Champions Made From Adversity

Augustan blazing trail as an adaptive athlete

Posted on 02. Jul, 2009 by CMFA Administrator in Press

Alan Washington’s life changed on Oct. 27, 1987.

A large crate fell on his back as he was working on a Navy cargo ship in San Diego, and it broke his 10th and 11th vertebra. The accident left the Augusta man paralyzed from the waist down.

What took away the use of his legs, however, could not take away his spirit.

Washington, now 42, has become heavily involved in adaptive athletics, mainly basketball and tennis, over the past several years.

He is a member of the Augusta Blazing Bulldogs wheelchair basketball team, which competed in the National Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Denver in March.

His most memorable moment from the trip, he said, didn’t come on the basketball court, but from another sport he hadn’t enjoyed in 22 years. [read more]

Article written by Joey Jones
Published July 2, 2009 in the The Augusta Chronicle
Click here to read the full article

Tags: alan washington, augusta bulldogs, basketball, tennis