Brasile now a hall of fame professor
The stage at New York's famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
greeted one sports luminary after another.
NFL legends Gale Sayers and
Jim Brown were front-and-center. So were Olympic gold medalists Frank Shorter,
Dan Jansen and Dot Richardson. NBA Coach Hubie Brown was on hand, too, as was .
. . UNO Professor Frank Brasile?
Indeed. Brasile, a member of UNO's Health, Physical
Education and Recreation faculty, joined these and other sports notables Nov. 2
for induction into the Boys Club of New York All-Sports Hall of Fame. Brasile's
induction was in honor of his longtime involvement in the sport of wheelchair
basketball.
His has been a career most rewarding for "the ability to
learn and grow over the years," Brasile says. "I was always learning something
new, and it was a great challenge. Also . . . I really enjoyed working with
young and novice players and developing a research base for the profession."
Brasile's involvement with wheelchair basketball began in
the early 1970s while he was working on a master's degree in recreation therapy
at the University of Illinois. He became an assistant coach for the university's
intercollegiate men's wheelchair basketball team and two years later was hired
as director of Illinois' wheelchair sports program. That meant he also was head
coach of all the sports programs for students with disabilities.
Brasile developed the intercollegiate division of the
National Wheelchair basketball association and organized the first National
Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament. That gave birth to the
Central Intercollegiate Conference (CIC), which continues today as a
cornerstone of development for players and coaches.
In 1978 Brasile coached Illinois to the National
Intercollegiate Championship. The Milwaukee native joined UNO's faculty in 1987
but remained active in the sport, becoming an assistant coach of the USA
Women's team (1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998) then its head coach (1999, 2000).
Combined, the teams won three world championships, three silver medals and two
bronze medals. In 2001 the CIC named its sportsmanship award after Brasile in
recognition of his outstanding contribution, dedication and service to the
conference, wheelchair basketball, and the field of therapeutic recreation.
His contributions go beyond coaching. Brasile created the
first wheelchair basketball skills test, an assessment used throughout the
world for research and coaching purposes and a model for other wheelchair
sports skills tests that have followed. Recently, Brasile filmed, produced and
edited a DVD of the training experiences that took place at the National
Wheelchair Basketball Camp last summer in San Diego. Video clips from this DVD
can be viewed on the NWBA website (www.nwba.org).
The prestigious nod from the Boys Club of New York was the
second major honor for Brasile in 2005. In April, the UNO professor was
inducted into the Wheelchair Basketball Hall of Fame, a full member of the
Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
"This was by far the most exciting and humbling experience
in my life," Brasile says. "To be inducted into a hall of fame . . . was, and
still is, hard to fathom.
However, I in fact realize that it is not about me and
what I was able to accomplish as much as it is about the support of my family,
and the dedication and mentoring I received from hundreds of athletes and
coaches who took the time and effort to enrich my life and motivate me to
eagerly serve my chosen professional field of recreation therapy."
Photo: UNO Professor Frank Brasile joined
Omaha native Gale Sayers as a 2005 inductee into the Boys Club of New York
All-Sports Hall of Fame. Courtesy Frank Brasile
