I’LL BET YOU DON’T KNOW THIS

One more Olympic themed query. I’ll bet you don’t know who the “Father of the Paralympics” is. Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a German neurologist, is credited with initiating what would turn into the modern Paralympics.

The Jewish neurologist was forced to flee to Great Britain after the Nazis came to power in The Fatherland in 1939, along with his wife and two young children. On July 29, 1948, as King George VI opened the first Olympic games at Wembley Stadium in London since the conclusion of World War II, Dr. Guttmann organized the first wheelchair archery competition just an hour to the northwest at Stoke Mandeville. 16 members of the British Armed Forces that were injured in World War II competed.

That event has morphed into the 12 days of competition immediately following the Olympics at the same venue, with 500 medal events in 22 sports. Did you know any of that? I’ll bet not.

Book it, Dano!