Dr. Tim Nugent, founder of the NWBA, helped so many access a future

CHARLOTTE (Steve Goldberg’s Wheel World) –  That he lived to just two months shy of his 93^rd birthday speaks to the resilience, determination and strength of Dr. Tim Nugent.

The founder of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association and the first collegiate team at the University of Illinois passed away on Wednesday morning.

"I myself was born with a bad heart 92 years ago when they didn’t do much about it and didn’t know much about the heart," he told me in an interview for this column last year. "I did everything they told me not to do because I wanted to be part of the gang. I learned a lot through that process and all of it helped me when this opportunity came along."

The opportunity that came along was developing a disability resources program at the University of Illinois. It was 1948 and the G.I Bill had opened the doors for soldiers returning home from WWII to attend college. Many had come home with a physical disability and needed an environment conducive and accessible to learning.

He inherently knew that sports could have a positive influence, both from his own experience in defying the medical establishment and witnessing how being deprived of something she loved negatively impacted his sister.

"I had a sister who was very talented. She played piano and was an acrobatic dance at the age of six onstage when she started to have visual problems and the doctors at that time forbid her to dance or play the piano anymore. I saw the psychological impact on her and to this day she has never really recovered from that."

In an interview with Illinois Public Media in January, Nugent said he recognized early in his career that his students with disabilities also needed the same options for recreation as everyone else, including sports. He also soon realized as so many school administrators have, a successful sports program can have benefits beyond the courts, fields and tracks.

"They needed a chance for activities with reciprocities; they needed a chance to give out their emotions, to get the satisfaction of participation.  And actually our sports program turned out to be the best weapon we had so far as educating the public."

Former Illinois and USA National Team coach Brad Hedrick told the Champaign (IL) News-Gazette,  "Tim was the perfect man at the perfect time to change forever the social, political and economic paradigm of disability."

Marv Lapicola served the NWBA as a vice president for six years and then president for 25 years. Well before that though he was a freshman on Nugent’s 1952 Illinois team. That was the start of a lifelong friendship. 

"If I had never met Dr. Tim Nugent, I shudder at the thought of what it would have been like without the excitement every day of playing ball. It was a mainstay for me and gave me a new attitude on life as it really is."

His mobility impaired in his youth by polio, Lapicola says that looking back, he wouldn’t change a thing because of all the wonderful things he experienced since meeting Dr. Nugent. 

Current NWBA president and former Illini player Sarah Castle marvels at how Dr. Nugent’s passion and dedication to the game never waned over nearly 70 years.

"His selflessness and his passion were inspiring. He had a way with words and he always spoke from the heart. I truly believe that growing to know him better over the past few years has helped me to understand my purpose in my role with the NWBA, but also as an advocate."

Another former Illini player, Stephanie Wheeler, who now coaches the university’s women’s team as well as the USA National Women’s Team, says she has been "so fortunate to have been on the receiving end of many amazing words of wisdom" and shared this Nugent quote as an inspirational favorite. 

"I just kept knocking. I wasn't the smartest or had the best ideas, but when I was told no, I just kept knocking."

Former USA National Team player Trooper Johnson will miss seeing Nugent at the NWBA national tournaments.

"He took the time to say hi to every junior team I took to Nationals. I was fortunate enough to be able to introduce the kids to him and let them say "Thank you" for the opportunities he created for them."

Earlier this year, Illinois Congressman, Rodney Davis, and US Senator Mark Kirk nominated Nugent for the Congressional Gold Medal. That bill is still pending in Washington. If Congress were even minutely close to effecting positive change as Dr. Nugent was, it would already be done.

Not that he needs a medal. 

There have been so many University of Illinois wheelchair athletes on the USA Paralympic Team (not to mention Canada), that orange should be added to the red, white and blue. The program started by Tim Nugent has resulted in hundreds of medals across the pantheon of Paralympic sport, bronze, silver and gold.

In his own words though, it is clear that the journey was more important than the destination.

Go as far as you can see, and when you get there, you’ll be surprised by how much you learned along the way and how much further you can see. And then you keep going, keep going." - Dr. Timothy Nugent

Steve Goldberg

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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