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Gold Medal Triad Award

The Gold Medal Triad is awarded to an individual who has contributed in an outstanding manner to the growth of wheelchair basketball both on national and international level. This person must be recognized for his/her achievement by a large majority of the wheelchair basketball community. Their outstanding work serves as a model for others to follow. Outstanding contributions to wheelchair basketball be achieved in any area of the sport: by competing as a player, by coaching, officiating, classifying, by serving at the executive and legislative level and through exceptionally effective administration and organization. The role that the \award recipient played in the wheelchair basketball community should transcend personal interest and result in the betterment of the entire sport.

1993

Robert Perri - Coach France

Father of the French wheelchair basketball program and coach of the highly successful national team until 1988

1994

Henk Makkenze - Player The Netherlands

Outstanding player and leader of the successful club and national teams in the Netherlands. One of the greatest point guards ever to play wheelchair basketball.

André Raes - Administrator Belgium

First Chairman of the Basketball Section of the ISMGF in 1973. Founder of the Gold Cup in 1973. Most efficient organizer of the three Gold Cup Tournaments in Bruges/ Belgium in 1973, 1975 and 1990.

1995

Ed Owen - Player USA

One of the game's greatest centers all round players. International career from 1964 (Paralympics, Tokyo) until 1988 (Paralympic, Seoul/Korea) with the US team. Founder of many team in the USA and in Germany. Also a great student and teacher of the game.

1996

Stan Labanowich - Administrator & Legislator USA

Founding member of the Wheelchair Basketball Section of the ISMGF; Chairman of this first international organization for wheelchair basketball form 1976-1988.

Tim Nugent - Philosopher USA

Founder of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association of the USA in 1949. Father of the philosophy of the self-determination in rehabilitation and in wheelchair sports.

1997

Baruch Hagai - Player Israel

1998

Susan Hagel - Player USA

1998

Horst Strohkendl - Pioneer, Innovator & Social Philosopher Germany

1999

Bernard Courbariaux - Classifier France

IWBF Executive Committee Member 1988-1998, IWBF Classifier and President of IWBF Classification Commission1988-1998. Extremely competent administrator who transformed the application of the IWBF Player Classification System.

2000

Chantal Benoit - Player Canada

Possibly the greatest ever woman player and developer of the game at the grass roots level. Chantal is a member of the women's Canadian team that has won all its Gold Cup and Paralympic Games since July 1990. The string of wins included the Gold Cup of 1994 and 1998 and the Paralympic Games of 1992, 1996 and 2000.

2001

Katsuyuki Hamamoto - Administrator Japan

Hamamoto himself is the history of the wheelchair basketball in Japan.” These are the words that repeatedly echo through the wheelchair basketball community in Japan and define Hamamoto’s immeasurable contribution to our sport. In 1963, Hamamoto began playing wheelchair basketball for a team he helped form at the Beppu National Center for the Severely Disabled. The following year he competed in basketball and athletics at the Tokyo Paralympics. During a sustained period of productive activity, he began forming teams and introducing wheelchair basketball to the public throughout Japan. By 1975, he established JWBF and became its president, a position he continues to hold. Tournaments, clinics, all wheelchair basketball activities in Japan seemed to be stamped with his signature. By 1983, he had proved instrumental in the introduction of twin basketball in Japan, a sport played by tetraplegics. By this time, his unlimited accomplishments had earned the respect of the international community. He played an instrumental role in the formation of the IWBF’s Asia/Oceania Zone and has served capably as its president since its inception in 1995.

2001

Eiji Yoshinaga - Administrator Japan

Yoshinaga could be proposed as the ultimate role model for all athletes with disabilities by demonstrating a highly influential presence in wheelchair basketball and in society as well. He has been the first to admit that any power that he has accumulated, and that is considerable, is based on his involvement in wheelchair basketball: “Wheelchair basketball gave me confidence in my own ability, first physically and then mentally.” From the time he first joined Japan Sun Industries as a trainee and its wheelchair basketball club as a player in 1968, his influence on the industry and the game proved enormous, so much so that he ultimately became secretary general of both Sun Industries as well as the IWBF’s Asia/Oceania Zone. He has received numerous honours for his contributions, many of them supported by Sun Industries, from the governing bodies of not only wheelchair basketball but of Japan as well. By 1984, he had extended his influence in wheelchair basketball outside of Japan by organizing developmental activities in Korea and more recently in Thailand and China. Having resigned as secretary general of the Asia/Oceania Zone in 1999, he continues to serve as an advisor to wheelchair basketball in the zone and now directs the Executive Committee organizing the 2002 IWBF Gold Cup.

