Date: July 13, 2017
Press Release: Top US Disabled High School
Wheelchair Athletes Named To
Compete At The 2004 Glenn D. Loucks
Memorial Track And Field Games
May 8th .
For 37 years, the Glenn D. Loucks Memorial Track and
Field Games (www.loucksgames.org ) held at White
Plains High School, White Plains, NY has been one of
the premiere high school track and field meets in the
U.S. and the largest independent on-campus meet in the
nation. The Games, always held on Mother's Day
weekend, draw more than 1,000 able-bodied and
disabled athletes from over 217 high schools in
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Georgia,
Louisiana, Vermont and Quebec Canada. The Games annually produce some of the best
scholastic performances in the U.S and have in the past showcased numerous future
world-class, Olympic, and Paralympic athletes.
For the fourth year Wheelchair Sports, USA, of Colorado Springs, Co, the organization
responsible for sponsoring and nurturing junior wheelchair track for the US Olympic
Committee and the US Paralympic Committee, has partnered with the Glenn D. Loucks
Memorial Track and Field Games to bring wheelchair track, on an equal footing with the
able-bodied track to the Games. For 2004, WSUSA is proud to announce that the Henry
Kessler Foundation of New Jersey has joined WSUSA and the Loucks Games to sponsor
the Wheelchair Division. With this partnership, wheelchair athletes have the support to
compete at this national level high school event. This partnership is good for the Glenn
D. Loucks Memorial Games and for the US wheelchair sports movement, insuring no
nationally ranked wheelchair disabled high school athlete refuses this opportunity due to
financial hardship.
The 2004 disabled athletes were offered invitations to participate in the Games based on
being in high school and their performance at the National Junior Disability
Championships (NJDC), held in New London Connecticut in July 2003. The athletes
were awarded points based on their finish time in the 100M, 800M, and 1500M events
and the boys and the girls with the most points were offered invitations. WSUSA is
proud to announce this year’s athletes accepting the invitation are:
Athlete
High School
Home City
ST
Grade
Nathan Taylor
LaMonte
La Monte
MO
12
Cary Gaul
Cherry Hill
Cherry Hill
NJ
12
Michael Timpa
Barbe
Lake Charles
LA
11
Cully Mason
Monroe
Monroe
GA
10
Jordan Bird
Northeast Magnet
Wichita
KS
9
Zachery Bobowski
South Forsyth
Suwaee
GA
9
Matawan
Matawan
NJ
12
Bristol Central
Bristol
CT
11
Dana Fink
North Springs
Atlanta
GA
10
Eve Hampton
Mercer Island
Mercer Is
WA
11
Kelsey Yost
Camp Hill
Camp Hill
PA
10
Boys
Girls
Jaclyn Daya
Mary Christine
Beck
Wheelchair athletes will warm-up in a 5K-road race Saturday morning May 8th at 9AM
and formally compete in the 1600M, 100M, and 800M events on the track Saturday
afternoon at 12:30PM, 2:00PM and 2:30PM.
Contact:
Phil Galli
908-240-7641 (cell)
Wheelchair Track and Field USA (WT&FUSA), Track Chair
Glenn D. Loucks Memorial Games
2004 Selection Criteria for WSUSA Junior Athletes
1. Selection is based upon results from the last National Junior Disability Championships
(NJDC), results.
2. To be considered; the athlete must have participated in all the races being contested at
the Glenn D. Loucks Memorial Games (1500M will be used as the criteria for the
1600M event). An athlete can have no more than one disqualification and still be
considered.
3. The athlete must be currently attending high school 9-12 grades or have graduated in
the current school year.
4. WSUSA follows the high school rule of only 4 years of high school sport eligibility at
the Loucks Games.
4. Athlete selection will be based upon the following criteria:
A. Athlete's will be scored in each race from the National Junior Disability
Championships as if each race were an open event with 12 point being the
fastest time, 11 points for second fastest, etc.
B. Scores will be totaled and the top 6 boys and top 6 girls will be invited to
participate. Using the points system, the next 6 athlete's will be selected as
alternates. If any of the top 6 athletes decline the invitation the next alternate
will be invited and so on.
C. In the event there is a tie in points, “total time” will then be used to determine
the athlete “Ranking”.
Review Committee:
Arleen Sand, WSUSA Junior Committee Chair and Junior Rep to Wheelchair Track &
Field USA (WT&FUSA)
Philip Galli, Wheelchair Division Glenn D. Loucks Memorial Games Chair and Track
Chair WT&FUSA
WSUSA
Founded in 1956 as the National Wheelchair Athletic Association, the name of the
organization was changed in 1994 to Wheelchair Sports, USA, to better reflect the
organization's mission and goals. The initial impetus to organize Wheelchair Sports,
USA, grew out of the interests of athletes with disabilities - many of whom were veterans
of World War II. They wanted to participate in sports other than basketball, which had
seen rapid growth in the early 1950's through team s sponsored by veterans hospitals and
other rehabilitation agencies. General Omar N. Bradley was one of the leaders of the early
efforts to develop wheelchair sports programs, principally for servicemen injured during
the war. In the early days, many wheelchair basketball players saw participation in
individual wheelchair sports as supplementary training for their primary interest in
basketball. However, the Wheelchair Sports, USA, program appealed to even greater
numbers of athletes with disabilities because it was able to incorporate women and
quadriplegics (those with paralysis in upper as well as lower extremities); two
populations which basketball could not reasonable accommodate at that time.
