Joan Karpuk
Contributor | 1998
Joan Karpuk dedicated nearly twenty years to wheelchair athletes as a classifier for basketball and swimming. She was an administrator for a local program in Connecticut and coached swimming and quad rugby. Because of her effective training and swimmer’s successes during the 1980’s and 1990’s, her peers worldwide recognized her as one of the premier authorities on competitive swimming for wheelchair athletes in the United States.
Joan served on the USA Swim Team staff and was often the head coach during the World Wheelchair Games, the Pan American Games and four Paralympic competitions. Joan provided indispensable leadership to the movement as the inaugural chairperson of USA Wheelchair Swimming and as a member of the International Paralympic Committee SAEC Swim Section, USA Swimming Adaptive Swimming Committee and the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation Swimming Section.
Joan Karpuk provided the leadership and hard work that enabled disabled swimmers in the United States to continue to develop and dominate on the world swimming scene.
