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Weekend Warrior: Lifelong disc golfer continues legacy

Posted at 9:15 PM, Jul 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-16 09:56:29-04

TODAY’S TMJ4’s latest Weekend Warrior is lifelong disc golfer who has been competing in the sport for nearly four decades and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

“I tried ball golf,” said disc golfer John Pecunia. “I really stunk at it, so I stuck with the frisbee golf. I do have a set of clubs, and I'm sorry to say they just sit in the garage in the dark … I love my discs.”

And since he was 13, Pecunia hasn't been able to put them down. Now at 51 years old, the professional disc golfer has competed all over the world, but it all started where he grew up in Connecticut.

“We used light poles and mailboxes until we were told to stop hitting mailboxes because we were denting them,” he described.

That was then. Now, he's a legend.

“In the disc golf community, I'm known as Johnny Rumble,” he said with a smile.

And 38 years later, Johnny Rumble's still got it.

“I can still throw I thnk over 300 feet, 350 feet with the wind at my back,” he said with a laugh.

Bag by his side, armed with plenty of discs, Johnny loves the trek to each hole, the search for his discs but he loves throwing them even more.

“I just love seeing them fly,” he described. “There's just something tranquil about seeing the disc glide through the air and of course if it follows the pattern that you want it to follow, that's even better.”

The husband and father of two feels right at home on the course and there's no place like home.

“I will play until I cannot play, 'til you have to push me around,” he said with a laugh. “I'm going to play forever. This is a life sport.”