INTRODUCING THE GROWING BOLDER LIFE INSTITUTE REBRANDING AGING®
GET READY FOR THE GROWING BOLDER AWARDS
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR’S LIFELONG BOND WITH HIS LEGENDARY COACH
ON THE EDGE AND IN THE MOMENT At 57, Legendary Skateboarder David Hackett is Just as Gnarly as Ever. And He’s Still Busting Major Moves.
CONTENTS JULY/AUGUST 2017
HE’S STILL DOING THE
6 | GROWING BOLDER WITH ...
24 | ROCK STARS OF AGING ® Tony Handler’s doctor told him he had two years to live. Now, 33 years and 296 triathlons later, he begs to differ. By Bill Shafer
7 | ROAD TO RECOVERY Change your “health age” and change your future. By Robert Masson, M.D.
25 | BOLDER LIVING Why meditative practices have gone mainstream. By Jackie Carlin
5 | FROM THE EDITOR
8 | 5 QUESTIONS Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recalls life lessons from John Wooden, his legendary coach at UCLA. By Bill Shafer 18 | SURVIVING & THRIVING ® Despite Parkinson’s, Margaret Kohn challenges Mount Kilimanjaro as a tribute to Pulse victims. By Jackie Carlin 22 | BOLDER HEALTH UCF College of Medicine professor Aileen Caceres talks about the unique healthcare needs of women. By Jackie Carlin 4 G R O W I N G B O L D E R
INTRODUCING THE GROWING BOLDER LIFE INSTITUTE REBRANDING AGING®
GET READY FOR THE GROWING BOLDER AWARDS
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR’S LIFELONG BOND WITH HIS LEGENDAY COACH
ON THE EDGE AND IN THE MOMENT At 57, Legendary Skateboarder David Hackett is Just as Gnarly as Ever. And He’s Still Busting Major Moves.
ON THE COVER: David Hackett demonstrates one of his signature skateboarding moves. Photo by Daniel Harold Sturt © 2017
Now healthy and happy, skateboarding superstar David Hackett won’t back down from adversity. BY MARC MIDDLETON
30 | THE TAKEAWAY Actress Debra Winger talks about keeping relationships alive as they evolve.
FEATURES 20 | LAUGHING AND CRYING At memorials, they’re two sides of the same coin. By Bobbe Lyon 21 | GET READY FOR THE GROWING BOLDER AWARDS The Growing Bolder Awards — we like to call them the Boldys® — were a smash last year. So they’re coming back again this year even bigger and better. 28 | INTRODUCING THE GROWING BOLDER LIFE INSTITUTE We’ll provide the tools and resources to help make the rest of your life the best of your life. By Katy Widrick J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 7
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID HACKETT
DEPARTMENTS
10
SLASH
FROM THE EDITOR
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Marc Middleton MANAGING EDITOR Jackie Carlin ASSOCIATE EDITORS Katy Widrick, Bill Shafer CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Bobbe Lyon, Robert Masson, M.D. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY Sarah A. Friedman, Glen E. Friedman, Daniel Harold Sturt DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION Jason Morrow, Pat Narciso, Josh Doolittle, Mike Nanus DIRECTOR OF CIRCULATION Jill Middleton
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I
MANAGING LIFE’S RISKS
n 2012, Dr. Bill Thomas, the man who transformed the nursing care industry worldwide — and a regular contributor to Growing Bolder — began talking about the concept of “surplus safety.” Surplus safety results from obsessing over downside risk (what might go wrong) while dismissing upside risk (better-than-expected outcomes). This unhealthy mindset is what led nursing homes, until relatively recently, to routinely strap residents to their beds or chairs. There’s no denying that safety is critically important to all of us as we age. But equally important is quality of life. Human beings, by nature, love novelty and thrive on experience. Fortunately, a cultural change is underway. Increasingly, it’s being acknowledged that risk can also lead to the kind of experiences that make life worth living. Dr. Thomas is blunt in his prescription for successful aging: “Take risks!” he tells Growing Bolder. Dr. Gay Hanna, the director of the National Center for Creative Aging, calls our later years the age of liberation and asks, “If not now, when?” Dr. Robert Masson, medical director for Team Growing Bolder, passionately embraces risk taking in his own life — but is very clear about the preparation required: “We have to earn the right to participate in the activities we love as we age. We have to prehabilitate before we participate. We have to show up strong.” We must continually evaluate the risk/reward scenario in all we do. And participating in activities that carry a high risk of injury when we’ve not prepared for that activity is, in a word, stupid. This month’s cover story is on the amazing life of David Hackett, one of the world’s oldest professional skateboarders and a man who’s redefining what’s possible in his sport as he ages. Hackett works out regularly to mitigate the risks of engaging in the sport that he helped to popularize as a young man. And he has learned, as all aging athletes have, to dial back his aggressiveness so he can enjoy the benefits of skateboarding while minimizing the risk of major injury. And his preparation allows him to bounce back when he is injured. “I’m gonna roll on my skateboard until I’m dead,” he says. “And if I die doing it, all the better. I’d die doing something that I truly love. I’d be OK. I’d be at peace.” Of course, risk taking doesn’t only apply to physical activity. As we age, most of us become afraid to try new things for fear of failure or embarrassment. We allow surplus safety, in some measure, to creep into our lives, control our behavior and avoid experiences that make life worth living. To take away all risks, to remove all opportunities to make mistakes and to fail, is to take away what it means to be human. All of us must learn to balance risk tolerance in our lives so that we don’t simply wither away strapped to a bed.
