Employee wins Senior Olympics silver medal

4:40 p.m., Aug. 2, 2005--As a coach and a player, Ray Bias, a computer operator II in IT-Network and Systems Services, has enjoyed a long and productive career as an amateur athlete. Recently, Bias added another honor to his list of achievements when he received a silver medal in the U.S. Senior Olympics.

The award came when Bias’ senior softball team, Cross Country Bank of Wilmington, finished second in the Men’s 50-plus Gold Division Softball finals at the National Senior Games, held June 3-18 in Pittsburgh.

“We qualified by winning the state tournament in Dover,” Bias said. “The competition was tough. We also beat a Texas team that was very good. The winner was Atria’s, a team from Pittsburgh.”

The Cross Country Bank softball team competes with other age 50-plus teams in Delaware and neighboring states.

Bias, who plays second base and bats second in the lineup, hit a torrid .720 during the competition in Pittsburgh.

“It was just the atmosphere,” Bias said. “It was really overwhelming to be among those athletes and to hear your name called and receive your medal.”

For Bias, the U.S. Senior Olympics silver medal is just the latest recognition in an amateur athletic career that includes earning All-State and All-Conference status as a quarterback for the Newark High School Yellow Jackets football team in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

After graduating from Newark in 1971, Bias continued his football career at Delaware State University, where he was named All-Conference quarterback in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).

For Bias, playing and coaching is a great way to remain competitive while staying in touch with longtime friends, teammates and fellow athletes.

“I’ve been a competitor all of my life,” Bias said. “I’ve played against a lot of these folks before, and, as you get older and see them again, it’s just a beautiful thing.”

Bias plays in an adult basketball program at the Western Branch of the YMCA, where he follows a training regime that combines cardioexercises and barbell workouts.

When not playing sports or working out, Bias devotes time to coaching young athletes, something he began in the early 1980s.

“I started in the Capitol Trail football league, as an assistant for Nate Beasley [a 1980 UD graduate],” Bias said. “When he gave it up, I took over as head coach.”

Bias also has been an assistant football coach for Newark High since 1998, under head coach Butch Simpson.

“I was an assistant coach there during the 1984-85 seasons, and I started up again at Newark in 1998,” Bias said. “It’s been a great experience. It is a great way to give back some of things I’ve gotten from sports.”

Bias said that he tries to use his role as a coach to let players know that there are important lessons to be learned from playing high school sports.

“You try to tell them that if they work hard on the field, they will get something out of life,” Bias said. “It’s great watching them come in youngsters and finish their high school careers as mature individuals.”

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photo by Sarah Simon, AS ’06

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