David Davis wins Christopher Award for "Wheels of Courage"

Los Angeles-based author David Davis received a Christopher Award for Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans from World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation (Center Street/Hachette Book Group). It is one of 12 books for adults and young people by 17 authors and illustrators honored as the Awards mark their 72nd year. The authors join creators of 10 winning TV/Cable and feature films.

Davis recounted the time when paraplegics injured in World War II were considered lost causes. Nevertheless doctors and determined veterans invented innovative wheelchair sports, created medical advances, and fought for disability rights.

The #ChristopherAwards were created in 1949 to celebrate authors, illustrators, writers, producers and directors whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit,” and reflects The Christophers' motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness” said Tony Rossi, director of communications.

Wheels of Courage tells the long-forgotten story of how three groups of courageous and unbreakable pioneers—paralyzed veterans from World War II; the doctors and physical therapists who created the rehabilitative treatments to keep them alive; and the educators and coaches who used sports to motivate them—came together to change their world and, in so doing, changed ours.

The soldiers, sailors, and marines who were paralyzed on the battlefield during World War II--at the Battle of the Bulge, on the island of Okinawa and inside Japanese POW camps--returned to a world unused to dealing with their traumatic injuries. In the day doctors considered paraplegics to be “dead-enders” and “no-hopers,” with the life expectancy of about a year. Societal stigma was so ingrained that playing sports was considered out-of-bounds for so-called “crippled bodies.”

Thanks to medical advances and the dedication of innovative physicians and rehabilitation coaches, the servicemen asserted their right to a life without limitations forming wheelchair basketball teams.

Eventually, with British counterparts, they triggered the birth of the Paralympic Games and opened the gymnasium doors to those with other disabilities, including survivors of the polio epidemic in the 1950s. They helped jump-start a global movement about human adaptability. Off the court, their push for equal rights led to dramatic changes in how civilized societies treat individuals with disabilities: from kneeling buses and curb cutouts to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Their saga is yet another lasting legacy of the Greatest Generation, one that has been long overlooked.

The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. The ancient Chinese proverb—“It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”— guides its publishing, radio, and awards programs. More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.