Randy Snow

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Randy Snow
medal table

Wheelchair tennis

United StatesUnited States United States
Paralympics
gold 1992 Barcelona singles
gold 1992 Barcelona Double

Thomas Randall "Randy" Snow (born May 24, 1959 in Austin , Texas , † November 19, 2009 in El Salvador ) was an American wheelchair athlete . At the 1992 Summer Paralympics , he won the gold medal in wheelchair tennis in singles and doubles.

Life

Snow was born into an extended Texas family in 1959, the son of a lawyer, and grew up in the pampas . Even as a teenager he was a successful athlete and had a career as a professional tennis or baseball player in prospect. At the age of 16, he was hit by a 500 kg hay bale on a friend's farm, causing him to suffer from spinal cord injury from the waist down.

In 1977 he graduated from Terrell High School and enrolled at the University of Texas . In the following years he suffered from alcohol and drug problems, which he was finally able to overcome with the help of sport. With the help of Jim Hayes, the university's wheelchair sports officer , he started a wheelchair basketball team . Soon after, he also trained in racing wheelchair driving and wheelchair tennis. In 1986 he graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration .

In 1984, Snow took part in the 1,500 m wheelchair race, a demonstration race, at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles and won the silver medal. At the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona , he won the gold medal in wheelchair tennis in singles and doubles. In 1996 he won the bronze medal with the American wheelchair basketball team at the Paralympic Games in Atlanta . In 2000 in Sydney he took part again in the wheelchair tennis competition, but lost in the third round to the Australian David Hall . In 1991 he was recognized by the International Tennis Federation as the first world champion in wheelchair tennis. Randy Snow won the individual competition at the Wheelchair Tennis Masters , which was held for the first time in 1994, and reached the final again the following year. In 2004 he was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame as the first Paralympic athlete .

In addition to his career as an active athlete, Snow worked for the wheelchair manufacturer Sunrise Medical . He was also committed to promoting wheelchair tennis and running camps for children and teenagers in the United States and around the world. In the 1990s he was a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and worked for the National Council on Disability .

Snow died of a heart attack during a wheelchair tennis camp in El Salvador in 2009 . He had recently completed a master's degree in psychology from the University of Phoenix . In 2012 he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame .

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personal data
SURNAME Snow, Randy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Snow, Thomas Randall (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wheelchair athlete
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Austin , Texas
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 2009
Place of death El Salvador