Demircanlı had difficulty even walking due to typhoid, malaria and rickets that he suffered from as a child, and was twice taken to the morgue, thought to be dead. Demircanlı came back to life, and through these difficult processes, he was once again connected to life. Demircanlı never gave up on the sports he started after school, and became an invincible athlete in Trabzon. Demircanlı never quit athletics throughout his life, participating in various state competitions. Having won dozens of medals, Demircanlı started swimming regularly after retiring from public institutions. Those who see Demircanlı swimming many kilometers every morning, despite being 98 years old, cannot believe their eyes.
Born in 1929 in the Ortahisar district of Trabzon, Halil Ibrahim Demircanlı (98) struggled with illnesses such as typhoid, malaria and rickets during his childhood. While his peers were playing on the street, Demircanlı, who was looking out the window, was thought to have died twice due to illness and was put in the morgue. Demircanlı, who came back to life, was unable to walk and was held by his family like a baby. Demircanlı did not play with his peers due to his illness, but after a while he was examined by the only pediatrician working in Trabzon. Demircanlı regained his health after treatment and became familiar with sports after that. Demircanlı started playing sports after school and participated in running races whenever he had the chance. His coaches, who noticed Demircanlı’s ambition that made a difference to his rivals, took action. Demircanlı started athletics with 1,500-meter races and progressed to 10,000-meter races, winning dozens of medals. Demircanlı, who became an invincible athlete in Trabzon, also won championships in various provincial competitions. Demircanlı was once a licensed athlete for the Idmangüç team, but did not quit athletics until he was 30 years old. Demircanlı, who has made his mark in history as Trabzon’s most famous athlete, last participated in the “Postman Walking Championship” held after he became the Trabzon PTT Central Manager. After taking first place in his age group in Türkiye, Demircanlı quit athletics after a while.
He donated the medal to his neighbor to get his teeth fixed.
After retiring from the public sector, Demirkanlı worked as a general coordinator for many companies and devoted himself to swimming. People could hardly believe their eyes when they saw Demirkanlı getting up early every morning and heading to the sea in summer and winter, despite being 98 years old. Demirkanlı, who attributes his health to sports and regular nutrition, presented the medals he won to his neighbors. After accepting his neighbor’s offer to “give me my bronze medal so I can melt it down and fill my teeth,” Demirkanlı talked about his life as follows:
“I’ve been fighting illnesses until I was eight years old. Rickets, malaria, typhoid. My mother waited for him to die. I had no father. My father died while I was in my mother’s womb. A neighbor said, ‘This blue-eyed servant will not die.’ ‘Take this to the doctor,’ he said. My mother wrapped me in a loincloth and took me to the doctor. The doctor said, ‘Auntie, how do you cure this?’ My mother also said that she diluted yogurt and put a robe in it. ‘Then I dress him and he wakes up within two hours,’ he said. But two days later, he said he fainted again.
The doctor gave me something to cure malaria. I got better because my mother sent me to school. I caught typhoid while I was at school. There was one hospital in Trabzon. We are treated there. They put you in the middle of a basin and wash you with cold water. When he dies, they take him to the morgue. There, you live in the cold, they take you upstairs. I went to the morgue twice. I died and came back to life. I was in the hospital for 27 days. Then I got better again. My mother took me to school, but on the way there I clung to the wall. I was studying at primary school. After 3 o’clock, everyone went home and dispersed. But I don’t go. The schoolyard was long. I wandered around there. Slowly. I got to a point where I had a great body at 11 years old. A photographer took my picture and put it up in his shop. “
“I went to the competition in the back of a truck.”
