-death victory Monday in the U.S. Open, which he had won twice previously.

"I've never considered many things impossible," he said. "Some are just improbable. But I never looked at my age as one of the factors. . . . I always felt I could do it, and I always wanted to do it."

Ryan is a journeyman as Hall of Famers go. He has pitched for the New York Mets, California, Houston and Texas. But Ryan has done the job for all four of his employers - most recently for the Rangers, who were on the winning end of his sixth no-hitter (his fifth already was a major-league record).

"It comes so late in my career that it makes it extra special," said Ryan, whose fastball has slowed to 98 mph.

"I haven't gotten bored with no-hitters, yet," he said. "I don't know how many more chances I'm going to get, but the way I've been throwing, it's certainly not out of the question that I'll get another shot."

Gant didn't figure to be a factor Sunday in the Miller 500 in Long Pond, Pa. But he drove to his first Winston Cup victory in more than a year.

"Hey, if George Foreman can still do it, I can do it," Gant said. "I hope I win the most of anybody at this age. You're never too old.

"I just hope this isn't the last one. I'd like to keep on winning races at this age."

John Myers, a spokesman for the American Association of Retired Persons, said his group "has argued for many years that age is no barrier to a great many things, including excellence in physical activities."

The organization cites the recent victories by Irwin, Ryan and others as evidence that "older athletes are just as competitive as they were in their youth."

History bears this out. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ran the floor in the 1989 NBA Finals at the age of 43. Hockey great Gordie Howe and Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige played at the highest level into their 50s.

And when Bill Shoemaker won the 1986 Kentucky Derby aboard Ferdinand, he was 54.