Mike Flynt, 59-Year-Old Linebacker: ‘Do You Let Your Regrets Define You?’

We’ve all made empty promises to ourselves. We’ve all heard that inner voice saying, “If only…” or “I really should…” and then we ignored it.

Mike Flynt didn’t. He got tired of that voice reminding him of the regret he tried to bury. So, at 59 years old, he rejoined the college football team he’d been kicked off of in 1971—and became the oldest contributing player in NCAA history.

Sounds like the plot of a movie, right? It is. You can see Flynt’s story—The Senior, starring Michael Chiklis—come to life on the big screen in theaters nationwide starting September 19. The film, based on a book that Flynt and I co-wrote together, shows how each of us can better listen to what our instincts are trying to tell us. We can face our deepest regrets. We don’t have to run from them or let them define us. 

“I realized what so many people dealing with regret have also realized,” said Flynt on a recent episode of Corporate Competitor Podcast. “You can’t undo the past—that regret is there, but what you can do is change the meaning of that regret.”

It would have been easy for Flynt to tell himself that he was too old to play college football at his alma mater again. He was more than three-times older than any incoming freshman. Flynt felt motivated—not only by his need to face his regrets, but by his desire to share his hard-won wisdom over his decades of life. “My motivation for going back and trying to make that team,” he said, “was that I knew that there were a bunch of young men there that could benefit from my life experiences. Helping them would help me to deal with those guys I let down back in 1971.” 

Flynt, who always regretted never finishing his senior season at Sul Ross University, was still technically eligible to play even at 59. Motivated to right his wrong, he tried out and actually made the final roster. But his story isn’t just about a comeback. It’s about redemption, resilience and the courage it takes to go back, finish what you started and face your deepest regrets head-on. Flynt, who founded Powerbase Fitness, put his life on pause to change his narrative. The chance to make things right again was all he needed.

“I just pray that millions of people go see this story and walk out of the theater believing that there’s nothing in their lives that they can’t accomplish,” Flynt said, “and that they’re going to go try.”