In today’s society they say 30 is the new 20 and 40 is the new 30.
So how old does that make a 73-year-old man who will play basketball this season for Roane State Community College in Kentucky?
Ken Mink, the 73-year-old man in question, will be number 54 on the team. He is about to show his toughest critics that he can keep up with a bunch of athletic teenagers, The Lexington News reported Sunday.
“I guess I’m just out of my mind,” Mink told the newspaper.
Mink, a retiree from Knoxville, Tenn., said he isn’t out to prove anything, he simply wants a chance to finish his sophomore season.
Mink played ball for Lees Junior College in Jackson, Ky., during the 1955-56 season, averaging 11.8 points a game. However, he never made it to his sophomore season because he was expelled from schoolfor a prank he claims not to have actually committed.
One day last year, Mink was shooting hoops in his driveway when he made several three-pointers in a row. That’s when he had the idea to play college basketball.
Publicly, other senior citizens are proving age is just a number: At the age of 82, Cloris Leachman, for example,twirled around the “Dancing With the Stars” stage with moves that would make Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers jealous.
Standing 6-feet tall and weighing 195 pounds, Mink passed the required physical fitness test.
“(Mink) gets up and down the floor and can get shots off in practice,” said teammate BJ Ware. “He can definitely still play for being that old.”