by Tom Scott
Youakim honored for 60 years of service to United Spinal and wheelchair athletes.
On the evening of November 5, River Edge, New Jersey native Albert Youakim, was awarded United Spinal Association’s inaugural Community Service Award named in his honor, during a ceremony and dinner at the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights Hotel in New Jersey. The award is presented to individuals who make a substantial contribution of time and effort to serve United Spinal Association and the disabled community.
Among Youakim’s many achievements, he has been instrumental in the growth of United Spinal’s adaptive sports program and clinics. A pioneer of wheelchair basketball and a National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Hall of Fame inductee, Youakim has coached more than 20 Stoke Mandeville and Paralympic teams and developed one of the first junior adaptive sports programs in the US. He also helped organize the National Wheelchair Games.
The event, which took place during the weekend of the 11th Annual Al Youakim Wheelchair Basketball Invitational Tournament, brought together Al’s close friends and family, as well as players he has coached throughout his career, in celebrating his 60 years of service and volunteerism to United Spinal and the disabled community.
“It is rare to find someone who gives of himself freely and asks of nothing in return. But Al is such a person, and has been for the last 60 years, and our appreciation of his service cannot be more heartfelt and there is none more deserving of public praise,” said Paul J. Tobin, deputy executive director, United Spinal Association, as he addressed those in attendance.
Coach Al
Along with the award, Youakim was presented with a leather United Spinal Nets jacket with “Coach Al” embroidered on it, a box of 25 LaFontana cigars along with a cutter, and a basketball glazed in gold paint with the signatures of everyone in attendance.
United Spinal Nets wheelchair basketball player Edy Lopez was just one of many individuals who came to honor Youakim during the event. “I think of Al as my grandpa, and many of his former players feel that way about him. He’s inspired so many of us to succeed not only in sports, but in life,” Lopez said.
“It’s amazing how many people know Al,” said John Hamre, associate executive director, development, United Spinal Association. “Anywhere we go and participate in a clinic or tournament, people flock to Al to say hello, catch up and thank him for something he’s done. It has been an honor to work with him these past six years and I can’t thank him enough for the patience, hard work and knowledge that he has shared with me and United Spinal. If you ever wanted the perfect example of a dedicated person and a model of selflessness, you don’t have to look any farther than Al Youakim.”
Birth of a Sport
Youakim, a retired postal worker and former volunteer fireman, was introduced to adaptive sports during the 1940s after he and his brother, Peter, returned home from serving in the US Marine Corps during World War II. Peter was spinal cord injured during his tour of duty and underwent rehabilitation at St. Albans Naval Hospital in Queens, New York. Al routinely visited his brother at St. Albans and became a familiar face at the hospital. During his visits, he’d accompany his brother to the gym to play one of their favorite pastimes, basketball. There he met other veterans with spinal cord injuries, whose courage and determination greatly impressed him. Soon after, Al organized a wheelchair basketball team at St. Albans and began his illustrious coaching career.
There has always been some disagreement about who founded the sport of wheelchair basketball, but one name is certain to come up in discussion—Al Youakim. The game, which he pioneered at St. Albans, was introduced at the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960. Presently, there are 185 teams across the country. The sport has spread to over 80 countries. It is the most popular wheelchair sport in the world and drew of more than 10,000 spectators at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games.
By the late 1940s, the sport of wheelchair basketball was rapidly growing on a national scale. In 1949, due to its increasing popularity, the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) was formed and became the governing body of the sport. Al was inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame in 1981.
After Peter’s discharge from St. Albans, the Youakim brothers returned to their hometown of River Edge and formed the Jersey Wheelers. As more and more vets were discharged from VA hospitals, wheelchair basketball teams began to form in towns across the country. With Al at the helm, the Wheelers became one of the top wheelchair basketball teams in the NWBA and in 1954 they finished undefeated, capturing the national title against the Brooklyn Whirlaways. Al’s team made a remarkable 10 trips to the finals during his tenure as coach.
Al had an opportunity in the early 1970s to travel to Puerto Rico with the Wheelers for a televised scrimmage game. There he introduced the sport to over 30,000 in attendance and 300,000 watching on television.
Al’s Wheelers began to form rivalries with local teams, including the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association Chargers (now known as the United Spinal Nets). His relationship with United Spinal grew out of this rivalry. “The Chargers kept recruiting my top players. So I called up Ed Rowan, who was the association’s sports director at the time, and asked him if he would recruit me as well,” Youakim said.
After a 30-year coaching career with the Wheelers, Al was offered a position with the Chargers. Since then Al has been a valuable resource to many United Spinal members, past and present. He has been a shining light within the association’s adaptive sports program, participating in clinics to introduce the games to individuals with disabilities, as well as the able-bodied; coaching basketball and track and field; mentoring athletes; and, most importantly, being a great friend and supporter.
Accumulating Honors
In the late 1950s to early 1960s, Youakim’s involvement in adaptive sports broadened. Although these programs reached out to a wide range of individuals with disabilities, there was one group that was generally excluded: children. Al thought it was important to get children with disabilities involved in sports, so, with the help of the Hackensack Elks Lodge, he created the Junior Jersey Wheelers wheelchair basketball team. Although the team, which was mostly comprised of children with polio, only lasted a few years, it was one of the first junior teams in the country. Thanks to the Junior Wheelers, junior teams are now a major part of wheelchair sports programs throughout the country and the world. In 1961, Al was named “Elk of the Year” in recognition of these efforts.
After attending the first National Wheelchair Games at Adelphi University in Garden City, Long Island in 1957, Al became interested in a new sport for wheelchair athletes: track and field. In 1961, Al coached the US team at the first International Wheelchair Games in Stoke Mandeville, England. For 18 years he continued coaching U.S. teams in Stoke Mandeville tournaments in Japan, Italy, Britain, Argentina, and Germany. Youakim also became a committee member for the National Wheelchair Athletic Association (NWAA), now known as Wheelchair Sports USA. NWAA was focused primarily on organizing annual national championship competitions and fielding USA teams for international competitions. As a committee member, Al was influential in the orchestration of the National Wheelchair Games, which were held on the grounds (coincidentally, where United Spinal has its headquarters) at Bulova Park in Jackson Heights, New York, for close to 25 years. The Games included track and field, archery, swimming, basketball, and table tennis.
In 1991, Al received the Paralyzed Veterans of America Speedy Award, which was created in 1956 to recognize the contributions of individuals to the field of spinal cord injury.
“All About the Athletes”
If you ask Al, he’d say he never planned on getting involved with adaptive sports, and that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The contributions he has made over the years, however, are unrivaled. After 60 years of volunteerism, Al considers his finest achievements to be the friendships he has formed and all the individuals he has helped. “You couldn’t buy all the friends I’ve made. To me that’s the biggest payoff,” he said.
For Al, it has always been about the athletes. He is proud to coach them and feels privileged to know them. In fact, his goal is for everyone to know them. If there was a rallying cry for media recognition of athletes with disabilities, Al’s voice would rise above all others. There is no greater advocate in the adaptive sports community than Al Youakim. As the teams and leagues continue to grow and flourish so does Coach Al’s legacy.
“I hope someday the whole country will recognize adaptive sports and embrace the individuals that play them as true athletes. It is an exciting time for wheelchair athletes and the sports programs are improving every day. I wish I was 20 years younger so I could get in on it.”
Tom Scott is an editor in Communications.
