TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – While one of 2019 Florida Senior Games Athletes of the Year focused on playing one sport, the other competed in a several different events and sports.
Bradenton’s Ed Scheid has focused his efforts on the golf course with great success since the 1999 Florida Senior Games. Peggy Peck, of The Villages, has shown her versatility with multiple track and field events and on the basketball court.
Scheid carded the overall low 18-hole score of 2019 Florida Senior Games, with a 77 to win the 75-79 age group gold medal. His round featured 10 pars and no holes over a bogey.
Since 1999, when he won a 55-59 age group bronze medal, Scheid has made 19 Florida Senior Games appearances, winning 10 medals – two gold, three silver and five bronze. He has an average score of 79.7 for those combined rounds, ranging between 73 and 87. He was the National Senior Games gold medalist in the 2003 and 2005 Games in the 60-64 age group.
His three-round score of 225 in the 2001 National Senior Games is among the top 10 scores in the 55-59 age group.
His success in the Florida Senior Games, comes from a long career honing his skills on the golf course.
“I started playing golf in 1950 when I was seven years old,” said Scheid, who turned 77 in 2019, giving him 70 years of experience on the course.
Peggy Peck competed in 10 events of the 2019 FSG Track and Field meet in Miramar, all six field events and the 50, 100, 200- and 400-meter dash, winning eight gold and two silver medals. When not on the track, she has played on the Villages Seabreeze Basketball team.
Peck holds the Women’s High Jump record in three different age groups. With a leap of four feet in 2019, she set the 65-69 age group record and set the 60-64 record in 2014 and the 55-59 record in 2011. She also holds the 55-59 age group triple jump record, which she set in 2013.
At the 2019 National Senior Games in Albuquerque, N.M., Peck won four track and field silver medals (Discus, High Jump, Long Jump and Javelin) and a silver medal as a member of the Rockers 65+ basketball team.
“Peggy has been growing with the Senior Games and is doing a fantastic job in all the events she’s in,” said Avis Vaught, another multi-sport athlete from The Villages. “She’s an asset to the teams she plays for and in track and field events.”
Scheid is only the second men’s golfer to win the award since 1994, with James Richling, of Port St. Lucie, capturing the honor in 2012. Peck is the third women’s track and field athlete, who also plays team sports from The Villages to win the award. She joins Madelaine “Tiny Cazel (2003) and Avis Vaught (2010) as fellow winners roughly 10 years apart from one another.
“We joke about how I have broken Tiny’s records and how Peggy will come along and break mine,” said Vaught about records in the field events all three women have set over the years.”
A complete list of previous of Florida Senior Games Athlete of the Year recipients can be accessed below:
2018: Deb Harrison, The Villages; Brian Hankerson, Hollywood
2017: Carol Teel, The Villages; Mike Welter, Cape Coral
2016: Kathy Petrillo, Jupiter; John Horwath, The Villages
2015: Janet Brown, Lakeland; Rudy Vazmina, Sarasota
2014: Danuta Kubelik, Crystal River; Walt Deal, Clearwater
2013: Nina Hammer, Bonita Springs; Tom Bliss, Melbourne
2012: Linda Frisch, The Villages; James Richling, Port St. Lucie
2011: Essie Faria, North Miami; Segismundo Pares, Ocala
2010: Avis Vaught, The Villages; Richard Merrill, Lady Lake
2009: Patrice Hirr, The Villages; John Shultz, Inverness
2008: Suzy Nothhouse, Estero; Dean Davis, Fort Myers
2007: Claudette Braswell, Lake Wales; Larry Wallen, Jacksonville
2006: Sari Kisbany, Redington Shores; Roger Gentilhomme, Dunedin
2005: Patricia Sargeant, Melbourne; Andy McGuffin, Umatilla
2004: Lillian Webb, Sebring; Harry Carothers, Pinellas Park
2003: Madelaine “Tiny” Cazel, The Villages; James Anderson, New Port Richey
2002: Janice Lathouwers, The Villages; Allen Bjork, Sebring
2001: Sperry Rademaker, Floral City; Howard Hall, Port Charlotte
2000: Erika Messner, Clermont; Al Treichel, Spring Hill
1999: Patricia Bond, Bradenton; Gordon Johnson, Dundee
1998: Lucia Schatteleyn, Englewood; Donald Ritenour, Belleview
1997: Ethel Lehmann, Largo; Seymour Duckman, Daytona Beach
1996: Hope Fage, Largo; F.L. McFadden, Lakeland
1995: Mary Melehan, Englewood; Leonard Stone, Barefoot Bay
1994: Doris Prokopi, Land O’Lakes; Wayne Wakefield, Bradenton
About the Florida Senior Games presented by Humana
The Florida Senior Games presented by Humana are presented annually by the Florida Sports Foundation (FSF), the state’s lead sports promotion and development organization, and a division of Enterprise Florida, Inc. The Foundation works in conjunction with a variety of local sports industry partners to present the different competitions. The Florida Senior Games, presented by Humana, an annual amateur sports tradition in Florida, is part of the state’s $57.4 billion sports industry that accounts for 580,000 jobs statewide.