96-Year-Old North Carolina Swimmer Grabs Four Gold Medals at National Senior Games
His wins came in the 50-yard freestyle and three backstroke races. The backstroke victories — at 50, 100, and 200 yards — included two new records for the games.
Bill Stirewalt and his family at the National Senior Games.
Image Courtesy National Senior GamesAt age 96, Bill Stirewalt of Concord, North Carolina, struck gold four times at the 2025 National Senior Games. Swimming against 12,000 others in Des Moines, Iowa, he shattered two backstroke marks as the event's most senior athlete.
His wins came in the 50-yard freestyle and three backstroke races. The backstroke victories — at 50, 100, and 200 yards — included two new records for the games.
"I was born swimming," Stirewalt said per Queen City News. "You don't have to be fast; you just have to outlive the fastest."
Six relatives watched from the stands as he made his national debut. His presence left younger athletes in awe. "That lets them know it's possible to keep going," Stirewalt said, according to Queen City News.
At the Rockwell YMCA, he sticks to a strict training plan. Twice or three times weekly, he powers through 20 nonstop laps: over half a mile. Steam room sessions and treadmill walks round out his fitness routine.
After graduating from J.W. Cannon High School in Kannapolis, he spent five years in the Navy. As chief electronics tech on submarines from 1947 to 1952, he worked with radar and sonar. His career path wound through teaching electronics, selling TVs in Illinois, and finally back to Cabarrus County as an accountant.
Since 2005, he's kept busy running a 50-acre pine tree farm and visiting all 50 states. His swim career started at 65 with a YMCA membership. "I sat at a desk for 40 years, going nowhere," he said per Queen City News. "The Y turned it all around."
Through his quarter-century in Cabarrus Senior Games, he's seen local swim meets grow from five to over 25 athletes. Not even surgeries or lymphoma could keep him from returning to the water.
His sights are now set on the 2027 games in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He's also planning to compete in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2029: when he hits 100.
The next Cabarrus Senior Games opens for registration Feb, 1, 2026. Local events run April through May, with state competitions in fall.
