Blind competitor wins five medals

Timberlakes resident Bill Scholl has something in common with U.S. diver Greg Louganis, U.S. tennis player Venus Williams, New Zealand canoer Ian Ferguson and Norway speed skater Johann Olgu Koss.

Each won four gold medals and one silver medal in athletic competition.

Four of them earned their medals at Olympic competition. Scholl, a former minister who lost most of his sight, won his medals in four days last month at the National Veteran Golden Age Games in Salt Lake City.

Scholl competed in bocce ball, shuffleboard, horseshoes, cornhole and disc golf at the event. More than 1,000 competitors, all veterans over the age of 55, competed at the 38th annual games. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs hosted the event.

Scholl was part of a team called Puget Sound Orcas, which featured three ambulatory veterans and six who are visually impaired. The flight to Salt Lake City was the first time Scholl flew since losing his sight, a flight so bumpy they stopped serving liquids.

The competitors examined the game sites on Saturday morning. Scholl said the 1,020 registered veteran competitors were divided into three categories: ambulatory, wheelchair and visually impaired.

“It was so much fun seeing the many people using the white cane,” he said. Scholl, who served with the Army from 1960 to 1963, volunteers with Knights of the Blind. He visits local schools to talk to third-grade students, hand out mini canes and give the kid’s book “Grandpa’s White Cane.”

Each of his five sports pitted four competitors ages 80 to 84, except disc golf, which had three.

Scholl’s first event was bocce ball on Sunday morning. Scholl prepared for the competition practicing Wednesdays at the South Sound YMCA in Olympia.

“I was so nervous my legs were shaking,” he said. Nevertheless, his effort earned him his first gold medal.

That evening came the cornhole competition. Scholl prepared at his cornhole setup at home.

Volunteers were behind the cornhole target, clapping. The target was 23 feet away, “just at the outer edge of my vision,” Scholl said.

“Once I started hitting the board, I could adjust.”

A 4-1 win advanced him to the medal round, where he faced last year’s champion. Scholl kept overthrowing the target.

“I couldn’t hit the board to save my soul,” he said. So “I wafted it a little higher.” It landed on the board and two others slide into the holes. The result: gold.

The disc golf competition was on Monday. The volunteers described the path to the disc baskets. The competitors threw toward another volunteer, who was in a bright yellow shirt waving a clipboard, “so we had a really good target to shoot at,” Scholl said. He added, “I made the fella move three times.”

Scholl won four out of six holes for another gold medal. “That’s when I fell in love with disc golf.”

The shuffleboard contest was Tuesday night on a “supremely fast” board sprinkled with fine silicone salt. He could barely see the other end of board. In the finals, he played his teammate Chuck for the gold, which he earned by scoring an 8 on his last effort.

The horseshoes competition was Wednesday. The pits were painted white, the target 20 feet away.

“I’m not very good at horseshoes,” Scholl said.

He was throwing too hard. He took his glasses off. Unlike him, Chuck had a horseshoe pit in his yard. Chuck won 3-2.

Leading Scholl back to his chair, an official told him, “Bill, you were within a millimeter of getting a ringer.” Scholl mused, “I missed a fifth gold medal by a millimeter.” He laughed and said, “I had to leave room for improvement next year.”

And Scholl plans to compete next year, when Memphis hosts the games starting on the last day of May. “I know I’m going to go to Graceland.”

Scholl said the Shelton YMCA cut him a good deal on his membership so he can exercise on the treadmill and stationary bike. He said he’s also grateful to the American Lake Veterans Rehabilitation Center staff that helped his team practice and to the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

“I’m planning to work on upper strength because everything is throwing.”