Europe's first organized wheelchair sports program was introduced in 1948 by wellknown neurosurgeon, Dr. Ludwig Guttman, founder of the Spinal Injury Center in StokeMandeville, England. The first Stoke-Mandeville Games included only a handful of
participants (26), and few events (shot put, javelin, club throw, and archery), but growth
in both the number of events and participants came quickly. In 1952, a team from the
Netherlands was invited to compete with the British team. This was the first International
Stoke-Mandeville Games, an event that has been held annually ever since.
THE EARLY YEARS
The administrative expenses of Wheelchair Sports, USA, were underwritten for many
years by the Bulova Watch Company, the Bulova family, and the Bulova School of
Watchmaking, whose executive director, Benjamin Lipton, served as Wheelchair Sports,
USA, Chairman for the organization's first twenty-five years. The primary focus of
Wheelchair Sports, USA, in the early years was on organizing annual national
championship competitions and fielding USA teams for international competition. USA
teams have competed in world championship competitions annually since 1960 in such
countries as England, Israel, the Netherlands, Japan, Argentina, France, and a host of
other nations. Since the early 1970's additional efforts were undertaken to organize
Wheelchair Sports, USA, programs on more local and regional levels throughout the
United States. Today, Wheelchair Sports, USA, is organized geographically into fourteen
regional associations, each responsible for developing local wheelchair sports programs
and for conducting qualifying meets for the National Wheelchair Games.
RECOGNITION BY THE U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE AND THE OLYMPIC
GAMES
The national offices of Wheelchair Sports, USA, remained in New York for twenty-six
years before moving to Colorado Springs in 1982 to join the many other sports
organizations comprising the U.S. Olympic Committee. The move to Colorado Springs
and recognition by the U.S. Olympic Committee reflects a principal concern of
Wheelchair Sports, USA, to provide athletic experiences for athletes with disabilities
paralleling those of the able-bodied, from novice through elite levels. With the move to
Colorado Springs, the first professional staff in Wheelchair Sports, USA's history was
hired to administer the many ongoing programs as well as to develop new initiatives to
promote wheelchair sports. Wheelchair Sports, USA, has realized major accomplishment
in these past years. Wheelchair Sports, USA, athletes on several occasions have traveled
to Colorado Springs and the U.S. Olympic Training Center to train alongside their ablebodied counterparts preparing for International level competition. On August 11, 1984,
wheelchair athletes made their formal debut in the Olympic Games with the first-ever
exhibition wheelchair track events held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. In 1988,
a wheelchair athlete became the first woman to receive a gold medal in the Olympic and
Paralympic Games (disabled Olympic Games). Wheelchair Sports, USA, played a
principal role in conceiving and organizing the events with the Los Angeles Olympic
Organizing Committee and has continued to play a major role in each Summer Olympic
Competition since that time.
DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM FOR DISABLED YOUTHS
Wheelchair Sports, USA, has expanded its offerings to junior athletes which make up
30% of the total membership. Regional associations now conduct annual local
competitions for youths aged five to eighteen. The WSUSA Junior National
Championships, the organizations largest annual event, was first held in July 1984. This
event provided the first national program of competitions for junior athletes.
AN ASSOCIATION LED BY WHEELCHAIR ATHLETES
From its earliest beginnings to the present day, Wheelchair Sports, USA, has been
directed and developed by wheelchair athletes and wheelchair sports enthusiasts
themselves, individuals with a first-hand understanding to the values of participation. By
and large, the needs of the wheelchair athlete are not addressed by the vast network of
athletic programs available to able-bodied persons through our educational system and
community recreation agencies. Instead, the wheelchair athlete has, with rare exceptions,
developed his or her own resources and sports opportunities, from rules and governing
structure (i.e., Wheelchair Sports, USA) to funding travel, equipment and other expenses
of competition. Wheelchair sports enthusiasts are involved at all levels of decisionmaking in the Wheelchair Sports, USA, and its constituent associations. Wheelchair
Sports, USA, has remained essentially an all-volunteer organization, drawing on the
energy and commitment of the people who also benefit from its programs. Wheelchair
sports have also been described as the most authentic of sports enterprises because the
athletes compete and develop their own opportunities for the intrinsic values of
participation - and not for the promise of professional contracts or financial reward. The
dreams of individual athletes have been made possible through the efforts and dedication
of pioneers such as Dr. Guttman and Lipton, and the countless other organizers,
volunteers, friends, and supporters of wheelchair sports throughout the United States and
the rest of the world. With the continuing increase in public awareness, the future of
wheelchair athletic competition is indeed bright.
The Henry H. Kessler Foundation, Inc.:
The Henry H. Kessler Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to
perpetuating the vision and preserving the legacy of Dr. Henry H. Kessler, a renowned
pioneer in the development and practice of physical medicine and rehabilitation. The
Foundation works to improve the quality of life for people living with disabilities through
research, education and community services. It supports research through a premier
medical research organization, the Kessler Medical Rehabilitation Research and
Education Corporation, whose research focuses on improving health and promoting
wellness for people with spinal cord and traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis
and other neurological and orthopedic conditions. For more information please visit us
on the Web at www.hhkfdn.org.