Wheelchair Basketball

A little more than five years ago, Ryan Henderson was nearing the peak of the sport he loved the most. He had won his race the night before, and he was just a day away from turning professional in motorcycle racing. But Henderson would never earn the professional status he coveted. Racing along the Seaford, Del., track's dirt surface, Henderson caught his foot in a hole and was ripped away from his bike. The fall broke his neck and back, paralyzing him from the chest down. He spent the next month in the hospital, and he said it took him four years of rehab to "rebuild myself.

A little more than five years ago, Ryan Henderson was nearing the peak of the sport he loved the most. He had won his race the night before, and he was just a day away from turning professional in motorcycle racing. But Henderson would never earn the professional status he coveted. Racing along the Seaford, Del., track's dirt surface, Henderson caught his foot in a hole and was ripped away from his bike. The fall broke his neck and back, paralyzing him from the chest down. He spent the next month in the hospital, and he said it took him four years of rehab to "rebuild myself.

With baseball players brawling, the president's popularity nosediving and even Superman no longer around, there seems to be a shortage of heroes these days. The Colgate Elementary School in Baltimore County found one in Claude N. Hall.Mr. Hall, a junior at the city's William S. Baer School for handicapped students, was born with one arm and other birth defects that have kept him in a wheelchair all his life. Last month, he was one of 10 students from Baer who took on a Colgate team in a game of wheelchair basketball.

Laurel Park Jazzy Idea captures Jameela in record time Owner-trainer Edwin Merryman 's Jazzy Idea swept past the leaders in the deep stretch Wednesday and set a course record in the $100,000 Jameela Stakes, the opening-day feature of the Laurel Park fall meeting. Ridden by Luis Garcia and sent to post at even money against eight other Maryland-bred fillies and mares, Jazzy Idea completed the distance over the firm turf in 1 minute, 7.45 seconds to better the mark set by Chasin Tiger in 2007.

FOR THOSE OF us who enjoy attending live sporting events, this time of year can be difficult. Football season has ended on a happy note, but the Orioles haven't started spring training. Professional basketball is an hour's drive away. At first glance, cheering the Baltimore Blast soccer team to victory seems the only game in town. There is another option, however. If you desire to see world-class athletes compete in a fast-moving sport, take a short trip across the border to Baltimore's Baybrook Recreation Center at 6:30 Tuesday evenings and catch the Metro Wheelchair Basketball League.

Mike Shaffer scooped up the basketball on the rebound, pivoted in his wheelchair and lofted a long, arcing pass to Robert Tucker as he streaked down the court. The ball bounced once. Tucker snatched it while guiding his own wheelchair and shot a layup. It was another two points for their team, the Maryland Ravens, as they cruised to their second win in a tournament game yesterday in Lansdowne. On the fast breaks, the pair make wheelchair basketball look easy, even graceful. As six teams battled through the 8th Annual Baltimore Invitational Basketball Shootout, the competition among players from around the Mid-Atlantic region was intense.

Their name has changed, but their game hasn't. It's still wheelchair basketball.In deference to the NFL's Ravens, the wheelchair Ravens have Maryland before their nickname now, not Baltimore. But just as they have since their beginning in 1970, the Ravens play good wheelchair basketball.Spurred by their first-round upset of the Charlotte Hornets, the Ravens will play the top-seeded Lakeshore Pioneers of Birmingham, Ala., in the round of 16 of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association's Southern Regional today in Nashville, Tenn.

Mark Birdsell was on his way to an afternoon class at the University of Baltimore. He was in his car, stopped at an intersection in Bolton Hill, when an escaping robber ran up and ordered him out of the car. The man, intent on stealing a getaway car, shot Birdsell in the neck when he was slow in obeying the command to get out.That was in November. Today, Birdsell, 29, remains in the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, totally paralyzed, unable even to talk. He can communicate only by blinking his eyes.

Craig Steven Cook, who was struck by a train and lost both legs at age 9, and later starred in wheelchair basketball, died Sunday of cancer at home in Northwest Baltimore. He was 40. A longtime Social Security Administration computer technician, he played for the Maryland Ravens and for the Metro Wheelchair Basketball league run by the Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks. He also competed in wheelchair softball and tennis. "He was one of the best -- if not the best -- point guard here," said Mike Naugle, who heads the therapeutic recreation division of the city's recreation department.

Larry Toler threw up an air ball at the buzzer yesterday, leaving his Maryland Ravens wheelchair basketball team tied at 43 with Air Capital from Washington. He made up for it in overtime, however, converting two foul shots - both of them nothing but net - to lead his team to a 48-43 victory in the first game of the Baltimore Wheelchair Shootout at Milford Mill Academy in Randallstown. The round-robin tournament, which attracted about 75 players and spectators, was the brainchild of Mike Naugel, Toler's coach and a Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks official who runs a Tuesday night wheelchair league in the metropolitan area.

