Jurica still playing volleyball at age 69

By BILL CAIN, The Leader-Herald

Published on Sunday, August 20, 2006

The Leader-Herald/Bill Cain Carl Jurica goes up for a spike against Steve Largeteau in the Aug. 12 Fifth Annual Sand Classic King and Queen Tournament.

SPRAKERS — Something seemed a bit unusual at the Fifth Annual Sand Classic King and Queen Tournament at Volleyball World, if only to an outsider.

Nobody familiar with the local volleyball scene seemed phased by the odd couple of Carl Jurica and Jo Palmer as they walked onto the sand court for the Aug. 12 tournament. They’d seen it before. But their understanding of the situation does little for the first-time observer.

Right about the time Palmer was getting fit for her first pair of baby booties, Jurica was a new member of the half-century club. Palmer is a 19-year-old student at St. Lawrence University, Jurica a 69-year-old garlic farmer.

At first glance, the sight of the duo walking onto a volleyball court brings wide-eyed stares, Jurica said.

“We do [get looks],” he said. “They look at us and say, ‘Wow.’ But then they see how we play and it doesn’t look so odd.”

The only comments about the two playing together come from those who are in the know, Palmer said.

“They just say that I’m lucky to have Carl as a partner,” she said.

The committed local volleyball players all know Jurica and have gotten over their shock at his continued ability to play well. At this tournament, with 96 players from as far away as Vermont, he is a stranger to few, even if most of the players go only by their first names.

As comfortable as Jurica seems around the net and in the sand, he said he still gets the occasional feeling that he doesn’t quite fit in.

“I really like it and some of these people are really glad I’m here, I think, but sometimes I feel like a freak,” Jurica said. “If I was on Manhattan Beach in California, I’d fit right in because a lot of old guys play down there, or in New York City or Florida. Up here in the north, there aren’t a lot of us playing.”

There are likely even fewer with 19-year-old partners. Palmer met Jurica through a mutual friend in a recreational league in Delhi last year. She agreed to play with Jurica in last year’s Sand Classic and signed up with him again this summer. They also played together last year in a league in Oneonta, she said.

It may not be immediately apparent what benefit a young player like Palmer can take from teaming with someone 50 years her senior, but Palmer said there’s plenty.

“He’s amazing,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun. You can learn a lot from him.”

Jurica learned all he needed to know about volleyball 1952 after one shot that sailed past his ear, he said.

Jurica was a football player for Johnstown High School and he said everything was football and track. Then one day, he was invited to the YMCA for a game of volleyball.

“I said, ‘Volleyball is a sissy sport,’” he said. “Then Howard Schultz, probably the best volleyball player I ever played with — he just passed away — smacked one by my head at about 100 miles per hour and I said, ‘Who’s this old guy?’ because he was 10 years older than me. I fell in love with the game right then and there.”

After high school, Jurica was offered a scholarship to go to Florida State, but opted instead to attend Cornell, where he said he started their first volleyball team in 1955. He has been playing ever since and, perhaps more importantly, staying in good enough shape to play well.

Just playing the game isn’t enough to keep playing it at a high level, Jurica said. As a garlic farmer, he works out in the sun, bent over and crawling around. He also lifts weights and rides a bike. The bike is essential because it keeps his legs in shape and, without your legs, he said, you can’t play volleyball.

Jurica also has a secret weapon he uses and has used since his days as a Glove Cities Colonial.

“When I play here, I drink honey all day,” he said. “When I played semi-pro football, I’d drink two pounds of honey before every game. I was a running back and I never got tired. The alpha glucose goes right into my blood stream. I don’t use those other kinds of drinks.”

The sweet taste of victory has followed often enough. At the Sand Classic, which was also a fundraiser for juvenile diabetes this year and raises money for a different organization each year, the two didn’t win all the time, but won enough to enjoy themselves.

“It was great,” Jurica said. “I didn’t get home until 11 o’clock at night.”

That made for about a 14-hour day of fun in the sun. It was a long day, but Jurica said he is hoping to spend as many long days out on the courts as he can, making more and more people ask, “Who’s this old guy?” right before he shows them this old guy is still a good player.

“I plan on playing as long as I can,” he said. “Hopefully at least until I’m 80.”