{"id":274,"date":"2018-02-20T11:41:01","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T17:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/?p=274"},"modified":"2018-03-05T14:15:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T20:15:21","slug":"from-arm-wrestling-to-mentoring-seminole-woman-disrupts-aging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/from-arm-wrestling-to-mentoring-seminole-woman-disrupts-aging\/","title":{"rendered":"From Arm Wrestling to Mentoring, Seminole Woman Disrupts Aging"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
In October 2017 AARP Oklahoma honored 50 people at the\u00a09th Annual Indian Elders Honors<\/a>. As the nomination process for 2018 opens this week, we profile one of the 2017 honorees, Cynthia Yerby, 65, a member of the Seminole Nation in Oklahoma.<\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

The perfect personification of\u00a0AARP\u2019s \u201cDisrupt Aging\u201d<\/a>\u00a0motto, Cynthia Yerby talks with passion about her many hard-fought accomplishments: getting a master\u2019s degree while working and raising a family; mentoring youth; becoming a traditional sewing artist; and \u2014 when she was 40 years old \u2014 launching a career as a champion arm wrestler.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

\"Cynthia<\/p>\n

COURTESY GENE CAMP OF THE NEW YORK ARM WRESTLING ASSOCIATION<\/p>\n

Yerby, pictured here in a 2002 match, is a champion in New York, where she is one of only two people in the New York Arm Wrestling Association hall of fame.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mentoring leads to a life change<\/h3>\n

Yerby is a retired educator and senior counselor from Seminole State College in Oklahoma, where for 35 years she provided educational advisement and personal guidance to students.<\/p>\n

When she was 40, one of her students invited her to see him compete in arm wrestling. After the official competition was over, people in attendance started to challenge one another, so Yerby gave it a try \u2014 and ended up beating her opponent easily.<\/p>\n

From there she started competing locally and a new passion was born, Yerby said. Eventually she entered the World Arm Wrestling Championships in Petaluma, Calif. She placed third in her first competition and eventually went on to travel the world as a member of the USA arm wrestling team, becoming a 10-time world champion, 11-time USA national champion and a state champion in 31 states.<\/p>\n

Embarking on such a physical sport at an older age was certainly unique, but Yerby wasn\u2019t about to let anything hold her back.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople usually start when they are 19 or 20. I was always competing against younger contestants. I once competed against a 16-year-old when I was in in my 40s and won,\u201d Yerby said.<\/p>\n

Due to her stellar reputation, she is often challenged to arm wrestle by people she meets. One of her fondest memories is arm wrestling country music star Tim McGraw, whom she met at a movie premiere party. She\u2019s also arm-wrestled the late blues artist B.B. King and former football coach Barry Switzer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

\"Cynthia<\/p>\n

COURTESY CYNTHIA YERBY<\/p>\n

Cynthia Yerby got to meet, and arm wrestle, country music star Tim McGraw in 2004 at a party for one of his movie premieres.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

You will win<\/h3>\n

Yerby is mostly a self-taught arm wrestler. \u201cIt was trial and error and [about] wanting to do it so bad,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In her first four years of competition, she couldn\u2019t get past third place and considered quitting. Deciding she would try one more time in honor of her mother, who had recently passed away, Yerby went to a high school coach for assistance on\u00a0strength training<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave me a weight lifting routine and told me \u2018you do this, you will win,’\u201d Yerby said. That statement would become the mantra for her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree months later I went to Petaluma again and got to the finals. At the last pull, I couldn\u2019t even walk. I was overcome; I couldn\u2019t breathe. I just looked up and said \u2018help me, mom,\u2019\u201d Yerby remembers. \u201cMy opponent was a big blonde and looked ferocious. I just slammed her [arm], and everyone around started crying and screaming. \u2026 The referee announced that I was finally the new world champion!\u201d<\/p>\n

Yerby gives motivational speeches where she tells the audience to persevere against any challenge and to always go in with the attitude that you can succeed. \u201cAnything worth anything isn\u2019t going to be instant. You have to work. \u2026 We set our own limits,\u201d Yerby said.<\/p>\n

After dealing with health issues, including winning a battle against the potentially fatal Graves disease, Yerby retired at age 59 as one of the most successful female arm wrestlers of all time.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0retirement<\/a>\u00a0hasn\u2019t impacted her work ethic. She turned her love of sewing into an endeavor to preserve and promote the Seminole patchwork tradition. She sews for numerous tribes, including the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which recently invited her to join them at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., where her work was featured for a week. You can also see her creations on Facebook at\u00a0Native Designs by Cynthia Yerby.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Recognizing elders, inspiring youth<\/h3>\n

Yerby, who has counseled and mentored tribal youth throughout her career, takes that role very seriously. \u201cThere is always somebody watching you, so be somebody that people can look up to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She is glad to see elders being recognized by\u00a0AARP Oklahoma<\/a>\u00a0again this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cElders should be recognized for their tenacity and their spirit, how they help their families, the love they share for people,\u201d Yerby said. \u201cWe are passing [Native American] languages down and trying to teach our kids how to do right, to survive in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yerby \u2014 who has been married for 42 years to her husband Monty and has two adult sons and three grandchildren \u2014 says she misses professional arm wrestling\u00a0but enjoys her retirement. \u201cBut if I wanted to, I would get ready and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Nominations for the 2018 Oklahoma Indian Elder Honors open this week. To nominate a deserving elder, visit\u00a0www.aarp.org\/ok<\/a>. The deadline for submissions is April 30th.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In October 2017 AARP Oklahoma honored 50 people at the\u00a09th Annual Indian Elders Honors. As the nomination process for 2018 opens this week, we profile one of the 2017 honorees, Cynthia Yerby, 65, a member of the Seminole Nation in Oklahoma. The perfect personification of\u00a0AARP\u2019s \u201cDisrupt Aging\u201d\u00a0motto, Cynthia Yerby talks with passion about her many … Continue reading From Arm Wrestling to Mentoring, Seminole Woman Disrupts Aging<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-february"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sscok.edu\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}