Is 83 Old? Hugh is Just Getting Started

April 1, 2015 – Joe Ruggiero SSUSA staff

By Joseph Ruggiero

Softball News Report

Most men at age 83 like to look back and wax nostalgic about the good old days of their youth, but not Hugh Brotherton.

Brotherton always says that the best days are still ahead of him. Playing on the first 85+ team ever formed in the nation, Center for Sight out of Venice, Fla., Brotherton is committed to never “acting his age,” nor accepting the common stereotype that retirement or getting old means sitting around twiddling his thumbs.

Instead, Brotherton enjoys life by staying active; running, swimming, going to the gym, doing yard work and playing competitive senior softball on a regular basis. Perhaps “regular basis” is too modest.

Brotherton plays at least five softball games a week, in both 50-plus and 60-plus leagues, not including his traveling teams, who have won 45 national and world titles. In between this busy schedule, Brotherton makes sure to get some practice in, while also helping manage his own real estate rental company.

What’s Brotherton’s secret?

Staying positive and being grateful for what he’s been given and “keeping the people around you happy.” Brotherton admits that this last sentiment may sound selfish, but in the end, “to make people happy, to make them laugh; it helps everyone enjoy their life a little bit more.”

Brotherton fell in love with baseball at an early age, but didn’t rediscover his passion for the game until he started playing senior softball in his early 60s. Prior to this, Brotherton was busy helping raise 10 kids, five boys and five girls, with his wife of 61 years. In his early 20s he started a successful trucking company with only $900 and sheer gusto. After that, he went on to invest in property and now runs his own real estate rental company.

No stranger to life’s tragedies, Brotherton lost two of his sons. “Hugh Peter had a stroke and died two years ago,” he said. “Four years ago, Jim, at the age of 49, was shot and killed in a carjacking robbery.” Brotherton relied heavily on his faith and the love of his wife during these difficult times, saying that some things are “in God’s hands and you must move forward. You must be thankful for what you’ve still got.” Always light-hearted, Brotherton quipped, “I’m going to see those kids one day and they’re going to say, ‘What took you so long?’”

What does Brotherton love most about softball? “The camaraderie and the competition, but mostly the sense of unity, of community, of belonging to something.”

Ask anyone about Brotherton and they will tell you that he never quits, that he pushes them to be better and to always try new things even at the age of 83. For Brotherton, the best days are always ahead of him and the past, well, “It is what it is.”