Randy Snow (May 24, 1959 – November 19, 2009) was the first

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

to be inducted into the

U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame The United States Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame is an honor roll of the top American Olympic and Paralympic athletes headquartered at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum, opened in April 2020 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Hall ...

and the first paralympian to win medals in three different sports: track, basketball and tennis.Cindy Shmerler
"Overlooked No More: Randy Snow, Paralympic Champion of Wheelchair Tennis,"
''The New York Times'', August 27, 2021.

Biography

Thomas Randall Snow was the oldest of four children of Alison Lee McElhone, a kindergarten teacher, and Thomas Snow, a real estate attorney. He was born in Austin, Texas and later his family moved to

Terrell, Texas Terrell is a city in Kaufman County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 17,465. Terrell is located about east of Dallas. History Terrell developed as a railroad town, beginning in 1873 with construction here ...

. In 1975, at the age of 16, his spine was crushed by a 1000-pound bale of

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. After graduating, he enrolled in the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1977, where he indulged in the

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

party life, until forming a wheelchair basketball team under the direction of Jim Hayes, the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...

wheelchair sports director. Soon afterward, he began wheelchair racing, and in 1980 transferred to Arlington in order to work with Hayes, eventually establishing himself as the best

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, a ...

player in the United States. In 1984, the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

added a men's 1500-meter wheelchair race as an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

event. Snow went into heavy training, relocating to

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, to train on the same track as Carl Lewis. This was the first Paralympic event to appear before a large audience, and the public was unsure of their feelings for wheelchair-using athletes. Snow received a silver medal, and the crowd gave the athletes a standing ovation at the end of the exhibition. In the 1990–91 season, Snow won 68 consecutive matches and 15 straight tournaments, becoming the first International Tennis Federation Wheelchair World Champion. Snow went on to win gold medals in the

1992 Summer Paralympics )( es, Deporte Sin Límites) , nations = 82 (BCN)75 (MAD) , athletes = 3,020 (BCN)1,600 (MAD) , opened_by = Queen Sofía , opening = 3 September (BCN)15 September (MAD) , closing = 14 September (BCN)22 September (MAD) , even ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

for singles and doubles tennis, and at the

1996 Atlanta Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

was a member of the bronze medal-winning wheelchair basketball team. He also competed in men's wheelchair tennis singles at the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

but lost in the third round to eventual gold medalist David Hall of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame on July 1, 2004. Randy Snow died in El Salvador on November 19, 2009, while volunteering at a wheelchair tennis camp. He was posthumously inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

, on July 14, 2012.

References

External links

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Randy Snow
at U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Snow, Randy 1959 births 2009 deaths American men's wheelchair basketball players Paralympic wheelchair tennis players of the United States Wheelchair tennis players at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Paralympic wheelchair basketball players of the United States Wheelchair basketball players at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for the United States Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Recipients of the Paralympic Order Wheelchair racers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics American male wheelchair racers People from Terrell, Texas People with paraplegia Paralympic medalists in wheelchair tennis Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball ITF World Champions