After the initial success of the Gizz Kids basketball team, the program expanded over the next decades to include a variety of sports, including a women’s basketball team named the Ms. Kids. The program also founded the first wheelchair football, softball, and track and field teams. Many of the athletes in the program went on to compete in the Paralympics and to be inducted into the Wheelchair Sports Hall of Fame.
- The Armory – The first Wheelchair Football Game was played on October 22, 1949 at the University of Illinois Armory.
Illini Adapted Athletics History. (2022). Disability Resources and Educational Services at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. https://www.disability.illinois.edu/athletics/athletics-background/illini-adapted-athletics-history.
Stamm, C. (2015, July 23). The Gizz Kids: Athletics for Students with Disabilities. Student Life and Culture Archives. https://archives.library.illinois.edu/slc/the-gizz-kids-athletics-for-students-with-disabilities/.
Tom Jones, Broadcaster (0005302) [Image]. (c. 1970s). Timothy J. Nugent Papers, RS 16/6/20, University of Illinois Archives. https://archon.library.illinois.edu/index.php?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=6498.