Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH, speaks during the 85th Texas Rose Festival Distinguished Men's Luncheon held at The Cascades in Tyler on Friday Oct. 19, 2018. Cooper is the author of the 1968 book "Aerobics" that advocated for exercise and good health. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Two marathoners say exercise has lengthened their lives and that Americans should be working to improve their cardiovascular fitness.

Dr. Kenneth Cooper, who wrote the famous 1968 book “Aerobics,” and Orville Rogers, a 100-year-old world champion runner, made the comments in Tyler on Friday afternoon.

Cooper and Rogers were the lead speakers at the 85th Texas Rose Festival’s Distinguished Men’s Luncheon at The Cascades. The luncheon is part of the weekend-long festival that celebrates Tyler’s history of producing roses.

“I was criticized by my medical colleagues because back in 1968 it was not popular or safe for men or women to run over 40 years of age,” Cooper said of his advice on aerobic exercise.

He said that the guidance for heart attack survivors at the time involved extreme levels of being sedentary — joking that survivors would never be allowed to lift things again and would need to move into one-story homes so they didn’t have to climb stairs.

Cooper referenced a critic who said that his advice on aerobic exercise was so bad that it meant “the streets are going to be full of dead joggers if people continue to follow Cooper.”

Cooper also has a personal story about making exercise part of his health regimen. At age 29, he went waterskiing and thought he was having a heart attack, but his doctor said he was simply out of shape. A year later, he ran the Boston Marathon.

At the time, he said only about 150 ran the race. In 2018, more than 25,000 people finished the Boston Marathon, according to the Boston Athletic Association. The sport itself increased from 100,000 joggers in 1968 to 34 million joggers in 1984, Cooper said.

“America, get your head out of your sand,” Cooper said. “The rest of the world will pass us by if we don’t realize that our health is our responsibility.”

Rogers, a native of Texas who now lives in Dallas, started running while in his 50s after reading Cooper’s book and has run several marathons since then. He competed in a national competition at age 90 and broke two world records. He will be 101 next month, and joked that he was happy to be at the Rose Festival but even happier to be somewhere any day.

“I know I’m old,” Rogers said. “If my life were a football game I’d be in the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter.” He joked about telling someone the same thing, who responded, “No, Orville, you’d be in overtime — sudden death overtime.”

A commemorative magazine featuring the Tyler Morning Telegraph’s coverage of the 2018 Texas Rose Festival can be purchased online. View more photos from the event at focusinon.me.

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