Mark Zupan | |
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 Zupan at the SXSW 20X2, March 16, 2009 | |
| Born | 20 May 1975 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
Mark Zupan (born May 20, 1975) is a wheelchair rugby player and the captain of the United States wheelchair rugby team which competed in the Paralympic Games in 2004. He is best known for his appearance in the 2005 film Murderball . Zupan was also a part of the 2008 United States gold winning team at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
Zupan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Thomas and Linda Zupan. He played varsity football and soccer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, earning him a scholarship to Florida Atlantic University.
After a soccer game on October 14, 1993, Zupan got drunk with teammates at a bar and then crawled into the back of friend Chris Igoe's truck to sleep. Some time later Igoe left the bar unaware that Zupan was asleep in the back. Driving drunk, Igoe spun out and Zupan was thrown from the pickup bed, over a fence, and into a canal, where he held onto a branch for 14 hours until being discovered by a passerby. [1] He went into hypothermia and became paralyzed as a result of the accident. Zupan has incomplete quadriplegia and is able to walk for short distances with crutches. [2]
After his accident, Zupan graduated from Georgia Tech, became a two-time quad rugby national champion, the 2004 quad rugby player of the year. He was a member of the bronze medal-winning U.S. team at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, and the gold medal-winning team at the 2008 Games. He is a resident of Austin, Texas.
When asked if he would "turn back the clock on that day", Zupan answered "No, I don't think so. My injury has led me to opportunities and experiences and friendships I would never have had before. And it has taught me about myself. In some ways, it's the best thing that ever happened to me."
Zupan was featured as a customer in TLC's Miami Ink during the first season. Parts of his documentary were shown as background information.
He was depicted in an episode of the claymation series Celebrity Deathmatch in a match against Chris Pontius; he won.
In August 2007, Zupan's team "Superman's Crip-Tonite" placed second in Red Bull Flugtag event in Austin, Texas. For their efforts they won a $3,000 prize. Zupan's Flugtag adventure was chronicled in an ESPN.com story by writer Mary Buckheit.
He was also in the movie Jackass Number Two , in a skit called "Lake Jump", where his wheelchair was rigged up with carbon dioxide tanks and pushed off a ramp by Chris Pontius. Before taking off, the tanks triggered, launching him off of the ramp and into the lake.
Zupan was featured in a 2008 episode of 30 Days in which former NFL athlete Ray Crockett used a wheelchair for 30 days and at one point attempted to play wheelchair rugby.
In the second season of the television show Friday Night Lights , Zupan appeared briefly in the episode "Bad Ideas" as Steve, a friend who accompanies character Jason Street to a doctor appointment.
In the first season of Nitro Circus , he made a brief appearance in episode 11. He was seen being taped to a sled and rode down a hill before crashing.
Zupan was a commentator for NBC during the Tokyo Paralympics. [3]
Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, and the ball may bounce up to two times, where the second bounce may also occur outside the court.
Wheelchair rugby is a team sport for athletes with a disability. It is practiced in over twenty-five countries around the world and is a summer Paralympic sport.
Wheelchair Rugby at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was held at the Helliniko Indoor Arena. 89 athletes participated in the competition, with teams from eight countries taking part.
Murderball is a 2005 American documentary film about athletes who are physically disabled who play wheelchair rugby. It centers on the rivalry between the Canadian and U.S. teams leading up to the 2004 Paralympic Games. It was directed by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro, and produced by Jeffrey V. Mandel and Shapiro. It was nominated for Best Documentary Feature for the 78th Academy Awards. Murderball was the first and only MTV film released through THINKFilm as well as Participant Media.
Joe Soares is a former all-star wheelchair rugby player for the United States, a Paralympic gold medallist, who later coached the Canadian paralympic team after he was cut by the U.S. in 1996. This episode figures prominently in the 2005 documentary film Murderball.
Nitro Circus is an "action sport collective" led by Travis Pastrana, featuring his friends and him traveling around the world riding dirtbikes, BASE jumping, and performing stunts. Co-founded in 2003 by Pastrana, Nitro Circus has become a media company that produces television programming, documentaries and the Nitro Circus Live tour. In 2016, the company introduced the Nitro World Games, an action sports competition designed around pushing progression in core action sports disciplines like FMX, BMX, skate and scooter.
The United States national wheelchair rugby team represents the United States in international wheelchair rugby. The USA is the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in all five Paralympic tournaments it has entered, coming away with two golds.
The IWRF European Championship or IWRF European Zone Championship is the European wheelchair rugby championships that take place every two years between national teams of the continents. The European Championship is also a qualifying tournament for the IWRF World Championships and the Paralympic Games.
The Great Britain national wheelchair rugby team represents Great Britain in international wheelchair rugby. Great Britain is the most successful team in European competition, winning six gold medals at the European Championship and a gold at the 2020 Paralympic Games. Since a national poll as part of The Last Leg, the team have been known as The Sweet Chariots.
Garett Hickling is a Canadian wheelchair rugby player. He is on the Canada national wheelchair rugby team and has been voted most valuable player at several World Championships. He earned a gold medal from the 2002 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden; a silver medal from the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, and a bronze medal from 2008 in Beijing, China. He was the Canadian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Paralympics. He has competed in every Paralympics that included his sport until his retirement, representing Canada five times.
Bob O'Shea is a British former wheelchair rugby captain of the Great Britain national wheelchair rugby team.
William Groulx is an American wheelchair rugby player and cycler, and a member of the United States wheelchair rugby team.
Australia national wheelchair rugby team represents Australia in international wheelchair rugby, is sport with national representation at the Paralympic Games. The Australian Team is known as the 'Steelers'.
Jason Lees, is a wheelchair rugby player from Victoria and was a member of the Australian Steelers that won the gold medals at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Paralympics and competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Brad Dubberley is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair rugby Head Coach and former athlete. He won a silver medal as an athlete at the 2000 Sydney Games and was the head coach at the 2008 Beijing Games in the mixed wheelchair rugby event. He is the head coach of the Australian Wheelchair Rugby team known as the Australian Steelers.
Grant Boxall is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair rugby player.
Duncan Campbell, sometimes known as "the Quadfather", is a Canadian co-inventor of murderball. In the 1970s, Campbell invented the sport with four other Canadians before the sport was renamed to wheelchair rugby. In the sport, Campbell coached the Canadian team that went to the 2000 Summer Paralympics and organized the 2010 IWRF World Championship. Apart from wheelchair rugby, Campbell became a recreational therapist for the G. F. Strong Centre in 1986. His honours include an induction into the Canadian Paralympic Committee Hall of Fame in 2005 and receiving the Paralympic Order in 2013.
David Willsie is a Canadian coach and former Wheelchair rugby player.
Charles "Chuck" Aoki is an American wheelchair rugby player who plays for the United States national wheelchair rugby team. He has represented the United States at the Paralympics in 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024. He is regarded as one of the top 3.0 classified players in the world. He now lives in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two dogs. Liz is a social worker and therapist who is also disabled; they met at a wheelchair rugby tournament in 2017 and later married in 2022. In addition to his work as an athlete, he sits on several committees within the USOPC and works at the University of Michigan’s Adaptive Sports & Fitness department.
Ayaz Mazeed Bhuta is a British Paralympic wheelchair rugby player and a former wheelchair basketball player who currently plays for the Great Britain national wheelchair rugby team. He has represented Great Britain at the Paralympics in 2016 and 2020.
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