Timothy Nugent

<h2 id="early-life-and-education">Early life and education</h2>
<p>Timothy Nugent was born January 10, 1923. He holds degrees from Tarleton State University, Texas; University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse, Wisconsin; and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Wisconsin. He also has honorary degrees from Springfield College in Massachusetts, Mount Mary College in Wisconsin, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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<h2 id="career">Career</h2>
<p>Timothy Nugent's work was committed to making the educational benefits of the GI Bill available to all veterans.
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<h3>Innovations</h3>
<p>Nugent founded the first, and for many years the only, comprehensive program of disability services in higher education. By refusing to abandon his vision for veterans with disabilities, Nugent made the University of Illinois an institution of firsts: the first curb cuts, the first buses equipped with wheelchair lifts, and research that developed architectural accessibility standards that were later adopted nationally. He also created a comprehensive program of adapted sports for students with disabilities, leading to the founding of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. He served as commissioner of the association for 25 years. Nugent also founded Delta Sigma Omicron, the first rehabilitation service fraternity.
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<h3>Wheelchair basketball</h3>
<p>In 1948 the University of Illinois was the first college in the United States to establish a collegiate wheelchair basketball team, the <a href="/facts/University_of_Illinois_Wheelchair_Basketball/fJ6l3YUV">University of Illinois Wheelchair Basketball</a>'s Gizz Kids. Under the management and coaching of Nugent, the U of I wheelchair basketball team held the first National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in April 1949. Later in 1970, the University of Illinois formed the Ms. Kids, the first women's wheelchair basketball team in country.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>
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<h3>Awards and honors</h3>
<p>In 2019, Nugent was inducted into the <a href="/facts/United_States_Olympic_%2526_Paralympic_Hall_of_Fame/qUvLxsPD">United States Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame</a> as a "special" contributor, the only one to have such an honor.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
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<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://disability.illinois.edu/">Disability Resources and Educational Services at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nwba.org/">National Wheelchair Basketball Association</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

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<li id="fn:1"><p>Expanding Horizons: A History of the First 50 Years of the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services at the University of Illinois. Champaign: Roxford DTPublishing. 1998. ISBN 0966368509. <a href="0966368509" target="_blank">0966368509</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Nugent, Timothy J. (1923-) | University of Illinois Archives". archives.library.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2016-03-05. <a href="http://archives.library.illinois.edu/archon/?p=creators/creator&id=2347" target="_blank">http://archives.library.illinois.edu/archon/?p=creators/creator&id=2347</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"History". National Wheelchair Basketball Association. Retrieved 2016-03-05. <a href="http://www.nwba.org/page/show/2019775-history" target="_blank">http://www.nwba.org/page/show/2019775-history</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"Tim Nugent". United States Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame. Retrieved 5 February 2020. <a href="https://www.teamusa.org/Hall-of-Fame/Hall-of-Fame-Members/Tim-Nugent" target="_blank">https://www.teamusa.org/Hall-of-Fame/Hall-of-Fame-Members/Tim-Nugent</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Timothy Nugent open-in-new

Timothy Nugent