SPORTS 'N SPOKES

Share:

A Difference Maker

More than an accomplished athlete in days gone by, Cliff Crase was a great encourager, husband, father, boss—someone who cared more about others than himself—an unselfish, giving example to everyone around him.

"A Pioneering Spirit"
by B. Cairbre McCann, MD

When I learned of Cliff's death (August 15), my first reaction was one of extreme personal sadness, such as occurs at the loss of a family member. This was the type of relationship that had developed between Cliff and me. As always seems to be the case, an event such as this takes us by surprise. It was too soon to lose such a special friend. Cliff still had so much more to offer to his friends and to the wheelchair-sports movement he espoused. Since this sad news, I am repeatedly reminded that our lives had been interconnected in a very special way for 36 of those years.

My second reaction is to realize how difficult it is to adequately describe the impact Cliff has had on the wheelchair-sports movement, partly because his influence extended over a period of time in which so much has occurred, and there is so much to recount. Also, the role of disability sport is so broad and involves values that extend beyond just sports for sport's sake. I am thinking of values such as the social and community impact of disability, and how much wheelchair sports has affected such fundamental values. Cliff was aware of all these influences, as he lived through them himself and wrote about them in his inimitable style.

When I first became involved in wheelchair sports in 1971, Cliff encouraged me to write and try to explain a little about the theory and practice of wheelchair-sports classification as it was understood at the time. This was four years before the appearance of Sports 'n Spokes, so his sports section within PN served as the location of the first publication on the subject.

Our close personal contacts since those early days extended beyond the relationship of writer and publisher. They included a sharing of the rich history of the National Wheelchair Athletic Association (now Wheelchair Sports, USA), and the many hours of meetings and discussions in which Cliff played such a part. In particular, his deep interest in the personal athletic accomplishments of wheelchair athletes led directly to the creation of the Wheelchair Sports, USA, Hall of Fame, and I shared his joy when it found a home in Warm Springs, Ga.

In more recent years we were brought together through our involvement in the National Veterans Wheelchair Gamesï؟½he and his staff as the reporters par excellence, and I as a member of the classifier team. These games offered us the opportunity of continuing a precious social experience together, usually in the company of his wife, Nancy.

As I attempt this personal tribute to Cliff, I have before me the great photograph chosen by Nancy as a pictorial memory, and it reminds me of the many moments of shared happy experiences. His dry sense of humor is captured so well in this typical smile. The column "In My Opinion" added a special flavor to each issue of Sports 'n Spokes.

In considering Cliff's contribution to wheelchair sports, I believe through his writing he exerted an enormous influence. He emerged as the leading spokesman for the wheelchair-sports movement. The public perception of wheelchair users as representing dependency has been largely transformed by his most positive writing on sports accomplishments. The relative absence of disability sports from public media sports pages in which it belonged troubled him and was a repeated target for his pen. Simply put, the image of wheelchair sports has been transformed due to his efforts.

I would hope the S'NS editorial board might review his editorial output over the years. A selection from this resource would highlight his writing legacy in the field of wheelchair sports by an appropriate publication.

Many of his friends and colleagues will have much to say about Cliff's contributions to wheelchair sport. From my perspective in rehabilitation, a great challenge has been to change the public perception of a wheelchair user as a dependent person. Cliff provided the medium and the words to change this image. It has been through such writings that the image and potential of wheelchair users has become better understood, through performance in sports. A review of the sports scientific literature reveals a rich content of scientifically proven athletic accomplishments. It cannot be overemphasized that for some time there was little understanding of the performance capabilities and excellence of wheelchair athletes.

Many readers will remember the struggle involved in attaining recognition, respect, and participation at national and international Olympic levels. There is little doubt in my mind that these examples of progress in wheelchair sports would not have been adequately recognized without the writing leadership of Cliff Crase and the medium of Sports 'n Spokes.


Coverage of the life of Cliff Crase also includes "He Was My Friend" by Dick Hoover and "Remembering Cliff." Text of Mr. Hoover's tribute can be read in its entirety at the PN magazine Web site. Go to www.pvamagazines.com/pnnews/ then select "SPECIAL SECTIONï؟½A Tribute to Cliff Crase."

To order the November 2007 SPORTS 'N SPOKES, Click Here.
To Subscribe, Click Here.