| SPORTS
| October 15, 2004
Wheelchair Basketball
Spaniolo meets with Paralympic athletes
The president invited Eng, Nelms
and Paye to a reception to honor their achievements in the games.
By Melissa
Winn
Contributor to The Shorthorn
President James Spaniolo was a minute away from wearing Olympic
gold on Wednesday.
Instead, he decided not to. He didn’t earn it.
David Eng won a gold medal with Team Canada in wheelchair basketball
at last month’s Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. He brought
it to a private reception Spaniolo held to recognize his participation
in the games. Eng, a kinesiology sophomore, offered to let Spaniolo
wear the medal for a photo, but he declined.
“I need to earn one of these before I can do that,”
Spaniolo said.
Eng’s Movin’ Mavs teammates Jason Nelms and Michael
Paye were also recognized. Nelms and Paye competed for Team USA,
which finished seventh in Athens.
Movin’ Mavs coach Jim Hayes and three members of Spaniolo’s
administrative staff attended the reception. Spaniolo believed it
was important to acknowledge the athletes’ achievements.
“We always try to recognize excellence at this university,”
he said. “It is energizing and uplifting.”
Spaniolo gave the athletes and Hayes paperweights bearing the UTA
seal. In return, Spaniolo was given a Movin’ Mavs polo shirt
and a flier bearing the schedule for the upcoming wheelchair basketball
season, which begins at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at Texas Hall against
Illinois.
“I guess I can wear my shirt to a game then,” Spaniolo
said.
Spaniolo has never attended a game but said he would “definitely
be there” at Texas Hall Oct. 23, when the team faces Wisconsin
at 7:30 p.m. for a rematch of last year’s championship game.
It was the first time any of the players were introduced to Spaniolo.
Hayes and the players said they were honored by the invitation.
“They [Eng, Nelms and Paye] know what they’ve done and
how many years it took them to get there,” Hayes said. “And
to have him [Spaniolo] say thank you for it is a bright light in
their lives.”
Paye, a criminal justice junior, leaves Saturday to meet another
president. President George W. Bush will meet with all of Team USA’s
Olympic and Paralympic athletes Monday at the White House. Nelms
said he’s not going because he’s missed too much time
from school already.
Spaniolo told Paye to make sure and bring a souvenir back. Spaniolo
told the story of a time when he was at the White House as a reporter
for the Detroit Free Press and “borrowed” a note pad
with the White House emblem and “just kept using it.”
Paye said he would keep it in mind.
“If I get in trouble for it, I’ll just tell them to
call you,” Paye told Spaniolo.
Hayes let Spaniolo know that the Movin’ Mavs will host the
national tournament championships here in March. Spaniolo asked
if they expected to win.
“If they keep working as hard as they’ve been, there
is no question it will happen,” Hayes said.
Before leaving, Spaniolo told the players he realized that a lot
of people aren’t aware of what the athletes are doing with
the sport, but he hopes that would change.
“Just know that you are never far from our eyes and our hearts,”
he said.
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