You’re never too old to go for gold. That is what Steve Brown may be thinking as he prepares to embark on a journey of a lifetime. Brown, 55, is one of more than 1,200 athletes on Team USA heading to Israel for the 21st Maccabiah Games, which take place July 12-26.

“People often confuse these games with the junior ones that move around the country,” said Brown, a Jewish St. Louis athlete who graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in 1985. “My son Ben has played baseball in it a few times and we have even had it in St. Louis. That is a great event. But this is a truly international event.”

Brown will be competing as a member of The USA Maccabi Masters squash team.

“Masters, meaning old people,” laughed Brown. The Masters are broken into different age divisions, starting at age 35. Brown  said he will play in the individual and team events in the Masters’ 55-year-old division (where competitors must be 55 or older).

Good with the racquets

In the 1980s, Brown played football and was a state championship winning team in tennis in 1985 with the Ladue Rams. Always good with the racket, Brown started playing squash in 1992 when he returned to St. Louis to attend law school at Washington University.

“I used to go up and play with my dad at the old University Club after class to get a workout in before I would start studying for the night. I took to it quickly and it instantly became my main mode of exercise ever since,” said Brown.

Through the years, Brown would travel and play in several tournaments a year where he found the competitiveness to be enjoyable.

“The guys playing in the lowest levels want to win just as bad as the guys at the top levels. So the competition is fierce, and the camaraderie is great. It’s a ton of fun. I have won several tournaments over the years and when I do win, it feels like I just won Wimbledon. It’s just a total blast. ”

Maccabiah here we come

Brown learned about the Maccabiah Games in Israel from another Jewish squash player, and the idea of playing in the “Jewish Olympics” was something he thought about often.

“It has sort of become a bucket list event for me. I thought about it every two years from then until now and I finally reached a point in my life where I had the time and flexibility and children old enough that I could leave them for a couple of weeks to go,” said Brown.

When it was announced that the Maccabiah Games would return after being canceled due to COVID, Brown got busy. He went to the website and looked up the squash contact and sent them an email. In pre-COVID years, Masters teams were made up during a tournament playoff. But this year there was no playoff.

Basically, the squash directors contact my local pro to make sure that I had the ability to compete,” said Brown. “So, after that, they chose me to be on the Master 55-year-old team.

What it means

Win or lose, Brown knows competing in Israel, with fellow Jewish athletes, is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“I don’t really know exactly what I will take from it. But to just be able to play against Jews from around the world is so exciting that I can hardly contain myself. I have been packing and unpacking and repacking and thinking about packing for over a week. I am just thrilled to be able to do this.”