In 85 years, her spirit hasn't faltered

By David Casstevens

Special to the Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH -- Pastor Carroll Marr usually can spot her from the pulpit at Southcliff Baptist Church.

She's an active member, faithful in attendance.

Juanita Shaw would no more skip Sunday school and the morning worship service than she would let herself sleep late -- past 6 a.m. -- and miss exercising for an hour, which she does unfailingly three times a week at a neighborhood health club.

Born when Calvin Coolidge was president, the 85-year-old widow wears a pacemaker and has surgery scars on both knees.

Yet there she is, singing from a church pew, or stretched out, all 5 feet 8 inches, on the bench of a sit-up machine at 24-Hour Fitness, legs elevated as she rocks forward and back, up/down up/down, tightening her abdominal muscles.

Eyes closed, she softly counts off the rapid repetitions.

"45 . . . 46 . . . 47 . . . 48 . . ."

She is just getting warmed up.

"161 . . . 162 . . . 163 . . ."

Marr once asked why she works out so religiously.

"It's not for my looks," she said with a self-effacing grin.

A former three-time All-American volleyball player, this strong-willed, optimistic woman with the long loose limbs of an athlete kissed her fingertips and playfully planted them on her cheek.

"I do it," she told the preacher, "to take care of Juanita."

Growing up strong

Juanita Denton Shaw learned the virtue of hard work and self-reliance while growing up in Cleburne during the Great Depression. A farm girl, she hoed cotton and picked vegetables and learned to fend for herself in the rough-and-tumble company of two brothers.

They played tackle football. She also boxed and rode wild horses with the boys.

Just for fun, one brother and a cousin tossed her off a 10-foot bluff into the Nolan River.

Juanita frantically dogpaddled to the bank.

"That's how I learned to swim," she said.

In 1947 her world changed during a Thursday night dance in Fort Worth. When the whistle blew to change partners, she found herself returning the smile of H.L. Shaw, a handsome 23-year-old Marine.

Married after a brief courtship, the couple shared a life for 63 years.

With her husband coaching her, Shaw began playing volleyball at the Fort Worth Recreation Center and later at the YMCA in Fort Worth and Dallas.

Able to jump high and to spike the ball with either hand, she developed into a top-flight player, over time one of the nation's best. But she found teamwork rather than personal accolades the most rewarding.

"If you want to be a [sports] star, take up tennis or golf," Shaw advised. "The recognition wasn't as important to me as playing."

Playing for America

In the summer of 1959 this woman, who had attended Fort Worth Beauty School and become a professional hairdresser, was selected for the U.S. national women's volleyball team. She and more than 2,000 other athletes from 25 nations marched proudly into Chicago's Soldier Field during the opening ceremony of the Pan American Games.

Shaw served 13 points in the championship game, which the U.S. lost to Brazil.

Volleyball didn't make its Olympic debut until the 1964 Tokyo Games.

"By then, they told me I was too old [37] to go," Shaw said. "I would love to have played in the Olympics. But it just wasn't meant to be."

Shaw continued to exercise regularly and took pride in the athletic prowess of her son Randy.

A Paschal High School graduate, Randy Shaw played volleyball at the University of Southern California and competed on the U.S. team at the 1971 Pan Am Games in Cali, Colombia.

In 1987, Juanita Shaw, at age 60, played on the U.S. national coed volleyball team at the World Masters Games in Denmark. The Americans won the gold medal, beating the Soviet Union.

After his team's defeat, a 6-foot-9 Russian player approached the spunky Fort Worth woman.

Staring down at her, he menacingly drew an index finger across his neck.

Juanita in turn formed a pistol with her hand.

And pulled the trigger.

Taken by surprise, the Russian laughed and clapped his hands in delight.

"He didn't intimidate me," Juanita said. "I'm not afraid of the devil himself."

Olympic spirit

Randy Shaw sounded amused when asked about his mom's energy.

"She's probably sold more memberships at that club than anybody," he said from his home in Hawaii. "Others see her work out and are motivated to keep up with an 85-year-old."

After her usual oatmeal-and-berries breakfast, Shaw drove to the fitness center one recent morning.

Several fellow members acknowledge her arrival, some with a smile, others waving with unspoken you-go-girl admiration.

"Juanita is an inspiration," Lorna Hughes says, "for young and old."

Hughes gives her senior friend a hug.

Wearing a T-shirt and bicycle shorts, Shaw warms up on a stationary bike and then heads to the club's variable-resistance machines. Triceps extension. Hip abduction.

"I don't set the woods on fire," Juanita says, as she leg-presses 175 pounds.

"I'm not trying out for the Olympics."

No, but the spirit of this ever-striving woman could be said to embody the motto of the upcoming Olympic Games, which she is eager to watch on television: Citius. Altius. Fortius. "Swifter. Higher. Stronger."

Randy Shaw's mom counts off her stomach crunches.

"537 ... 538 ... 539 ..."

She stops at 600.

"That's enough," she says, "don't you think?"

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