North Idaho Senior Games was the brainchild of Dave Lavender of the Moscow School District. He had been competing in State and National Senior Games and wanted to share his gratifying experience with those at home. He invited a group of people to become stakeholders in his dream and they began meeting at his office in Moscow. He made arrangements for representatives from Washington State Senior games and The National Senior Olympics to share with the group.
A few weeks prior to our first games, Dave suffered a heart attack. The committee struggled to decide whether to move ahead without his leadership since most of the members were not athletes and had no idea of how events would unfold. Since we had a couple of people from the LCSC Athletic Department on the board the committee voted to move forward in honor of Dave. Jenny Zorens, Director of Area Agency on Aging, served as interim chair of the group until Kay Kalbfleisch agreed to take the position. The committee moved from its Moscow School district Offices home to Area Agency on Aging. The first North Idaho Senior Games were held June 25, 26 and 27 1999 billed as the North Idaho State Senior Games. The events included Bowling, 8-Ball Pool, Tennis, Track and Field, Swimming, Horseshoes, Golf & Putting, Racquetball, & a Recreational 5-K Walk. Events were held in Clarkston, Washington and Lewiston. An Awards Picnic at Clarkston’s Beach View Park wrapped up the events. LCSC art students designed the tee shirts for the first North Idaho Senior Games, which were “A social and recreational experience, encouraging better health and fitness for men and women 50 and over.”
We were organized as and arm of the National Senior Olympics, under the umbrella of Idaho State Senior Games out of Boise. They have provided guidance for the North Idaho Senior Games as well as Medals for our winners for several years. The fourth year of our games we began to be more independent, ordering medals and tee shirts locally, and needing less guidance from the Boise Group.
North Idaho Senior Games continued to grow under the leadership of Kay Kalbfleisch. Our roster of events has grown to include Cycling, Table Tennis, Trap Shoot and Pickleball. The Track and Field Events moved from Clarkston to Vollmer Bowl in Lewiston and the number of sports increased for that event. The recreational 5K Walk has expanded into a walk/race and a running race on the Lewiston Dikes. The third year of the games, the awards picnic was changed to a “Kick-off Picnic” at Pioneer Park in Lewiston and awards were given at each event because many of our contestants could not stay over for the awards event. The games have expanded from three to five days.
Special awards are given each year for the best Discus thrower in both male and female classes in honor of the late David “Doc” Sears, who was an active board member and responsible for adding that event to the games.
John Larson is currently the Chair of the group, which still has two members who have been with the group since its beginning. Our youngest participant is 50 and our oldest was 94.
