North Texas fans of wheelchair basketball shed many tears last week with the death of beloved University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) wheelchair basketball coach, Jim Hayes.
A crowd of about 400 gathered at the UTA practice gym May 28 to say goodbyes to Hayes, coach of the university's Movin' Mavs wheelchair basketball team, and they were surrounded seven national championship banners signaling the longoing excellence of Hayes coaching.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram said Hayes, 58, arrived at UTA as a student after being paralyzed in an accident on his 18th birthday. He spent his entire professional career there after graduation, building the wheelchair basketball team into one with an international reputation.
Hayes even got the President of the United States interested in wheelchair basketball. Hayes wanted to go to the White House in 1993 after the Movin' Mavs won a national championship. He said if other sports teams got to go, then a wheelchair basketball team should as well.
"He said it would be really neat if we could meet the president of the United States," said UTA former vice president Kent Gardner, who had been skeptical of Hayes' ability to persuade the President to talk wheelchair basketball. "About a week later, I started getting phone calls from Secret Service agents about background checks."
His memorial service featured a picture of Hayes meeting President Bill Clinton.
Hayes was known as a strong mentor to his team, using his forum as a coach to push the disabled students he met toward an independent life.
Paul Schulte, 29, Movin' Mavs All-American and 2002 team MVP, is now a married mechanical engineer who designs wheelchairs in Bradenton, Fla. He says, "Because of Coach and this university, I was able to pursue the degree of my choice. I think one of the victories he was most proud of was his own independence. He wanted that for each of us."
Even folks who know little about sports or wheelchair basketball knew about the great work of Jim Hayes. Thanks to my mother, who is one of those folks, for the tip about this story.
