Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas
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Notable Sports Figures<br />
Awards and Accomplishments<br />
2001 Newel Perry Award, National Federation of the Blind<br />
enth continent, some climbers argue that he must still<br />
summit Indonesia’s Carstensz Pyramid to join the Seven<br />
Summits, which he plans to attempt in 2003. “What Erik<br />
achieved is hard for a sighted person to comprehend,”<br />
according to Time. “Perhaps the point is really that there<br />
is no way to put what Erik has done in perspective because<br />
no one has ever done anything like it. It is a<br />
unique achievement, one that in the truest sense pushes<br />
the limits of what man is capable of.”<br />
SELECTED WRITINGS BY<br />
WEIHENMAYER:<br />
Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man’s Journey to<br />
Climb Farther Than the Eye Can See, Dutton, 2001.<br />
FURTHER INFORMATION<br />
Periodicals<br />
Beech, Mark and Anderson, Kelli. “Inside Out: News<br />
and news and notes from the world of adventure<br />
sports.” Sports Illustrated (September 23, 2002): 18.<br />
“Blind to Failure: Mountaineers scoffed at the notion<br />
that Erik Weihenmayer, sightless since he was 13,<br />
could climb Everest. But a killer peak is no obstacle<br />
for a man who can conquer adversity.” Time (June<br />
18, 2002): 52.<br />
Carlin, Peter. “World at his fingertips: guided by touch,<br />
not sight, a blind climber takes on El Capitan.” People<br />
(August 12, 1996): 48.<br />
Gray, Taylor. “The other guy on top of the world.” Time<br />
(June 11, 2002).<br />
“Livin’ it: Blind mountaineer Erick Weihenmayer summits<br />
Mount Elbrus - and leads the way in a dramatic<br />
descent.” Sports Illustrated (July 1, 2002): 30.<br />
Other<br />
“Eric Weihenmayer.” Eric Weihenmayer Home Page.<br />
http://www.touchthetop.com (January 15, 2003).<br />
Pegg, Dave. “Super Blind.” Climbing. http://www.<br />
climbing.com/pages/feature_stories/feature 213.html<br />
(January 15, 2003).<br />
Swift, E.M. “Blind Ambition.” Sports Illustrated. http://<br />
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/siadventures/2001/<br />
blind_ambition (January 15, 2003).<br />
Weihenmayer, Eric. “Tenacious E.” Outside. http://<br />
outside.away.com/outside/adventure/200112/200112<br />
tenacious_e.adp (January 15, 2003).<br />
Sketch by Brenna Sanchez<br />
Paula Weishoff<br />
1962-<br />
American volleyball player<br />
Weishoff<br />
Paula Weishoff is a two-time Olympic medalist in<br />
volleyball, and is one of the top volleyball players of<br />
her generation. She was inducted into the U.S. Volleyball<br />
Hall of Fame in 1998. She currently acts as assistant<br />
coach for the top-rated women’s volleyball team at the<br />
University of Southern California (USC).<br />
Paula Weishoff was born in 1962 in Los Angeles,<br />
California. She began playing organized volleyball<br />
while in the eighth grade. Weishoff first distinguished<br />
herself as an outstanding volleyball player on her school<br />
team at West Torrance High in California. A well-rounded<br />
athlete in high school, Weishoff lettered in not only<br />
volleyball, but also in track, soccer, and softball.<br />
Weishoff’s introduction to volleyball came at about<br />
the time that the U.S. national women’s volleyball team<br />
was founded. But it was not the national team that inspired<br />
Weishoff to begin to dream that she could make<br />
volleyball her living; it was watching a local team playing<br />
in exhibition games in Los Angeles that inspired her<br />
to attend a sports festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado<br />
as a volleyball player.<br />
Still in high school, Weishoff attended the Colorado<br />
Springs festival, and successfully competed with young<br />
women from all over the country for the chance to play<br />
in the Pacific Rim Tournament in Hawaii. Traveling to<br />
Colorado Springs to play volleyball opened her eyes to<br />
the broader world of volleyball beyond California. She<br />
made lifelong friends at the event, and it was there that<br />
she first began to dream of playing for the U.S. national<br />
team. The Pacific Rim Tournament became Weishoff’s<br />
first international volleyball competition, and there she<br />
dared to set her sights even higher.<br />
After winning a silver medal in volleyball at the U.S.<br />
Olympic Festival in 1979 and earning Most Valuable<br />
Player (MVP) honors at the 1980 U.S. Junior Olympics,<br />
Weishoff enrolled in college at the University of Southern<br />
California (USC) in 1980. At USC, Weishoff played<br />
for the school’s women’s volleyball team, the USC Trojans.<br />
During her first year on the Trojans, Weishoff led<br />
her team to victory at the Association of Intercollegiate<br />
Athletics for Women (AIAW) Championships.<br />
While she was in school, Weishoff tried hard to balance<br />
the demands of an academic life with her volleyball<br />
schedule, and found that she had difficulty doing<br />
justice to both. Finally, after a year at USC, she decided<br />
to devote herself full-time to volleyball. Weishoff left<br />
college in 1981, after a achieving her dream of signing<br />
with the U.S. national women’s volleyball team.<br />
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