TARCOG cheers for senior citizens in Masters Games of Alabama

Employees with TARCOG or Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments encouraged senior citizens who participated in Masters Games of Alabama.

A nonprofit organization, Masters Games of Alabama promotes healthy lifestyles for active adults who are 50 years old and older. Masters Games provides social, mental and physical activities for these games. The games’ format is similar to the Olympics structure.

Participants showed up across the region during June to compete at the district level to qualify for the Masters Games of Alabama, which will be held Oct. 5-8 in Trussville.

Seventy-one people qualified from DeKalb, Jackson, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Cullman and Morgan counties, which is the area for District 2 for Masters Games of Alabama. (The area also includes Lawrence County, which had no participants for 2026.) District 2 includes residents from areas for TARCOG and North Alabama Regional Council of Governments or NARCOG.

Residents who qualified are anticipating statewide competition in October. These senior citizens want to claim medals in their choice of games, including basketball free throw, cornhole, table tennis, bowling, billiards, rook, nerf throw, domino singles and domino doubles, softball throw, frisbee throw and shuffleboard.

Staff members from TARCOG, NARCOG and the Councils on Aging from participating counties assisted in conducting each competition, which were held on different dates and locations throughout June. These sites included Athens Recreation Center, Morgan County Event Center in Somerville, Jackson County Council on Aging in Scottsboro, STUDIO 60 in Huntsville and Victory Lanes in Scottsboro.

An annual participant for several years, Earnest Lee from Morgan County claimed the most wins with nine first-place finishes. Lee basically swept everything in the category for males who are 85-89 years old. Finishing with eight first-place wins were four women from the TARCOG region: Joann Carter, DeKalb County; Roxie Wright and Wilma Shortt, Jackson County; and Regina Emerson, Limestone County.

“The top winners were among the participants proving that you’re never too old to compete,” a TARCOG spokesperson said.

Ribbon winners and qualifiers from Madison County of Master Games of Alabama competed in numerous categories:

• Annette Jiles, Madison — First place, Bowling; second, Basketball Free Throw, Billiards and Domino Singles (age 65-69).

• Austin Baker, Huntsville — First place, Billiards (age 75-79).

• Bill Cooley, Huntsville – First place, Billiards, Cornhole, Frisbee Throw and Softball Throw; second, Basketball Free Throw, Nerf Throw, Shuffleboard and Table Tennis (age 70-74).

• Donnie Higgins, Huntsville — Second place, Bowling and Cornhole; third, Basketball Free Throw (age 80-84).

• Emmitt Davis, Madison — First place, Basketball Free Throw and Softball Throw (age 60-64).

• Eunice Jett-Day, Madison — First place, Table Tennis; third, Nerf Throw (age 70-74).

• Eva Douglass, Madison — First place, Cornhole and Domino Singles; second, Billiards, Frisbee Throw and Softball Throw; third, Basketball Free Throw (age 70-74).

• Frazier Douglass, Madison — First place, Billiards and Domino Singles; second, Frisbee Throw, Nerf Throw and Shuffleboard; third, Softball Throw (age 80-84).

• Johnny Smith, Hazel Green — First place, Cornhole; second, Domino Doubles and Rook; third, Shuffleboard (age 70-74).

• Lien K. Vu, Madison — Third place, Table Tennis (age 65-69).

• Wanda Higgins, Huntsville — Second place, Basketball Free Throw and Bowling (age 80-84).

For more information, visit tarcog.us.