Mike Dempsey
Achievements
Adaptive Sports Hall of FameMike Dempsey has been in a wheelchair since he was an infant. He says he would have been playing table tennis then, but could not see over the table. In 1969, at the age of 13, he won his first USA National Wheelchair Championship. He has since won 29 more national singles championships.
Not only has Mike dominated wheelchair table tennis, he has ranked among the top 100 table tennis players nationally in the able-bodied, open division. A nine time world champion and six time Parlympic medalist, Mike has competed on eight Paralympic teams. In 1988 in Seoul, South Korea, he was elected co-captain of the USA Team and at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games he was selected to be the standard bearer for the USA flag at the opening ceremonies.
Table tennis also opened doors for Mike outside the competition arena. In 1972, Mike met Rainer Kuschall at a table tennis tournament in Europe. The friendship developed into a business opportunity for both men. Kuschall, who designed and manufactured ultra-light sport wheelchairs in Europe, was looking to expand his business worldwide. In 1085, Mike founded Kuschall of America, which maufactured and distributed the state-of-the-art ultra-light sport chairs in the USA, Canada and the Pacific Rim.