PARALYMPIC ATHLETE PROFILE: SAILING
Amputee Sailor Joins U.S. Sonar Crew

Waiting room reading material helped launch Brad Johnson from a wheelchair to the cockpit of a sonar sailboat headed to Athens. Along the way, there were plenty of obstacles, to be sure. But since 1998, the 33-year-old Florida attorney has chartered a course that combines athletic achievement with confidence, personal success, and a lifetime recreational pursuit.

A native of Milwaukee, Wis., Brad headed to the University of South Florida to study criminology and enjoy ocean sports year-round. Plans for law school went on hold after a car accident in June, 1993, resulted in amputations of his left leg below the knee and his right leg above the knee. While undergoing rehabilitation, he was waiting in his prosthetist’s office reading CHALLENGE Magazine when he noticed an article on the upcoming National Summer Games hosted by Disabled Sports USA. Friends encouraged him to enter sitting volleyball, so he did.

“I really didn’t anticipate making the team; I mostly wanted to go and meet some athletes and see if I could learn how to run,” Brad recalled.

From 1999 until December of 2003, he played Paralympic sitting volleyball, traveling to Sydney, Australia, for competition in 2000. Although the U.S. team finished 12th out of 12 teams, Brad stayed enthused and would have continued if it hadn’t been for DS/USA’s Shake-A-Leg chapter in Miami where Brad was introduced to adaptive sailing.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is a sport I can do for the rest of my life!” he reported. “I love sitting volleyball, but realistically, there’s an end to it at some point. Sailing is something I can do forever.”

In August of 2003, Betsy Alison, U.S. Paralympic Sailing Team coach in 2000, linked Brad with top Paralympic sailor John Ross-Dugan who was seeking a crew member for his Sonar team. Within three months, the team took third in the Sonar World Championship in St. Petersburg, Fla., and won the Paralympic trials and an invitation to the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games in September.

These days, Brad divides his days between his law career with Beighley & Myricks in Fort Lauderdale and his sailing training in Miami.

PARALYMPIC ATHLETE PROFILE: TRACK
In a Hurry to Get to Greece

Athens 2004 track athlete Ryan Fann owes his chance for international Paralympic competition to an ESPN broadcast of a regional football game which aired two years ago. Then a freshman at Tennessee State College on a football scholarship, Ryan was selected from among a field of 80 players to suit up for the 2002 Tennessee East/West Shrine Bowl All-Star game.

After the event, Ryan, a left below knee amputee and the only disabled member of his college’s track team, was featured on the ESPN broadcast, catching the eye of U.S. Paralympic Coach Bryan Hoddle. The veteran coach recognized Ryan’s potential and contacted him regarding some intensive training and possibly qualifying for the U.S. Paralympic track team. Up to that point, Ryan had never worn a prosthesis geared toward sports.

Photo by Randy Richardson, courtesy of Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics

That changed when he was fit by Hanger manager Chad Simpson, LP, who combined an Alps silicone socket liner with a patented Comfort Flex Socket and a Springlite Sprinter foot.

Ryan participated in the 2003 Oracle U.S. Open track meet in Palo Alto, Calif., and the Rocky Mountain State Games in Colorado Springs in which he captured a bronze in the 200m and a gold in the 400m. He was also one of eight disabled athletes invited to run a 100m race televised by ESPN. He has continued in competitions this year
on his path to securing a place on the U.S. squad headed to Athens in September. His focus is on the 200 and 400 meter events for single below knee amputee runners.

Ryan was bent on competing in all types of sports ever since he was a toddler. He was only three when riding in his Big Wheel in the street in front of the Fann residence he was struck by a driver who never saw the youngster. Damage was so extensive to his left foot that a below knee amputation was required. Eight months later, he was walking on his first prosthesis.

Regardless of his disability, Ryan was a star high school wide receiver and linebacker and one year was voted Most Valuable Player for Smith County High School. His hometown fans will be rooting for Ryan to add even more accolades following the upcoming International Paralympic competitions.