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DARRELL BANKS: NATIONAL
AND WORLD CHAMPION
WHEELCHAIR ATHLETE
by Marty Gallagher
Darrell Banks is what President
John F. Kennedy would have
called “A Profile in Courage”.
Darrell has captured both national
and world titles as a powerlifter. He
has benched press 440-pounds
weighing 181. More impressively,
these records were made “raw”.
That’s powerlifting lingo for a
bench press made without the aid
of a “bench shirt”, which is a
tight-fitting and restrictive garment
that allows the lifter to
bench 30-100 additional
pounds (or more), depending
on the size of the
athlete and the
tightness of the
shirt. Darrell
Banks on the
other hand, does it the old fashion way,
with pure muscle. He can blast 200 kilos
(440 lbs.) to arm’s length wearing no
more than a cotton tank top and an infectious
smile. Did we mention that
Darrell is a wheelchair athlete? On July
27,1988 Darrell Banks was involved in
an automobile accident that left him totally
paralyzed from the waist down. It
could have been worse. Doctors initially
told Mr. Banks that he would be paralyzed
from the neck down, a quadriplegic.
What a dreadful turn of events for
a bright, athletic kid just turned twentyone.
Suddenly, violently and senselessly
his life was seemingly ruined. It was a
life-transforming event of the worst sort,
particularly for someone so young and
with such a bright and promising future.
Young Darrell Banks became a paraple-
Darrell Banks is
what President John
F. Kennedy would
have called “A Profile
in Courage”.
Darrell has captured
both national and
world titles as a
powerlifter. He has
bench pressed 440-
pounds weighing181.
6 John Parrillo’s Performance Press • June 2000 Orderline: 1•800•344•3404