Skip Wilkins

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Achievements

Skip was an outstanding athlete in high school, accumulating more than twenty scholarship offers from various universities. Before he could accept one of the numerous offers, a water skiing accident left him a quadriplegic. Skip embarked on his illustrious wheelchair sports career with the same enthusiastic dedication that earned him his star status in high school.

Skip began competing in 1973 and it wasn’t long before he was a force to be reckoned with in the Class I-A field events and table tennis. He was selected to fifteen USA Wheelchair Teams including five Paralympic Teams where he consistently garnered gold medals in field events. He also held the Paralympic Record in the shot put for years. He was a 10 time national table tennis champion and was honored as the National Wheelchair Athlete of the Year, receiving the Paralyzed Veteran’s of America Jack Gerhardt Award. Skip was inducted into the Mid-Atlantic Wheelchair Association Hall of Fame. In addition, Skip was a co-founder of the Virginia Beach SunWheelers and also served as a television commentator for the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta.

Skip’s talents, work ethic and tremendous faith, along with the support of his wife Daffy contributed to his incredible success. It also helped that he had the good fortune to be coached by one of the finest coaches in sports, Wayne Whitely, who guided Skip to become one of the greatest athletes in wheelchair sports. When Skip was inducted in the Hall of Fame, Coach Al Youakim introduced him as “without a doubt, one of the most respected and classiest athletes to ever compete in the National Wheelchair Athletic Association. And everyone he has brought to the sports scene exudes that same classy quality.”