Baseball great Satchel Paige once said, “Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” These sportsmen and women would agree with that.

NEVER TOO YOUNG

Kirsten Wilhelm biked across the U.S. in 66 days…at age 9.
Thomas Gregory swam across the English Channel…at 11.
Marjorie Gestring, a diver in the 1936 Olympics, won a gold medal…when she was 13.
Joseph-Armand Bombardier invented the snowmobile…at age 15.
Joe Nuxhall played one game for the Cincinnati Reds in 1944…just shy of his 16th birthday.
Bep Guidolin joined hockey’s Boston Bruins in 1942…when he was 16.
Pelé led Brazil to the World Cup of soccer…at the age of 17.
Magic Johnson led the Los Angeles Lakers to an NBA title…at age 20.

NEVER TOO OLD

Gordie Howe played professional hockey from 1946 until 1980…when he was 52 years old.
Satchel Paige pitched for the Kansas City Athletics in 1965…at age 59.
Oscar Swahn, a shooter in the 1912 Olympics, won a gold medal…at age 64. (He also won a silver medal eight years later…at age 72.)
Clifford Batt swam the English Channel in 1987…at 67.
Walt Stack completed the Ironman Triathlon…at 73.
Corena Leslie skydived in Arizona…at age 89.
Otto Bucher scored a hole-in-one on a Spanish golf course…at age 99.
Ichijirou Araya climbed Mount Fuji…at the age of 100.