Senior citizen sets sights on Veterans Games
He’s 69 years old and lost his eyesight to diabetes six years
ago, but that hasn’t slowed down Hollister’s Raymond Trevino.
In fact, next week the Korean War veteran will be in Houston,
Texas competing in the 21st National Veterans Golden Age games, a
pre-qualifier for the U.S. Senior Olympics.
Senior citizen sets sights on Veterans Games
He’s 69 years old and lost his eyesight to diabetes six years ago, but that hasn’t slowed down Hollister’s Raymond Trevino.
In fact, next week the Korean War veteran will be in Houston, Texas competing in the 21st National Veterans Golden Age games, a pre-qualifier for the U.S. Senior Olympics.
Trevino, who is of no relation to golf legend Lee Trevino, will be competing on the links as well as in dominoes, 9-ball and bowling events.
“I’m the first and only blind veteran on the west coast to compete,” said Trevino, who left for Texas this morning. “That includes Washington, Oregon, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico too.”
In all, some 600 competitors from all over the country are scheduled to compete in the games. Not all of the athletes are physically disabled. Trevino will be in the 65-69 age bracket for the physically impaired.
“I’ll be competing against other people who are visually impaired,” he said.
It is estimated that some 40 blind athletes will compete in the games. According to Trevino, his best chance at walking away with a gold medal in the games would be in golf, his best sport.
“I can play good enough. I played golf for 20 years before I went blind,” said Trevino, who often plays out at Bolado Park.
During the games he will be accompanied by a specially trained golf caddy who works with blind golfers – although Trevino isn’t 100 percent blind.
“I had some laser work done a year ago, which left me with some tunnel vision,” he said. “I can see straight ahead for about five feet but I can’t see up, down or sideways.”
As far as the other events go, Trevino claims he has bowled here and there but wasn’t very good at it. He does, however, compete in a blind bowling league in Palo Alto.
“I’ve also played some bar pool and some dominoes and if I get a gold medal in any event I’ll go to the Senior Special Olympics next year,” he said.
When talking about the games the excitement in his voice is obvious. With the passing of his wife in January and the loss of his sight in 1999, Trevino has learned to move forward.
“When I first loss my eyesight I was totally lost. Then I’d go to the blind center and see guys who were 80 years old and doing everything. They’d see me and say ‘what’s wrong with you, you’re a baby?’ Before long, I took a computer class and then a cooking class and started doing volunteer cooking for the center.”
Prior to losing his eyesight Trevino had worked as a cook at the William F. James Boys Ranch in Morgan Hill; and before that he owned and operated two jewelry stores in Gilroy for some 35 years.
The day he lost his eyesight was a total shock.
“I went to bed with perfect vision and my retinas exploded in my sleep,” said Trevino, who was in the Army Signal Corp from 1954-58. “I thought I just had a bloody nose at first but both retinas burst. It was all a result of the diabetes. I did have some laser work on my right eye to reattach the retina.”
Despite all the setbacks, he feels the competition has given him a new lease on life, and he’s about as excited as a kid in a candy store.
“Oh God, I can’t believe it,” Trevino said. “This is the big time for me. Maybe by me doing this it will encourage some other blind veterans to come out and compete.”
And Trevino also knew that The Pinnacle wouldn’t be the only paper seeking out his attention this week.
“I’ve been told to get ready for a lot of media people down there,” he said. “I’m really excited.”
