Timothy Harris
Competition | 1970
Tim Harris is one of three athletes who were Charter Member Inductees into the Inaurgural National Wheelchair Athletic Association Hall of Fame, joining his fellow University of Illinois teammate Ron Stein. Both wereconsidered the greatest Track and Field athletes in the relatively new world of wheelchair sports at that time.
Tim was introduced to wheelchair sports when he enrolled at the University of Illinois where he also played wheelchair basketball and intramural football. He was a leader on the famous Gizz Kids teams in the 60’s that had a lock on the national championships at the National Wheelchair Games. He won gold medals in the 1964 Paralympic Games in Tokyo and at the Stoke Mandeville Games the following year.
In the 1965 National Wheelchair Games, Tim captured all first places in the Class III (least disabled) 100 yard and 60 yard dashes and also in the field events of shot put, javelin and discus. Tim dominated his competitors in the field events in the early to mid 1960’s competitions. Tim would continue to dominate and was at the top of his game when he chose to retire from sport in 1967 to pursue his chosen profession.
