For 80-year-old Maple Valley man, hoops aren't just a dream

A whole bunch of middle-aged guys will either find great hope in this story, or become very, very depressed.

On Sunday, Pete Ryan, of Maple Valley, celebrated his 80th birthday.

He did so by playing pickup basketball for over an hour.

Ryan plays in pickup games three to four times a week, in whatever gyms are available, 52 weeks a year. On Sunday, it was at Cedar River Middle School, which has two full-size basketball courts that make you huff and puff really well.

Truth be known, there are a considerable number of men out there who'd love to be doing the same thing.

"It's hard to explain. It's this feeling you get when playing," said Ryan. "It's the running, and the competitiveness, and the camaraderie."

Guys aren't that great at explaining, you know, feelings.

How to explain camaraderie with guys you've played with for a decade and often only know by their first name?

But somehow, in that running up and down the court, in that one instance when you sink a three-pointer or block a shot, there is a bond formed.

Office politics, money stresses, all that stuff gets left at the gym door.

Ryan tells a couple of stories that fellow pickup-basketball players can relate to.

There was the day his daughter, Christi Hazlett, 47, was born. The hospital needed extra blood for Ryan's wife, Carol.

Ryan drove to get the blood, returned, and watched his daughter being born.

At that time, Ryan was the basketball coach at Tahoma High School, where he also was a counselor, activities coordinator and eventually assistant principal from 1959 until 1982. His team was playing that night.

After his daughter was born, Ryan said, "Well, I went to see how the game turned out. I've never lived that down. My wife would remind me."

They were married for 43 years. Carol died in 2001 after a long illness.

Ryan still tears up when talking about his wife.

The day she died, the family insisted that Ryan do something they knew would help with the anguish.

Ryan's son, Mark, 50, a graphic designer, took his dad to a gym, and they shot hoops.

"You kind of step away from real life," said the son.

On Sunday, about two dozen guys with whom Ryan has played showed up to play hoops and wish him a happy birthday.

There was some talking — along the lines of "nice shot," or "brick!" — but mostly playing basketball.

Ryan runs at a pretty good pace, has an excellent outside shot and has this little move in which he fakes a shot, gets whoever is guarding him to commit, and then goes underneath for a layup.

His nickname on the court is "Pistol Pete," after the NBA great Pete Maravich.

Ryan plays in games in which most of the players have hit middle age. That makes him older than anybody else on the court by at least two decades, probably more like three decades.

The games are played in various Tahoma School District gyms, as the group contains a number of teachers.

A couple of times a week, games are scheduled for 6 in the morning, when gyms are available. An e-mail is sent out to see how many guys can show up that early.

But there is always one evening game, right now on Friday nights.

Afterward, much of the group goes to a Mexican restaurant, for some food, some beer. You can see how that takes up all of a Friday night.

Scott Sims, 50, a teacher in Tahoma, has been married for 21 years to Wendy Wejmar.

Sims' family used to be neighbors with the Ryans.

"He probably changed my diapers," Sims said about Ryan. Sims actually hasn't lived a year without knowing Ryan as a pickup-basketball player.

That love for the game has translated to Sims.

"I had a prenuptial," he said. "No kidding. I told her that I play basketball every Friday night. I wanted to make sure it was OK."

Ryan was born on Nov. 8, 1929, near Lake Chelan. He is 5-9 and played point guard at Chelan High.

He played junior-varsity basketball at Eastern Washington State College, got drafted and went into the Army and on to Korea, and returned home to get a degree in health and physical education.

Except for the Army days, Ryan never stopped playing basketball, despite sometimes having a knee bothering him, or a hip problem.

"I get a cortisone shot now and then," he said. He puts on a Velcro brace around his right knee for some extra support.

A little discomfort?

"Oh, I manage. You just keep running," he said.

If you're one of those middle-aged guys who gave up basketball, Ryan wants to give you hope.

"Start out slow and get in shape. Start running, and never stop running," he said.

But, understandably, knowing there is this 80-year-old guy on the court could make some out-of-shape 50-year-olds who gave up on hoops very depressed.

One of the regulars at the Maple Valley pickup games is Jim Flynn, 55, a property manager.

He said that sometimes a new guy shows up, and he notices the old guy on the court.

Flynn said he tells the new guy about Ryan, "You should have seen him when he was 70."

At Sunday's basketball game, Kyle Adicks, a fish biologist who at 37 is the youngest in the group, presented Ryan with a framed, autographed photo.

It was of legendary Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden, who was born on the same date as Ryan.

Adicks, a Florida State grad, had written Bowden about Ryan.

"I told him that they both had been born on the same date, and both were guys that people said they were too old to do what they were doing, but they keep doing it," said Adicks.

Mark Ryan said he used to worry about his elderly dad playing hoops.

He doesn't anymore. The game is what seems to help the dad keep going.

"You know," said the son. "I actually worry more about the day he can't play basketball."

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com