2002

Phillip Craven - Administrator Great Britain

My informal introduction to this 2002 Gold Medal Triad recipient occurred on the basketball court during the 1984 Paralympics. Playing for Great Britain, Phil Craven, the player, demonstrated great passion and uncommon competitiveness, intelligence and shooting ability. At that time, he was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest players the IWBF has seen. His greatness as a player was recently confirmed in a poll conducted online by “World Wheelchair Basketball Net” in which voters elected Craven to the top team of all time. But the Gold Medal Triad is not awarded to individuals solely for their achievements on the basketball court. It is awarded to men and women whose contributions to wheelchair basketball and its development are beyond comparison. Craven transferred the same passion, the same competitiveness, and the same level of intelligence that became evident on the basketball court to the IWBF boardroom. Wheelchair basketball has developed dramatically during the 14 years he has been president of IWBF. It is no accident that the IWBF’s major competitions are no longer being played in small gymnasiums, but in beautiful arenas such as the one we find ourselves in today in Kitakyushu. Phil Craven demanded respect for our game, an elevated level of respect that IWBF players have earned and deserved. This arena, as were the arenas in Sydney in 1998 and 2000, are symbols of the respect that our game now commands. Thanks in great part to the work of Craven and the talent of many players like him, we belong here. In 1984, Phil Craven became chairman of the Classification Committee in international wheelchair basketball. By that time, Craven had already led a movement that rejected medical dominance in classification in favour of the superior functional, player classification system that the IWBF proudly uses today. For Craven, classification became the symbol of a system trapped in the domination of the medical world and dominated by medical exams that reminded him of the hospital as opposed to the basketball court. As a result of Phil Craven’s efforts and others, players began playing a greater role in a classification system where they would no longer be treated like patients, but as athletes. Consequently, classification now takes place almost exclusively on the basketball court. The liberation of classification from medical dominance may have been Craven’s greatest achievement. But there was more. As a result of his great passion and respect for the game, Craven quickly realised that wheelchair basketball could not continue as a subsection of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation. Convinced that the label “subsection” was contrary to the image of independence, self-sufficiency and self-determination that he sought to project, convinced as well that “subsection” was unsuitable for image and marketing purposes, he pursued independence from the Stoke Mandeville Federation, and in 1989, the old wheelchair basketball subsection became the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF). Phil Craven proved equally instrumental in advancing the status of wheelchair basketball within FIBA. Thanks in great part to his persistent efforts; the IWBF is now recognised as a partner in basketball with FIBA, a partnership that not so accidentally preserves the ideals of independence and self-determination that have characterised all of Craven’s work on and off the basketball court. Wheelchair basketball is now recognised within FIBA as a unique sport, played by unique and talented athletes. President Craven did not isolate himself in the boardroom, office or meeting room. He remained in close contact with the game and its players by conducting clinics on how to play the game, as well as clinics on the rules and on classification. He demonstrated over and over again that qualified, experienced players, and there are many in this category, should assume leadership along with non-players in every aspect of wheelchair basketball. Phil Craven became the first player elected to the IWBF Executive. Under his leadership, IWBF has gone from success to success. Consequently, he will serve as a symbol that players can not only become stars on the court, but that players possess the ability to capably govern their game, a game invented by players. He has indeed become a living symbol that self-determination forms the basic foundation of wheelchair basketball. His outstanding leadership cries out to players who are here today and to players around the world: “Get involved. You can govern. You are powerful, both on and off the basketball court.”

2002

Armand (Tip) Thiboutot - Administrator United States

Tip Thiboutot: An American with definitely a worldview of international wheelchair basketball. Tip started his playing career with the New England Clippers in 1968 and founded the Boston Mustangs in 1972. 1st Vice President of NWBA for 15 years and inducted into the NWBA Hall of Fame in 1993.Internationally Tip was coach of the U.S. men's team at the 1984 Store Mandeville Paralympic games. He has been an executive member of IWBF since 1988, President of the Technical Commission from 1994 to 1998 and Vice President for the past 8 years. He has drafted many playing rules including the Act of Shooting and is a highly regarded player classifier. He has worked tirelessly as Editor of Basketball News and written many articles on the game. Above all Tip Thiboutot is a gentleman, a scrupulously honest individual, with wheelchair basketball and its players right at centre of his heart.

2002

Kyoko Tsukamoto - Player Japan

It is my pleasure to introduce to you one of Japan's most renowned wheelchair basketball players, Kyoko Tsukamoto.Kyoko, a talented swimmer, track athlete and volleyball player prior to her car accident, started playing wheelchair basketball with Parakanagawa in 1977. By 1981 she was selected to the Japan National Women's team to play in the programme, Have a Seat "81, a series of friendly matches in 7 Japanese cities with the U.S.A. women's team.She has played in four Paralympic games and helped Japan win the Bronze Medal in 1984 and in 2000. She also played in the 1990 and 1998 Gold Cups. Her current and past national team mates recognise her as a master strategist and tactician on and off the court. Kyoko has been National Team Captain since 1996 and serves as a member of Japan's High-Performance Committee. Currently she is Player-Coach of Elfin, Japan's No.1 women's club team. Kyoko is much more than a venerable player. Her desire to make the Japanese women's team a world power has resulted in the magnificent growth of the game among women in Japan. She was and continues to prove to women around the world that disability is no barrier to a women's ability to excel in all areas of life. She has inspired and nurtured many Japanese women. She founded Wing in 1985 and Elfin in 1997. She leads by her exemplary lifestyle. Many Japanese club players and national team players credit Kyoko with inspiring them to become better wheelchair basketball players, parents, citizens and people. IWBF Gold Medal Triad recipient Susan Hagel, a frequent opponent and good friend of Kyoko for 2 decades, has said, "Kyoko is the heart and soul of Japan's teams. Her intense competitiveness on the court belies her unwavering loyalty to her team mates and the game. We all admire her love of life and sense of humour".002