Hooping for gold at age 73

Posted

Jim Nielsen of Brush Prairie began playing basketball in fourth grade on a hoop in a barn. He later played for Battle Ground High School and today, at age 73, his career is still alive and fruitful. 

Last month, Nielsen played for a USA team in the 14th World Maxibasketball Championship in Tuscany, Italy where they won gold. 

“Whatever you’re good at, you wanna keep doing it as long as you can,” Nielsen said. “I was playing at the highest level you can play for my age. I’m very proud of that.”

Prior to the Maxibasketball Championship, Nielsen has mostly been playing in national tournaments for seniors on regional teams. He said a particular opponent he’s faced at many of those tournaments is Victor Deihl.

“Over all the years, I’ve never beaten him (Deihl),” Nielsen said. “He’s the best basketball player at our age group (70-75) in the world.”

Deihl was the player/coach of the USA team Nielsen was on. Nielsen said in the spring, Deihl called him up and offered a roster spot.

“I guessed he’d remembered me from our games in the past,” Nielsen said. “It was an honor and took me about two seconds to decide.”

In Italy, Nielsen’s USA team competed in the 70-75 age group which contained 18 teams from 14 different countries. They played five games over two weeks and won them all. In the championship, they beat a team from Chile.



“All the games were competitive,” Nielsen said. “Against Chile we only won by about eight, it was a very good game.”

At 6-feet, 3-inches tall, Nielsen played the forward position. He said he came off the bench for the team and played about 15-20 minutes per game out of 40. 

“I had some highlights, sure, but the biggest highlight was winning the championship,” he said. “We won every single game, it can’t get better than that.”

While off the court, Nielsen said he, his wife and teammates got to experience the sites of Italy as well.

“Tuscany is on the outskirts of Florence, it was incredibly beautiful,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen said he wasn’t sure the opportunity to play for a national team, much less win a title with them, would ever happen. He said over the last 15 years his body has worn down, starting with a torn achilles and now ongoing back issues.

“At our age, you never know when it might be your last time on the court,” he said. “An ending injury could happen at anytime. I’m just so honored I got to be a part of this team.”