Oberding: fit to be chair
Bill Oberding. Photo by Ben Hoffman.
“Aging is no excuse for getting old.” That’s one of many slogans that Senior Olympic champion and physical trainer Bill Oberding uses to inspire his clients. Oberding’s positive attitude will now be benefiting the University’s Staff Employees’ Council, as he has been elected to chair the organization.
The council elected an entirely new executive board last month including Melanie England as vice chair, Valerie Pedroza as treasurer, Christine Arritt as secretary and Michelle Rachal in the public relations position.
The new chair shows the same enthusiasm for the council’s current undertakings as he does for the rest of life.
“The council’s Classified Staff Development Fund is a great program,” Oberding said. “We’re raising funds at the football games to pay for the books of classified staff members who are taking classes.”
The council makes recommendations to the various governing bodies at the University about all kinds of issues. Some of the issues that have been discussed in recent council meetings are related to privacy rights and surveillance on campus, staff parking, lighted crosswalks on Virginia Street and alcohol at football games.
One of the main functions of the Staff Employees’ Council is to protect the rights of the classified staff on campus. There are currently 34 members on the council, and the council represents all of the 1,300 staff members at this University. If a staff member has a concern, they bring it the council to discuss and, if necessary, bring to the University’s president.
Oberding attributes most of his recent success, including his chairmanship, to his healthy lifestyle. In 1998 he had a life-threatening episode, which resulted in him having angioplasty surgery with stent implants. The event made him take a serious look at his health and exercise activities. Although he had been lifting weights prior to his surgery, soon after the operation, he began swimming, biking, and hiking, as well. Since then he has competed in several senior Olympics events, and he’s done very well.
The chairman currently holds a range of athletic records. In the Olympic 55-59-age category he currently holds the world record for the standing long jump at 8 feet 11 inches, has run the fifth fastest one-hundred meter dash, and can pull off a 16-foot long jump. He also competes in many of the other Senior Olympic track events such as shot-put, javelin and discus.
“I feel like I’m 35” Oberding said. “I try to be a role model, to set myself as an example and inspire others. Any notability I get only helps me to get the word out to others.”
Oberding does indeed get the word out. A new episode of his fitness television show, “Bill’s Total Fitness,” airs several times a week on Reno’s cable access channel (cable channel 13). He also runs a fitness Web site, billstotalfitness.com and is writing a fitness column called “Fit Bits” for Our Workplace.
Ben Hoffman, a senior math major, is a student writer in the Office of Marketing and Communications. He can be reached at bhoffman@unr.nevada.edu.
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