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Veteran takes gold in Milwaukee |
MILWAUKEE, Wis. —
Competitions don’t get much better than one did for Newberg resident
Jack Howell last week.
At the 27th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games, Howell, 63,
won a gold medal in archery and a silver medal in bowling and
nine-ball pool.
Not bad for someone who had to be talked into competing.
Howell served in Vietnam for the Marine Corps from 1963 to 1966 and
was awarded two Purple Hearts. He was undergoing rehabilitation in
the spinal cord unit of Veterans Hospital in Seattle last year when
he first heard about the event in Milwaukee. Members of the spinal
cord unit had been attempting to persuade Howell to play basketball
or wheelchair rugby.
“That’s where
they talked me into doing it, so I tried it,” Howell said.
Since the Portland area didn’t have a team, Howell opted to
participate with a group of 21 veterans from Seattle to make the
trip to Milwaukee. At the event, more than 500 athletes from
throughout the United States, along with Puerto Rico, Great Britain
and other countries, competed in the four-day event in sports such
as: nine-ball, air guns, archery, basketball, bowling, handcycling,
motorized wheelchair rally, power soccer, powerchair relay, quad
rugby softball, swimming, table tennis, track and field,
weightlifting, wheelchair slalom and other events.
Howell, a Newberg resident the past 30 years, competed in archery,
bowling, quad rugby softball, air guns and nine-ball pool.
“It all worked out pretty good,” he said of his first trip to the
games. “I had a good time.”
He said there’s a chance he might play in the games next year when
they are held in Omaha, Neb.
“There’s a good possibility of it,” he said. |
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From June 27, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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