Demirkanlı said that he became an official Idmangüç athlete after winning first place in a competition where he competed against famous athletes, saying, “One day, I went to the field. There was a football game. I was also about 11 years old. I ran on the field. I did 11 tours there. In junior high school, I won the Inter-High 3-kilometer race. I finished my education at the end of junior high school. There was a championship race in Trabzon. We gathered from the neighborhood and went there, but it was not for the purpose of jogging. When we went in there, my friend said, “Oh, boss, you should run too.” I said I’d go, but I was going to run five kilometers. I was released for the Trabzon Championship. The weather was hot. There were famous athletes at the competition. With the famous athletes competing, I came in first place with 20 to 30 meters left. After that race, I became an Idmangüç athlete. From then on, I ran every week. Trabzon was a city of sports, and athletics was ahead of football. There would be running every week. There was the 3000 meters, the Ataturk race, the cross-country, the spring race, and I took first place in all of them. Once, I didn’t run well in the Ataturk 7,500 race. I had a stomachache, so I took second place. Fortunately, it was the second time I was in that contest, they invited me again, and I took first place. Then I went to the Black Sea Championships. We went to the 10,000 meters as a team. We ran in Samsun. I came there first. From there we went to the competition in Turkiye. I went to the competition in the back of a truck. I finished fourth in that competition because of cramps in both legs. In the competitions I participated in, I only had my gym clothes and five liras a day. I have competed in 50 competitions since I was 14-15 years old. There was no such thing as a national team back then. But athletics was ahead of football. I became the champion of Trabzon in 10 kilometers. It was a soccer ball that I bought. I gave it to a neighbor. I ran in Samsun. There they gave him a gold-plated medal. I also ran a marathon in Trabzon. There was a guy called Kemal. He called me “the unrivaled athlete of Trabzon, the champion of the heart.” “My 10,000 meters record was 32 minutes,” he said.
“The doctor who treated me said, ‘You’ll walk and run,’ and that stuck with me.”
Linking his life story to sports, Demir Canlı said, “For example, if I’m going to run 10,000 meters, I’ll train for 30 kilometers. I think this story of mine is attributed to sports and walking. Also, the words of the doctor who treated me, ‘He walks, he runs,’ stayed in my mind. Then, everything I eat and drink will be natural. Buttermilk, butter, that’s what I eat. My mother took care of me. I never stopped swimming. I went to the sea wherever I had the opportunity. When I was Yomra manager at PTT, I used to swim from Yomra district to Arsin district. It’s eight kilometers at that point. I’m not scared of the sea. I use the sea like land. “I’m still in the sea,” he said.
His whole life was sports
Noting that he served as general manager in many institutions after retiring as PTT Trabzon central manager, Demir Canlı said, “I went to PTT after graduating from secondary school. I passed the PTT exam. I studied at PTT. Then I was appointed as a civil servant in Trabzon. That’s where I ended up. After becoming a civil servant, I served as a reservist. After military service, I stayed in Erzurum for 20 months. I came to Trabzon. I worked as a civil servant for 2-3 years. Then I went to Yomra as a manager. There were no educated men at that time. Our situation was good. I stayed in Yomra for 3 years. I entered a course. I became a manager in Rize. While I was a manager in Rize, I continued my higher education at the Faculty of Management. Then I worked as an inspector for 7-8 years. Then I became the center director. I worked there for 20 years. After retirement, I worked as an expert in the court for 10 years. I was the general manager of Trabel for 5 years. After that, I worked as a general coordinator for a company. During that time, I always hunted. I was a hunter in the mountains until I was 75 years old. I gave everything up at 80 years old. My wife died 10 years ago. I have a son who is a coach. His wife takes good care of me. We are with my son and we are happy. I live with them. But on my days off, I always swim or walk. “Weight training makes everything more effective,” he said.
“If I was a football player, I’d be taken to the sky.”
Demirkanlı said he gave away the medals he won in competitions to his neighbors, saying, “There were elderly people in my neighborhood. I had gold and bronze medals. They came to me and said, ‘Give me that medal so I can treat my teeth.’ I took it and said, ‘I’m sorry. It didn’t do me any good anyway. Idmangüç and Trabzon merged. I gave away a lot of medals. If I go to look now, I can’t see anything. They’ve all disappeared. Only my name comes up in the history of Trabzon. I was an invincible athlete in Trabzon, but they never called me. But if I was a football player, they would praise me,” he said.
“They’re amazed when I tell them I’m 98 years old.”
While giving advice to young people, Demirkanlı said: “People who see me are scared. They are surprised when I tell them that I am 98 years old. He has what God gave him. God gave us a brain. Can you survive if you smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol in the morning and evening? You can survive if you play sports and eat properly. God will help you too. I think I can last another 20 years if I stay like this. But God knows and it is His will. When I wake up in the morning, I boil an egg and eat it. I don’t spare my throat. I need more energy. I don’t like sweets and pastries. Even at 60 years old, I used to swim in the sea in the snow and storm. Young people should play sports. Let them stop doing unnecessary things. If they want to live healthy, they will play sports. Let them pay attention to food. “They should not smoke,” he said.
