Still swinging at 99

RANDOLPH — At 99 years old, Vincent Havorka knows how to shoot it straight - on the golf course and otherwise.

“I’m not a pro golfer but I’d like to be,” he said with a smile. “I’m slipping a little.”

The Randolph native was back in town and hitting the links at the Randolph Community Golf Course last week. He planned to hit a few more courses - Hartington, Laurel, Plainview, and Bloomfield - while on his week-long RV trek in Northeast Nebraska, accompanied by his son and wife, Vince III and Mary Havorka, and daughter and husband, Denise and Jerry Sughroue.

The 1940 Randolph High graduate recalls his time in Randolph with pleasant memories of his classmates (he’s one of three still living); his family (his grandfather owned the Cornhusker Cafe); and his career owning the Ford dealership in town.

But most of his memories center around his love of golf which began when he first picked up clubs in 1935.

He still remembers playing and also working at the original Randolph course west of town.

“We were hired by the golf course to herd sheep out there to mow the grass around the creek. We stayed out there in a tent a little bit,” Havorka said.

Havorka sold his Randolph business and left the community in 1966, moving out to Sidney to become the office manager of Western Nebraska Community College.

That’s where he still lives today.

And he still plays a round or two of golf each week to stay active.