| A shot glanced off the rim, bounced | | | | designed basketball chairs. |
| momentarily toward the ceiling, then fell | | | | |
| gently toward the floor. From rim to hands, | | | | “A good road trip,” Thorpe called |
| the rebound hung in the air for only a | | | | it. |
| moment, two seconds at the most. | | | | |
| | | | Back at Western Wayne, 41-year-old Thorpe was |
| As the basketball fell, the gym echoed. The | | | | a wrestler and football player. Otto, 35, |
| squeak of rubber against hardwood mixed with | | | | played football and baseball at Lackawanna |
| the grind of metal against metal, and in the | | | | Trail. Cox was a basketball player at |
| scramble for position, a wheelchair flipped | | | | Scranton Central. |
| backward. A man who couldn’t stand on | | | | |
| his own was left lying flat on his back, his | | | | Reynolds is the only one of the group who |
| legs still strapped to the chair. | | | | didn’t play sports in high school. Now |
| | | | 47, he started playing wheelchair basketball |
| Next moment, a fast break was heading the | | | | after a friend asked him to give it a shot in |
| other way. A referee walked next to the | | | | the early ’80s, a few years after his |
| fallen player, but barely glanced his | | | | 1977 accident. |
| direction and never offered so much as a | | | | |
| hand. Only after a foul was called did the | | | | For Al-Nadi, wheelchair basketball |
| action stop and two players wheeled down | | | | isn’t a return to the familiar or a |
| court to help their teammate back onto his | | | | taste of something new. |
| wheels. | | | | |
| | | | It’s the only life he’s ever |
| Upright, the player never left the game, and | | | | known. |
| players asking whether he was all right | | | | |
| seemed to be doing so simply out of courtesy. | | | | Born in Jordan in 1965, 41-year-old Al-Nadi |
| | | | was born disabled. He can shuffle along on |
| The game had to go on, just like everything | | | | crutches, basically carrying himself with his |
| else. | | | | upper body, but his legs won’t support |
| | | | his weight on their own. |
| It had to go on for Tom Cox, who worked | | | | |
| himself into a wheelchair when he was trying | | | | As a kid, he learned to play handball, and as |
| to work himself through college. | | | | an adult, he finished a marathon with his |
| | | | hands bleeding at the finish. He’s |
| It had to go on for Jason Otto, who made the | | | | played wheelchair basketball for San Diego |
| biggest mistake of his life, crashed his car | | | | City College and for the Jordanian national |
| and broke his back. | | | | team. |
| | | | |
| It had to go on for Kevin Reynolds, who was a | | | | “Basically I felt that (disability) was |
| teenager working on a dairy farm when he was | | | | the hand I got dealt and that the life I |
| trapped beneath a fallen tree and confined to | | | | wanted to live was to be involved in |
| a seat with tires. | | | | sports,” Al-Nadi said. |
| | | | “That’s the reason I drive all |
| “Some people can never deal with the | | | | the way to Scranton. My motivation is |
| accident,” Reynolds said. “And | | | | it’s something I want to do, something |
| some people take it and move right on with | | | | inside of me.” |
| it.” | | | | |
| | | | Competition |
| Wheelchair basketball has been part escape | | | | |
| and part continuation, part competition and | | | | Twenty years ago, Thorpe was in a car that |
| part camaraderie. | | | | crashed into a telephone pole. The impact, |
| | | | and the fact he was wearing a seat belt that |
| The Scranton Allied Forces have been common | | | | only went across his lap, broke a vertebra in |
| ground for six teammates from different | | | | Thorpe’s back. |
| cities and with varying degrees of | | | | |
| disability. | | | | That’s the reason he felt no pain last |
| | | | year and initially had no idea anything was |
| It’s been common ground on which to | | | | wrong, when during a game another chair |
| gain a little extra traction. Common ground | | | | jumped onto his own, hit his shin and broke |
| on which to keep moving forward. | | | | his tibia and fibula. |
| | | | |
| Common ground on which it’s OK to fall, | | | | “I’ve done football, wrestling |
| as long as you get back up. | | | | and wheelchair basketball,” Thorpe |
| | | | said. “And it’s all the |
| Escape | | | | same.” |
| | | | |
| Eighteen years old, working 16-hour shifts to | | | | It’s fast paced, intense and sometimes |
| make enough money so that he wouldn’t | | | | brutal. Thumbs are busted, chairs are flipped |
| have to work through college. | | | | and players who can’t walk are sent |
| | | | tumbling to the ground. |
| Cox’s body was too weak to fight the | | | | |
| spinal meningitis. | | | | “You never get used to that really, |
| | | | because you never know,” said Allied |
| Twenty-one years old, driving drunk when his | | | | Forces coach Jim Batton, who is not disabled. |
