2007 DWASF AWARDS

Senior Sportswoman Award

Verda Zdeb

The DWASF Senior Sportswoman of the Year Award honors an active female athlete, 50 years or over, for exceptional accomplishments in athletics, leadership and community service in any sport.

Verda Zdeb was born on June 19, 1914 in Philadelphia, PA. She has five children, 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. At the age of seven, she learned how to swim in the Hudson River in New York. At the age of 10, she would walk for one hour so she could swim in the city pool and then walk back home. At 11 years old, she used to jump off oyster boats which weren’t being used into the Maurice River in New Jersey. One day, the current was so strong that it swept her down the rive r. She had to float along until she could reach land. She learned a valuable lesson, and to this day, she prefers swimming in pools rather than rivers or the ocean. She always enjoyed swimming, but she gave it up to raise her family. Verda moved to Delaware in April of 1951 with her husband and children. For the past 37 years, she has lived in the Pike Creek area. She became a member of the Kirkwood Fitness and Racquetball Club 30 years ago. She swims there year round three times a week, and she swims the length of the pool 30 times.

One of the members at the Club kept seeing her swim and told her that she should enter the Delaware Senior Olympics. Most people in their 80’s quit competition, but that’s when Verda just got started. At the age of 86, she started to get serious a bout swimming and at the age of 87 won her first gold medal in the 500 yard freestyle and set a record for her age group. In the last six years, she has won 14 gold medals and believe it or not, most of them are also state records for her age group. Verda entered the National Senior Olympics that were held in Pittsburgh, PA in June 2005 at the age of 91. She earned a silver medal in the 500 yard freestyle, bronze medal in the 50 yard freestyle and placed 4th in the 100 yard freestyle. Since she started competing she has been on TV three times and has been in the newspaper four times. But she’s not done yet. Verda is looking to compete in the National Senior Olympics that will be held in California in the year 2009 when she will be 95 years young.