Randy Snow

Randy Snow (May 24, 1959 – November 19, 2009) was the first Paralympian to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. A native of Terrell, Texas, Snow was a state-ranked tennis player as a teenager, but at the age of 16, his spine was crushed by a 1000-pound bale of hay, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. After graduating, he enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin in 1977, where he indulged in the fraternity party life, until forming a wheelchair basketball team under the direction of Jim Hayes, the University of Texas at Arlington wheelchair sports director. Soon afterwards, he began wheelchair racing, and in 1980 transferred to Arlington in order to work with Hayes, eventually establishing himself as the best wheelchair tennis player in the United States.

Randy Snow

Country (sports)	United States
Born	(1959-05-24)May 24, 1959 Austin, Texas, U.S.
Died	November 19, 2009(2009-11-19) (aged 50) El Salvador
Retired	2004
Plays	Right Handed
Int. Tennis HoF	2012 (member page)
Singles
Career record	140–36
Highest ranking	No.2 (March 23, 1993)
Masters	W (1994)
Paralympic Games	Gold Medal (1992)
Doubles
Career record	70–26
Highest ranking	No.1 (July 18, 1995)
Paralympic Games	Gold Medal (1992)
World Team Cup	Champion (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1995)
Medal record Representing  United States Paralympic Games Men's wheelchair tennis 1992 Barcelona Singles 1992 Barcelona Doubles Men's wheelchair basketball 1996 Atlanta Team

In 1984, the Summer Olympics added a men's 1500 meter wheelchair race as an exhibition event. Snow went into heavy training, relocating to Houston, Texas, to train on the same track as Carl Lewis. This was the first Paralympic event to appear before a large audience, and the public were unsure of their feelings for wheelchair-using athletes. Snow received a silver medal, and the crowd gave the athletes a standing ovation at the end of the exhibition.

Snow went on to win gold medals in the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona for singles and doubles tennis, and at the 1996 Atlanta Games was a member of the bronze medal-winning wheelchair basketball team. He also competed in men's wheelchair tennis singles at the 2000 Summer Paralympics but lost in the third round to eventual gold medalist David Hall of Australia.

He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame on July 1, 2004.

Randy Snow died November 19, 2009 in El Salvador while volunteering at a wheelchair tennis camp.[1] He was posthumously inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 14, 2012.[2][3]