Darlene Quinlan
Competition | 1977
Darlene Quinlan, a T-12 paraplegic as the result of a childhood automobile accident, was one of Wheelchair Sports USA first great female multi-sport athletes. She began competing in 1967 in the sports of swimming; track & field; slalom and basketball. The following year at the 1968 Paralympic Games held in Tel Aviv, Israel, Darlene captured a gold medal in swimming and a bronze medal as a member of the first U.S. Women’s Basketball Team to compete internationally.
A four time Paralympian, Darlene held national and world records in each of the field disciplines (shot put; discus; javelin) at one point during her career. The Michigan native captured more than twenty medals in eleven international competitions: four Paralympic Games; five Pan American Games and two Stoke Mandeville competitions.
Darlene started competing in international competition while still a young teenager. As a versatile athlete, she was one of a rare few women wheelchair athletes in the world competing in the multiple sports of swimming; track & field and basketball. She is the second woman to be inducted into the Wheelchair Sports USA Hall of Fame. Darlene retired from track & field competition in 1984 but continued with her basketball career through the 1994 season.
