Age Doesn’t Sideline Man Still Drawn to Basketball

John J. Reeves has fine-tuned his body by playing tough half-court basketball three nights a week at the Santa Ana YMCA.

He’s not much of a shooter but says he can pop in a 10-footer every so often.

Regardless of his shooting touch, “he’s our hero,” said attorney Stewart Suchman, 48, of Laguna Hills, one of the jocks who plays hard-nosed ball with him during those two-hour get-togethers under the hoop. “He’s our inspiration,” Suchman said.

And no wonder.

Reeves will turn 70 on June 26.

His teammates are young enough to be his children. Maybe his grandchildren.

“I’ve been playing basketball with the same group of guys for (eight years). Most of them don’t think about my age,” said Reeves, who sometimes gets a helping hand if he gets knocked down.

“They’ll pick me up,” he said, “but if I felt they were showing me preference, it would be time to do something else.”

Reeves learned to set a fancy pick for the hot shooters and enjoys playing defense and making good passes.

How does it feel being the veteran?

“If they don’t mind, I don’t mind. I can hold my own,” said Reeves, who retired a few years ago but still works as a consultant for Bekins Moving & Storage, his employer for 20 years.

He also owns a small advertising agency that he hopes to expand.

“He’s been playing basketball ever since I met him,” said Mary Reeves, his wife of 40 years. They form a mutual admiration society.

“The only way (playing basketball) happens is to be blessed with a good wife who lets me do it,” John Reeves admitted. He and Mary have two sons and four grandchildren.

While he enjoys playing basketball, Reeves said, he was never good or tall enough to make his high school team, let alone the team at USC, where he earned an industrial design degree. He is six feet tall.

Instead he played in pickup games at school and during his service in the Navy during World War II.

“I was going to be a pilot but found out I got airsick and ended up as a electrician’s mate,” he said.

Throughout his life, Reeves, a self-described jock, played basketball any time there was a pickup game going, and when there wasn’t, he would play golf or softball.

“It’s kind of strange, but I get more tired playing a round of golf than playing a hard game of basketball,” said the Diamond Bar resident, who does 15 minutes of stretching exercises before each game. “I really don’t get that pooped playing basketball.”

Reeves said his doctor gave him some simple advice: “He says if I can do it, keep it up, and so far, nothing has gone wrong.”