In the early 1970s, Gary Smith was known as “Mr. Everything” at Richwoods High School in Peoria, according to an old yearbook.
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| Gary Smith |
These days, the former Richwoods basketball and baseball player is playing a more sedate game as he fights an incurable neurological disorder.
Earlier this month, the Golf Channel featured Smith in a video segment entitled “Parscription: The Gary Smith Story.” The piece, which is about 10 minutes long, details how Smith has been using golf to help him handle the effects of Parkinson’s disease.
The 1973 Richwoods graduate resides in Naperville and is a retired psychotherapist and mortgage broker. He was diagnosed about 10 years ago. His late father also was afflicted with Parkinson’s; symptoms include tremors and muscle stiffness.
Smith told the Golf Channel he tried various forms of exercise to combat the disease, including tai chi and running a marathon.
Nothing seemed to help until a vacation to Scotland in 2015. That’s when Smith picked up a golf club for the first time in years, at one of the sport’s most hallowed venues — the Old Course at St. Andrews.
He waited hours to play, but it was worth it, apparently. Smith said he felt really good after the round and was wondering if it was the location or the game.
“It planted a seed in my mind,” he told the Golf Channel. “I think one more thing I’m going to do is try golf.”
Once Smith returned home, he began to play golf as many as five times a week, he told the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights in a story published earlier this year. He and his doctor began to notice improvements in balance, walking, movement, control and concentration.
study regarding how golf might benefit those who have Parkinson’s, about 10 million worldwide.
Click below to view the Golf Channel feature. At about the 1:40 mark is a photograph of Smith playing basketball for Richwoods in a game against Woodruff. (Hat tip to Brett Elliott, the Richwoods principal, for tracking down Smith’s graduation year and nickname
Video
http://www.pjstar.com/news/20171226/nick-in-am-golf-channel-features-richwoods-graduates-battle-vs-parkinsons
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