Jan Little
Competition | 1984
Hometown: LaCrosse, Wisconsin
School Name: University of Illinois
Jan is among a very small group of women wheelchair sports competitors who displayed excellent athletic skills when the competition was in its infancy. Her skills encouraged game organizers to expand the opportunities for women with quadriplegia and paraplegia by offering more and more events. Jan and her peer demonstrated excellence in wheelchair sports that led directly to an influx of women competitors in all events and classes.
While still competing, Jan also served as a press officer of sorts at national and international competitions, reporting, photographing and interviewing participants for the press to help describe the virtues of wheelchair sports.
Introduced to wheelchair sports while a student at the University of Illinois in 1957, Jan continued her competitive career until 1966. She was one of a handful of female athletes in the male dominated group that toured South Africa and Rhodesia demonstrating wheelchair sports in 1962. The famous tour was under the auspices of the United States International Aid (USIA) People to People program. The tour was credited with initiating wheelchair sports in those countries.
Jan was a medal winner at national and international competitions in swimming, archery and table tennis and was a national record holder in the Women’s Class IB swimming. But more importantly, Jan’s advocacy and ambassadorship paved the way for women to compete in wheelchair sports to this day.
