Sports
IMAGE GALLERY: Going Strong in their 90s
Three senior golfers in their 90s tee off every Tuesday morning at Hopedale Country Club.
Golf is a sport that is enjoyed by people of all ages from pre-teens to senior citizens. Some play whenever they can and others can’t get enough of the game. Over at Hopedale Country Club, a group of guys play once a week in what they call the Senior League.
Every Tuesday they gather at the club for their weekly game. Tee off is at 8:30 a.m. for the first team of four, and there are eight teams.
When one thinks of the Senior League, you might imagine a group of new retirees in their mid- to late-60s. But this league has three members over 90, with the oldest gentleman, Joe Leoncini, still swinging at 94. The other two are Joe Manella, who turns 93 on Aug. 17, and Ed Nargi, a mere 92.
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Now these guys are not setting any course records, but can you imagine still being able to swing those clubs and send the ball down the fairway at those ages? Sometime they will take a cart and sometimes they walk the course. But every Tuesday is filled with healthful exercise, horsing around and camaraderie.
Leoncini is one of the few remaining founder members of the country club, having joined on July 20, 1969. He can’t forget the date because it was the day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. He has been an athlete all his life and played baseball several times at Fenway Park. He played for the Milford Town Team while attending the former Saint Mary’s High School in Milford. Asked how long he expected to keep playing golf he answered: “I had a 104-year-old grandfather."
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“Leoncini is the best golfer of the three and has always been a good athlete,” said Ed Nargi. Nargi, 92, has been playing golf since the 1960s. “I have never been a good golfer. I get in the traps and it takes three or four stokes to get out, but we have fun," he said. Before retiring, Ed and his brother, Jimmy Nargi, owned the Union Café on the corner of Central and North Bow streets. Milfordians will remember it fondly as the Sorrento Room.
Joe Manella is a retired Air Force colonel and an ordained deacon in the Catholic Church.