The June 25 issue of Sports Illustrated featured the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs on the cover, but that's not why Adrien Burnett bought a copy. The recent Perry Hall High graduate wanted to see what he looked like with a milk mustache. Burnett, 17, who lives in Nottingham, recently was honored by the milk industry as one of the nation's top student-athletes. He joined 24 other students in receiving the industry's annual SAMMY Award. This is the 10th year of the Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year Award, which recognizes students who have excelled in academics and athletics.

Mike Shaffer scooped up the basketball on the rebound, pivoted in his wheelchair and lofted a long, arcing pass to Robert Tucker as he streaked down the court. The ball bounced once. Tucker snatched it while guiding his own wheelchair and shot a layup. It was another two points for their team, the Maryland Ravens, as they cruised to their second win in a tournament game yesterday in Lansdowne. On the fast breaks, the pair make wheelchair basketball look easy, even graceful. As six teams battled through the 8th Annual Baltimore Invitational Basketball Shootout, the competition among players from around the Mid-Atlantic region was intense.

Baltimore: Federal court Man gets 10 years in firearm case A 49-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced in federal court yesterday to 10 years in prison for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Edwin Tucker pleaded guilty to the charges that stemmed from a June 2002 search by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Explosives. The agents found the drug Xanax, money, a 12-gauge shotgun and a box of .22-caliber ammunition in his home, according to prosecutors.

Ninette LeGates read stories to children at Westminster Elementary School yesterday. Her husband showed off Trinket, the family dog that rested quietly at his feet. Their friend, Steve Dutterer, demonstrated a wristwatch that crows the hours like a rooster and tells time at the press of a button. The stories were in Braille. Trinket, a Labrador-golden retriever mix, is a trained seeing-eye dog. The wristwatch was designed to help the blind tell time. "In many ways, we are still the same as you," said LeGates, who, like her husband, has been blind since birth.

Ninette LeGates read stories to children at Westminster Elementary School yesterday. Her husband showed off Trinket, the family dog that rested quietly at his feet. Their friend, Steve Dutterer, demonstrated a wristwatch that crows the hours like a rooster and tells time at the press of a button. The stories were in Braille. Trinket, a Labrador-golden retriever mix, is a trained seeing-eye dog. The wristwatch was designed to help the blind tell time. "In many ways, we are still the same as you," said LeGates, who, like her husband, has been blind since birth.

In Baltimore City Man killed in fire in S.W. rowhouse believed to be vacant An unidentified man was found dead early yesterday in a fire that swept through a Southwest Baltimore rowhouse that the Fire Department said was believed to have been vacant. The body was found on the upper floor of the three-story house in the 1800 block of Wilkens Ave., where the fire was reported about 1:30 a.m., a Fire Department spokesman said. The cause of the blaze and the death remained under investigation.

It has all the makings of a championship season: Out of 200 teams in the nation, they're ranked a lofty 16th. This weekend, they play a sectionals match that could send them to the Final Four, which in turn could lead to the very top -- the national title.Yet their games fail to draw crowds, the news media largely have ignored the ongoing drama of a 33-5 season, and sneaker companies aren't showering them with sponsorship deals.But that's the low-stakes world of wheelchair basketball. All you're competing for, after all, is victory over a body gone half-dead and a world turned upside-down.

For Keith Lewis, basketball has been more than just a game.As a youngster, Lewis preferred wrestling, but after suffering a serious spinal cord injury in 1981, he eventually turned to wheelchair basketball."

What started out as a therapeutic exercise resulted in a book deal for Emily Hecht of Owings Mills -- and she's just 11 years old. The young author, who wrote a book about autism with clinical psychologist Eve B. Band, was one of many presenters at a disabilities exposition yesterday at Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Jewish Community Center in Baltimore. The exposition, which could become an annual event, was held to spotlight the talents of people with mental, emotional and physical disabilities, and to unite a diverse community through education and outreach, organizers said.

What started out as a therapeutic exercise resulted in a book deal for Emily Hecht of Owings Mills - and she's just 11 years old. The young author, who wrote a book about autism with clinical psychologist Eve B. Band, was one of many presenters at a disabilities exposition yesterday at Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Jewish Community Center in Baltimore. The exposition, which could become an annual event, was held to spotlight the talents of people with mental, emotional and physical disabilities, and to unite a diverse community through education and outreach, organizers said.