- All right, before we go
I have one more tidbit of joy I need to share.
This is "What I'm Liking."
(upbeat music)
(audience cheering)
A sophomore at Reinhardt University,
just north of Atlanta,
is living out a dream, she never even knew she had.
She's a beloved player on the woman's golf team,
and at 63 years old,
one of the nation's oldest student athletes.
This year, she was even nominated for homecoming court,
which is awesome.
We have this truly remarkable woman
on the line now,
watching on WSB-TV in Atlanta.
Let's say hello to Debbie y'all.
(audience cheering)
- [Kelly] Hi Debbie.
- Hi Kelly, thanks for inviting me.
- Oh my Gosh, I'm so stoked to have you on here.
I love this.
So, what made you decide to go back to college,
in your sixties?
That's so cool.
- Well, I actually thought about college
when I was in high school,
and my guidance counselor suggested Reinhardt back in 1976,
but my parents suggested X-ray school,
so that I'd always have something to fall back on,
could always support myself.
So I did.
So I worked in X-ray then taught skiing for 35 years.
In my early thirties, I married my husband
and took up golf with him.
His mother had been a Dorm Mother at Reinhardt.
And we had a great life.
I was a housewife, had a ball playing golf with my friends.
And then four years ago he passed away.
So I was a little lost in my golf.
And I still continued to play with my girlfriends,
and had a caddy at my club in Atlanta one day, who said
he was a student on the Reinhardt University golf team.
So, I started thinking college is calling
and I looked into it.
I called, emailed the coach, went for a tryout.
He said, yes, I could do it at my age.
So I applied to school
and went on first as a walk on, on the team.
And then, after my first year,
I was offered a scholarship,
partial scholarship.
So we had Signing Day,
like everybody does with their parents.
(audience laughing)
- [Debbie] And my mom came to the library,
and we did Signing Day together,
just like the real college kids do.
- [Kelly] I love it. Oh my gosh.
It's so cool. I literally, this,
I'm not just saying this.
I literally have told people, I'm like,
I want to do college when I'm older
and do all these things that I always wanted to do
that I missed out on.
Cause I, I ended up in the industry first.
- [Kelly] And I feel like I missed out on it. It's so cool.
It's such a great story
because you're inspiring so many
people that still might want to do it.
And it's like literally never too late.
- [Kelly] I think it was meant to be with Reinhardt, right?
Like it just kept popping up in your life at random points.
So how is, how is college life treating you now?
Are you partying?
(Kelly laughing)
- College life is awesome.
This is my first semester on campus because of COVID.
- [Debbie] Where, I was virtual.
- [Debbie] So now I'm meeting my virtual classmates.
- [Debbie] They're in my real classes now.
And as a college athlete,
I have to take a full load to be eligible.
So I'm taking Freshman PE, Statistics,
and some other classes that can be really hard,
but I might get a 4.0 average I'm so surprised.
- [Debbie] And just to go around campus
with my teammates,
and see them off the golf course,
I see them at campus.
- [Debbie] Then we go to practice afterwards,
we're in the team-van together,
and I'm just having a ball, loving life.
- [Debbie] They, I did have to as far as the party thing.
I had to tell them, I may be the 'old buddy' on the team,
but I cannot be the 'booze buying buddy' on the team.
- [Debbie] So they've accepted that.
- [Debbie] I said it could get me in trouble,
and I'm on track to graduate in 2023.
- [Kelly] Wow.
- [Debbie] And then I will buy the wine.
Cause we will have a big party,
because five of my teammates
will graduate with me.
And we will invite you to our graduation.
- [Kelly] Oh my gosh.
- I think you're just about the coolest frickin person
I've ever met.
- [Kelly] I cannot wait to meet you in person
and hug you.
Literally, this is like my dream in my sixties to do .
I'm not, I'm not lying.
I've literally said,
this is what I want to do when I retire.
Cause I just think it's so cool.
And if you feel like you missed out on it,
it's never too late to like
accomplish something you want to do.
- [Debbie] Never too late.
- [Kelly] And it's such, it's such a great story
and I love you, Debbie.
Thank you so much.
- [Kelly] I'm liking your post right now. All right.
- [Debbie] Thank you so much.
- [Kelly] All right, well that's not all.
Our seasonal partner, Pilot,
the maker of 'FriXion',
the go-to erasable pen of The Kelly Clarkson Show,
want to celebrate those creating fearlessly, just like you.
So they're going to give you a thousand dollars.
That'll help for college.
- [Debbie] Oh, the team would love that.
- [Kelly] That'll give some books or something.