| car flipped and tossed him to the roadside. | | | | “Like in a football game, when someone |
| | | | goes down, you don’t know how severe it |
| Otto was lucky to be alive. | | | | is. |
| | | | |
| Seventeen years old, cutting firewood along a | | | | “I’m still scared for them. |
| creek to make a little extra money. | | | | Especially with six players, we can’t |
| | | | afford to lose one of them.” |
| Reynolds was pinned beneath a rolling pine | | | | |
| tree. | | | | This is still a team that, first and |
| | | | foremost, wants to win. They aren’t in |
| “It took a few months to sink in that | | | | the sport to play it safe. |
| this is the way life’s going to be from | | | | |
| now on,” Reynolds said. | | | | Two younger players, 15-year-old Daniel |
| | | | Rivers of Waymart and 19-year-old Casey |
| To hear the team tell it, it’s the | | | | Erickson of Clarks Summit occasionally |
| sinking in part that’s key. There has | | | | practice and play in home games with the |
| to be some level of acceptance. Not | | | | Allied Forces, but they don’t travel |
| acceptance of limitations, only acceptance of | | | | with the team. |
| reality. | | | | |
| | | | “I know everyone has good intentions |
| No more denial. No more self-pity. No more | | | | and they’re looking out for me,” |
| asking the world to stop so that someone can | | | | Rivers said. “But it’s nice to do |
| flip you upright. | | | | something without people saying, ‘Slow |
| | | | down, oh my gosh, I can’t believe |
| “There are a lot of people in our area | | | | he’s doing that.’ ” |
| in wheelchairs who just sit at home because, | | | | |
| to them, their life is over,” Cox said. | | | | Camaraderie |
| | | | |
| He would know. Cox is 37, he’s been | | | | After intricate passing drills and full-court |
| paralyzed for 19 years and he works at Allied | | | | layup drills, practice came to a halt and |
| Services, the Scranton rehabilitation center | | | | Al-Nadi chased down a loose ball along the |
| that sponsors the Allied Forces. He’s | | | | sideline. |
| seen some patients give up, and he’s | | | | |
| seen some others fight back. | | | | “Want to see wheelchair bowling?” |
| | | | he asked, turning back toward the court and |
| Teammate Sherri Ayers did both. | | | | rolling the ball toward his teammates. |
| | | | |
| Through tennis leagues, bowling leagues and | | | | When the ball smacked squarely into |
| even a professional softball league in New | | | | Reynolds’ right wheel, Al-Nadi burst |
| Jersey, 46-year-old | | | | out laughing. |
| | | | |
| Ayers spent two decades as an | | | | “I think it helps to be around people |
| ultra-competitive, able-bodied athlete. | | | | who understand what you’re going |
| | | | through,” he said later. “You |
| In 1998, though, reflex sympathetic dystrophy | | | | develop friendships and long-term |
| largely cost her the use of her right leg. | | | | relationships with these people. You do need |
| | | | that support. We might not like to see it |
| “You figure it’s the end of your | | | | that way, but there is something to |
| life,” Ayers said. “I was in | | | | it.” |
| total depression before I started | | | | |
| this.” | | | | It’s not all there is to it, but |
| | | | it’s part of it. |
| That was before. This is now. | | | | |
| | | | “Who else could relate to it other than |
| Continuation | | | | guys going through the same thing?” |
| | | | Otto said. |
| The drive from her home in Effort takes Ayers | | | | |
| an hour. She makes the trip every Wednesday, | | | | When they travel — and they travel |
| six months a year, for practice at Johnson | | | | often — the Allied Forces eat dinner |
| College. | | | | together, play cards together and check into |
| | | | hotels together. They help one another remove |
| “If they did it year round and just had | | | | hotel bathroom doors when the doorways |
| practice, I’d still come every | | | | aren’t wide enough for the chairs. |
| week,” she said. | | | | |
| | | | It’s those chairs that make the team |
| Reynolds and Qassem Al-Nadi drive to practice | | | | unique, but it’s hardly the chairs that |
| from Binghamton, Lonnie Thorpe comes into | | | | define the players. Look past the metal and |
| town from Waymart and Otto arrives from | | | | the wheels, and their game is more familiar |
| Fleetville. Cox has by far the shortest | | | | than unusual. |
| drive. He lives in Dickson City. | | | | |
| | | | “If anything, rather than being treated |
| Games are on Saturdays. Most Mid Atlantic | | | | with more help, we just want to be treated as |
| Conference games are within a two-hour drive. | | | | equal,” Cox said. |
| Tournaments range from Connecticut to | | | | |
| Virginia. | | | | Everyone falls down at some point. The trick |
| | | | is to deal with the fall, and find a way to |
| Vans are quickly filled with players, | | | | get back up. |
| coaches, day-to-day chairs and specially | | | | |