Bill and Brenda Greene
Achievements
Adaptive Sports Hall of FameBill and Brenda Greene have been active in wheelchair sports in the Washington D.C. area for more than thirty years. The two met while in college at Emporia State University in the late 1960’s. They married following their graduations and returned to Bill’s childhood home where they founded New Life, Incorporated in 1970.
New Life provided sports opportunities and peer counseling for youth with physical disabilities. Bill coached the athletes while Brenda served as the program administrator. Since its inception, hundreds of disabled athletes, mot of them from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, have benefited from New Life. The Greenes developed the philosophy “learn to live through sports”, which carried many of the program participants to heights that would not have otherwise been possible.
New Life teams were known to travel to competitions in suits and ties and often packed their own lunches rather than eat out in order to preserve what few precious dollars were available in their budgets. Several of the New Life athletes developed into national and international champions, often traveling the world to represent the United States in global competitions.
Outside of the New Life Program, both Bill and Brenda, like many of their athletes, have been selected to serve USA teams at competitions throughtout the world.