Marie Halpin & The Huntsman World Senior Games

As a sports journalist, I get to interact with some of the best high school athletes in the state and sometimes with some of the better college athletes in the state. I was asked to write something about the Huntsman World Senior Games though last week, so it was a little different for me.

My editor was looking for a feature on someone or a team in a sport that is played in the Senior Games. I work at the Washington City Community Center, so I have ties with the basketball portions of the Games. I met Ann Esplin who was in charge of the 3-on-3 women's tournament, and she sent me to one woman that she said "epitomizes the Senior Games."

I went to meet her and her team while they had a break in playing at a local St. George restaurant and found an incredible story that I have to share.

Marie is in the middle, sitting down. This was taken at the St. Helen's restaurant on Telegraph in Washington, Utah.

Marie Halpin was diagnosed with glioblastoma in February 2016 and still decided to come play with her team in the Senior Games one last time.

Marie grew up during a time where there were no high school athletics for girls. She went to college at Utah State University in Logan, Utah and became a three-sport athlete in the 1970s. She played basketball, volleyball and softball as an Aggie.

“I wanted to keep playing basketball,” she said. “When you get to be older, there’s nowhere to play. I grew up all through high school where girls weren’t allowed to play sports. I went to college for five years and played for Utah State. Then I was hit in the eye and blinded in my right eye, so playing athletic sports was over. I don’t want to brag about myself, but I was one of the better athletes, but I was just happy to be there because I loved the people that I was playing with.

After college, Marie became a high school teacher at Hillcrest High School. She taught Physical Education and was the assistant coach of a three-time state championship basketball team. After Hillcrest, she taught yearbook at Brighton High School.

Marie has had her share of scares throughout the years though. She suffered an eye injury after college that ended her competitive athletic career abruptly.

"I thought I was omnipotent because I’ve had 36 surgeries," Marie said. "I thought, 'I’m omnipotent, I can do anything I want.' After the MRI, the doctor said, ‘You have a brain tumor.’ I was very stern and said, ‘You have the wrong x-rays. That’s not mine.’ He said, ‘I’m sorry, Mrs. Halpin.’ I said, ‘No! They’re not mine!’ He said, ‘I’m sorry, Mrs. Halpin.’ He must’ve said that 50 times because I argued with him for about a half an hour."

Marie said she is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (like Kaylee and I), and she said she could feel the Holy Ghost with her after her diagnosis.

"Finally, after the results, I gave in, and I just had this wonderful feeling," Marie said. "(The Spirit) told me that it was true. It was a very powerful experience. Two months after I retired, I got this brain tumor. I’ve worked for 41 years, and I have all this money to spend, so in the first week and a half, I spent 16,000 dollars on clothes on the internet. Hardly any of them fit! I’ve done donations to several places too."

Forty-one years! That's a long time to work just to find out you have less than a year to live. It just goes to show, that you need to take the time you have, even during working years, to do those things that you want to do.

"I didn’t do chemotherapy, because I didn’t have that kind of cancer," Marie said. "It’s called a glioblastoma. It took me four months to figure out how to say that. I thought I would be the last one to go in my family, and I’m the first one. I have a twin brother and it’s been kinda hard on my brothers and sisters, but mostly my mother. I’m just fine. I’ve done a lot of things in my life. I’ve got a season pass to Snowbird, and I‘m hoping I live long enough to get a lot of good runs in. I’m going skydiving with my son. I’ve got a bucket list of things."

The Huntsman Senior Games has been a chance for older athletes to show they’ve still got the talent to play the sports they used to. To them, it’s a quasi-olympics.

“When I was growing up, I always wanted to be an Olympian. I’ve still got a paper from fourth grade that says I want to be an Olympian. I didn’t make it. This is kinda like my Olympics,” Marie said.

Marie is number 32. This is some of their team this year in the Huntsman Senior Games. Marie played in two of the games and scored 6 points.

Marie was just happy to have a chance to play now because of the lack of playing in high school.

“It’s been a real pleasure and a privilege to play down here with all these older athletes that are very talented,” Marie said. “I got to play so little growing up because they didn’t have sports for girls in Utah. So for me to continue like this is an honor for me. Whether we win or not, I love being here among all these female athletes.”

Marie Halpin was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame as an official in 2002.