Gene Pollard grew up in Macon and played for the Macon Peaches. Even at his advanced age, he still maintains good health.
MACON, Ga. — You may have heard the drill sergeant say “drop and do 50” in a movie. They’re talking about push-ups, which can be a challenge for many.
But Gene Pollard prides himself on big numbers, consistency and the will to keep going, no matter his age.
“Gene recalled that it was 25 years ago that he started mass activities after his retirement.
To the average person, Gene Pollard means doing hundreds of push-ups five days a week.
He calculated “1070” per day.
That’s a big number. But what about this? This man is 93 years old and he goes up and down hundreds of times a day.
As you can imagine, a 93-year-old man has health issues and some days he doesn’t feel very well, but that’s okay. he gets his job done.
“Probably 20 years before I retired, I was doing it 20 times every morning,” he surmised.
He led a busy life working for the Department of Defense and traveling around the world.
“I was in Berlin when the wall came down. I made enough money for myself and all five of my children,” he said, looking at the chip on his mantle.
Before his children were born and after World War II, the man in the squint-eyed black-and-white photo played first base for the original Macon Peaches.
At the time, it was the Chicago Cubs organization and he never made it to the majors. But it planted the seeds of a movement.
Gene is a mean billiards player who makes furniture, including this one, from one of Peach’s bats, and also paints.
But doing push-ups with interval stops on a bike is insurance for the future, he says.
“People ask me, ‘Why do you practice that?’ and I say because I want to keep doing it. Once you stop, you probably can’t start again, so I try to do it five days a week. “There are,” he explained.
He takes weekends off, but he sleeps in especially on Saturdays because he’s up in the break room at 3 a.m. Monday through Friday.
This is the life of a man who can teach us something about aging gracefully.
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