Bruce Karr
Competition | 1983
Bruce is one of those pioneer competitors whose athletic talents were so diverse that he could compete on an international level in swimming, track and field, table tennis and archery. His favorite sport was always wheelchair basketball. Bruce was one of those early athletes whose participation in a multitude of sports ensured that athletes to come would have many sports opportunities in which to specialize.
In the 1960 Paralympic Games in Rome, Bruce was a member of the gold medal basketball team while pulling down gold in the freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke events in a time where there were only three classifications. Bruce was the NWAA Novice Archery national champion in 1975 and Short Archery champion in 1981. In addition, he won the national Table Tennis singles championship in 1971 and 1973. In all, Bruce competed in the Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome; the 1964 Games in Tokyo; the 1968 Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel; the 1972 competition in Heidelberg, Germany; and the 1976 Games in Toronto. He also competed in three Stoke-Mandeville competitions from 1971 to 1978; the 1968 Pan American Games in Kingston, Jamaica; the 1973 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru; and the 1975 Gold Cup in Brugge, Belgium.
Bruce continued his participation in sport after retirement as the coach and general manager of the Chicago Sidewinders, a team that often found itself in the NWBA Final Four. Bruce was also an active fundraiser and served for many years on the Board of Directors of the National Wheelchair Athletic Committee.
