Randy Shelton practices his jump shot last week in the gym at First Baptist Church. Shelton will play with the Mississippi Gamblers, a 50-54-year-olds’ team, at the National Senior Olympics this week in Norfolk, Va. (Jennifer RothThe Vicksburg Post)

[6/3/03]When Randy Shelton gets out of bed the morning after a basketball tournament, his joints usually ache and his walk stiffens. He’s in good enough shape that the pain doesn’t last a long time, but it’s definitely there.

No matter how bad it hurts, though, it’s hard to complain. His competitiveness won’t let him, and any pain was the price paid for a hard-earned victory. Besides, it’d be next to impossible to talk about the aches and pains of age to his teammates. He’s the youngest one out there.

Shelton, a Vicksburg resident who starred at Hinds Community College and Delta State in the early 1970s, is one of five members of the Mississippi Gamblers. The 50-54-year-olds’ team won the Mississippi Senior Games state championship last year, and will compete at the National Senior Games June 4-7 in Norfolk, Va., with a chance to bring home a national title.

“Anytime, it doesn’t matter what age or what level you get to compete for a national title, it’s pretty exciting,” Shelton said. “Any age group, even if I was 58 or 60, it’d still be pretty exciting.”

Over the last five years, the Gamblers have cut an impressive swath of destruction across the south. Since forming in 1998, the team has lost only three games outside of national competition. In 1999, they won the bronze medal at the National Senior Games in Orlando, Fla.

Over the past year, the Gamblers are 19-1. The only loss came at a tournament in Louisiana, after the team had played four games without a substitute. The grueling pace of the 3-on-3, running clock games took a toll on the Gamblers, who had the minimum number of players. With their normal roster of five players teams can have up to 10 players in Senior Games competition the Gamblers later avenged that loss with a 25-point victory.

“We played all day Sunday without a substitute, and by the fourth game we were out of gas,” Shelton said. “We lost by three points, but that is the only game we’ve lost in the time I’ve been playing with them.”

Shelton is a fairly recent addition to the Gamblers, and the only member of the team from Vicksburg. Two players, Jim Moss and Robert Russell, are from Jackson, while Ron Shirley is from Meridian, and Berlin Ladner hails from Slidell, La. Each team is allowed to have one out-of-state player on the roster.

Ladner, a former Southern Miss star who set the school record for points in a game, with 45 against Samford in 1968, is the team’s big man. The 6-foot-8 player is a powerhouse down low, a necessity against some of the tough competition present in senior tournaments.

“When you get to the upper echelons of competition, you have to have a solid big man inside,” Shelton said. “We’ve got a solid man inside, and at that level those guys can go inside and outside.”

Other than Shelton, the team’s lineup has been the same since 1998. When one of the team’s players became too old to play in the 50-54 age group last year, the Gamblers went looking for a replacement.

Shelton knew Moss through some business dealings, and also caught the team’s eye at a Hinds alumni game. After a few phone calls, Shelton played with the group and clicked immediately.

“We checked him out and he was what we wanted,” Gamblers coach Sonny Oliphant said. “The first time we played with him, he was a big part in us winning the game. Randy brings a lot to the table. He’s a good shooter, and whenever he comes in and takes somebody’s place there’s no dropoff.”

About six weeks after Shelton joined the Gamblers, the team went to Hinds and rolled to the Mississippi state championship. Since then, the team has grown together off the court and on.

While the players have meshed as a basketball unit, their families have grown closer by attending games and get-togethers away from the gym. Most of their work comes in tournaments about once a month, and the socializing helps the players stay in tune with each other.

“We have good chemistry,” Oliphant said. “We don’t get together and practice a lot. Some of these teams are in leagues and play three or four times a week. We just play in tournaments. We’ve become just like brothers.”

For four days, the competition will be intense and the pace brutal. Games feature two 10-minute halves, played with a running clock. Scores often reach the 70- and 80-point mark, and it’s illegal to freeze the ball on offense.

The teams that reach the finals will have played nearly a dozen games in five days. It will take a toll on a body, and there won’t be much time for sightseeing, but the prize at the end is worth it, Shelton said.

“It’s going to an area (Norfolk) where we would like to do some sightseeing … They say once you start the competition, it might be one, two, or three games a day, maybe an hour or two hours apart, so you don’t have a lot of time for that,” Shelton said. “Usually by the end of a tournament we’re walking a little stiffer. For five days, I’m expecting a lot of hard work.”