Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

103-year-old veteran an inspiration to those at Las Vegas fitness club

Joe Rosa

Chris Kudialis

Joe Rosa poses with Jacquie Cottey at 24 Hour Fitness in Summerlin in celebration of his 103rd birthday on Friday, Dec. 7, 2018.

At the fitness center where Joe Rosa spends most of his mornings, he’s listed as 99 years old. That’s only because the 25-year Las Vegas resident’s actual age doesn't fit in the company’s system.

On Friday, Rosa celebrated his 103rd birthday with two giant cakes at 24 Hour Fitness in Summerlin with family, friends and patrons of the fitness club who call him an inspiration.

Rosa, a Navy veteran whose ship was part of the World War II Bougainville Campaign during battles in the South Pacific, amassed millions of dollars after the war as the owner of a large-scale roofing company in Los Angeles. A self-proclaimed heavy drinker and smoker well into his 70s, he eventually retired to Las Vegas, where he kicked his bad habits in favor of a healthier lifestyle.

Retirement had treated Rosa well through 2011. Halfway through his 90s, he lived alone in a four-bedroom home in Sun City Summerlin. His three children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren were also happy and healthy in other states. But one summer afternoon that year, Rosa was backed into while walking in the parking lot of a now-shuttered Fresh & Easy grocery store. The crash broke his back and his left leg, and a doctor warned he’d likely never walk again.

“I was on the ground and I saw a pair of legs walk from outside of the car toward me,” Rosa said. “I used some strong language, and the person jumped back into their car and drove off.”

The hit-and-run driver was never found. Rosa spent three months in a hospital and an infection led to a coma. He eventually woke up, and was confined to a wheelchair.

Determined to walk again, the then-95-year-old said he found 24 Hour Fitness, where a trainer promised to help him get out of his wheelchair. Four months later, he was on his feet again. His nearly three-hour daily routine, which he still practices today, includes in order: 30 minutes of stretching, biking, calf lifts, back exercises, work on a leg machine, walking on a treadmill and more stretching.

“I’m told stretching is the most important,” Rosa said. “So I do a lot of it.”

The 103-year-old, who still happily lives alone in his large Summerlin home, still works with private trainers at the 24 Hour Fitness club. He said he has sunk nearly $40,000 into private training at the club over the last several years, an investment he considers wise when compared with costly medical and physical therapy treatments.

He eats mostly fruits and vegetables, especially cauliflower soup with onions and cabbage, but also consumes chicken and seafood occasionally for protein. He said he mostly avoids red meat but confesses to stopping at Carl’s Jr. once a month for a hamburger in honor of his former acquaintance, Carl Karcher, the namesake of the popular fast-food restaurant.

The centenarian’s example doesn’t go without notice from many of 24 Hour Fitness members that use the club each morning.

A crowd of a couple dozen club members, employees and even the San Ramon, Calif., company’s CEO joined a birthday party Friday morning, helping Rosa light the candles, cut cake and take pictures.

Among them, 64-year-old Jacquie Cottey said Rosa is the local gym-goers’ “mascot.” She gave him a large embrace as she affectionately greeted him as the “old bastard.”

“He keeps everyone going around here,” Cottey said.

Chris Roussos, 24 Hour Fitness’ CEO, said Rosa was an inspiration to those at the company and the kind of success story the company exists to create with its members. The fitness club hung a 25-foot-tall American flag behind the table where Rosa sat Friday morning, and said it’d be keeping the flag in the facility in his honor.

Despite the accolades, Rosa keeps a relatively low-key persona, club members said, and has become a friend to many since he joined seven years ago. While he’s financially secure, Rosa said his health — and the women at the club — keep him inspired to keep going back.

“I’m just an ordinary guy,” he said.