The Killarney model was the Showcase Home for the 2017 Parade of Homes, sponsored by the Greater Orlando Builders Association.
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5 QUESTIONS Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 50-year friendship with John Wooden, his legendary coach at UCLA, gives him a unique perspective on “perhaps the greatest, most important person I’ve ever known.”
LIFE LESSONS PHOTO BY ESTHER LIN
Memories of a Great Coach, and an Even Greater Man. BY BILL SHAFER
8 G R O W I N G B O L D E R
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 7
KAREEM ABDULJABBAR
is one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game. When he retired from the NBA in 1989, he was the all-time leader in seasons played, championships won, MVP awards, points scored, shots blocked and AllStar game appearances. He was just as dominant in college, winning three straight NCAA National Championships at UCLA under legendary coach John Wooden. He subsequently became an actor, activist, columnist, bestselling author and, in 2016, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In his most recent book, Coach Wooden and Me, Abdul- Jabbar pays tribute to his coach, friend and mentor.
So many books have been written about John Wooden. How is yours different?
Everybody knows about him being such a successful coach. But he had some struggles, and there were times things didn’t go well. Being able to see him stand up tall [under those circumstances] was as enlightening as looking at his successes. When I first became a parent, I began to notice how many of the things he taught me were essential life lessons. My 50-year friendship with Coach Wooden enables me to provide a very different, very intimate look at perhaps the greatest, most important person I’ve ever known.
We’ve heard one of the first things he did was give you lessons on how to put on your socks. Is that true? What was the point of that?
Coach Wooden had a unique way of getting through to us using simple yet impactful lessons. He was proving to us the importance of proper preparation. He believed in paying attention to the smallest details. Something as simple as a blister on your foot can keep you from practice. If you don’t practice, you can’t play. What seem to be the smallest, most trivial or unimportant GROWINGBOLDERMAGAZINE.COM
details always end up being the difference between disappointment and success.
You’ve had some serious struggles recently, dealing with chronic myeloid leukemia. Just two years ago, you had quadruple bypass heart surgery. How have the lessons learned from Coach Wooden helped you through that?
The main lesson is simply being willing to accept certain things. Many things in life will not go our way. None of us are guaranteed anything. You can’t let fear or pain or concern change who you are. Having a positive attitude — and being willing to put in the work to assist in your own recovery — increases your odds of a successful outcome, and helps define who you are as a person.
Some athletes have difficulty coping with the physical and mental changes that come with aging. You’re now 70 years old. What’s your outlook moving forward?
I have. Family is such an important part of what Coach Wooden was about. Our team was a family. He wanted us to go from success on the basketball court to becoming good dads, good husbands and good citizens. He wanted us to get an education, get a degree and then go out and do good things in the community. He instilled that desire in me, and it has never left. I feel that I still have a lot left to give.
From all that Coach Wooden taught you, what would you like to teach us? What’s the No. 1 lesson that applies, regardless of age?
The power of perseverance. We usually have no idea how close we really are to achieving success. Don’t be discouraged, stay focused, stay determined and always believe in yourself. You have to keep working toward your goals from the beginning of your life all the way to the end. And if you have that attitude — if you can maintain a level of tenacity like that — you will achieve. And that’s true whether you’re a 17-year-old moving on to college or a 70-year-old who still feels he has a lot more left to contribute.
GB EXTRA I’m very optimistic about the future. I have a great relationship with my children, who’ve achieved many of their goals in life, just as
Visit GrowingBolderMagazine. com to listen to our Growing Bolder Radio conversation with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and find out more about the life lessons taught to him by Coach John Wooden.
G R O W I N G B O L D E R 9
HE’S STILL DOING THE
SLASH LEGENDARY SKATEBOARDER DAVID HACKETT REMAINS JUST AS GNARLY AS EVER. BY MARC MIDDLETON
10 G R O W I N G B O L D E R
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 7
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID HACKETT
Just because he’s not a kid anymore doesn’t mean that David Hackett is hesitant to replicate acrobatic moves, such as the Hackett Slash, that helped to revolutionize skateboarding in the ’70s. The slash image, when it was first photographed (see page 12), became one of the most iconic in the history of the sport.
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G R O W I N G B O L D E R 11