A Passion for Fitness & Each Other
By Laura Stetser

Let me start by saying that if you have what Joe and Gail have, congratulations – you truly have a great gift. Not only do these two share a beautiful love story of 50 years together (their first date was in 1971 and they are still madly in love with each other, something easily discernible being around them, but also something they both happily confide smiling at each other across the table from me during our interview), but they share a passion for fitness, most specifically – swimming. In this health lifestyle, it’s a gift to find a soulmate who also shares your love of fitness.

A CAREER WITH A STORY…

Both Joe and Gail are practicing lawyers with a best-selling book titled “Where the Rubber Meets the Road.” It’s a true story of two lawyers who took on corporate America (Joe and Gail) and won. The book is about the largest privately financed defective tire recall campaign in US history. It’s an “eye-opening account…exposing a large corporation’s cover-up of greed, corruption, and conspiracy.” Their fight resulted in “11 million Steeltex tires being removed from the roads and highways of the United States…” (Book is available on Amazon, link here). In their law practice, Gail says “I’m the writer, he’s the talker.”

OUTSIDE WORK…

Outside work, Joe has been an athlete and swimmer most of his life. When they met, Gail acted as his lap counter for training. She would place a plaque in the water at the end of the pool to let him know his lap count, working up to 60 laps. When I asked if this is part of their fun time together, he replied ‘it’s all fun, she’s the love of my life” (she’s also the only girl he ever brought home to meet his parents).

TOP RANKING COMPETITORS…

Their shared love of time spent together in this manner outside work morphed as time went on. In 2012, Joe swam the San Francisco Mile at the Olympic Club. In 2016, Joe competed in the Huntsman World Senior Games and took Bronze in Freestyle. And last year, after training together for several years, Gail joined Joe and together they competed at the Senior Games with Joe placing 7th in the world in the 50mm Breaststroke, and 8th in the world in Freestyle. Gail (her first games!) placed 6th in the world in Backstroke, and 7th in Freestyle. Exceptional to this story is the fact that the pool at the Senior Games had starting blocks, something neither had trained with nor were comfortable using. Instead of using the blocks, they started at the edge of the pool which clearly put them at a huge disadvantage. Yet, both still managed to pull in top ranking spots.

Senior Games: Joe placed 7th in the world in the 50mm Breaststroke, and 8th in the world in Freestyle

Senior Games: Gail (in her first games) placed 6th in the world in the Backstroke, and 7th in the world in Freestyle.

It’s also inspiring to note that for Joe, swimming didn’t necessarily come easy. In 1961, to swim in a public pool you had to pass a Red Cross Swim test which he flunked the first five times. Eventually he passed, but it wasn’t until the 1980s and during an extremely stressful season in his life when he began experiencing panic attacks and intense anxiety, that his love of swimming was truly cemented. He recalls waking up one day in the middle of the night to a panic attack. He can’t explain why exactly, but he got out of bed, walked downstairs from the apartment where he then resided and jumped in the freezing cold pool in the dead of night. And guess what? It shocked the panic attack right out of him. From then on, the pool became his refuge, and swimming became his sport.

A few years ago, when Joe and Gail first decided to train for the Senior Games together, they confide they were a bit out of shape and needed to work on their conditioning. They began training by walking in the pool at South Yuba Club completing 30 laps together five days a week for two months. Next, they began swimming two laps a day and progressively increasing by one lap every week.

A TYPICAL DAY FOR JOE & GAIL…

A typical day for them now looks like Mass early in the morning followed by training at South Yuba Club which includes 30-40 minutes of strength training and 30 minutes in the pool, breakfast at Humpy Dumpty, then home to work for a few hours. Gail loves to volunteer and spends several hours a week at Sammy’s and both Joe and Gail volunteer at the food bank together. Gail says, “seniors need to get out and volunteer, it gives you a sense of purpose.”

At 74 years of age (Joe) and 72 (Gail), these two are a prime example that age is just a number They both have plans to medal next year at the Games and they both agree that while it’s important at any age, it’s especially important for seniors to get outside of their house and join a supportive, active community like South Yuba Club.  Both enjoy the swimming community here and the social aspect is an important piece in their lives. Joe says about South Yuba Club and its members – “it’s a world-class facility, we love this place.”

And we love our members. Thank you Joe and Gail for letting us feature you and congratulations on your Games achievements – we will be rooting for you in 2022!

“It’s a world-class facility, we love this place.” — Joe & Gail, SYC Members

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