One of my favorite music groups of the last few years is called Wheelchair Sports Camp. They are an indie rap group, based in Denver, led by my friend Kalyn Heffernan, who was born with a condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, aka “brittle bones disease”, which has stunted her growth and left her confined to a wheelchair for her entire life. Her body is fragile, but her spirit is not, and Heffernan pursues her craft with ferocious fearlessness that is both moving and inspiring. The most important thing, however, is that she’s really good on the mic.

I only mention that because she and her group were the first person I thought of when I got a text a few weeks ago from Kimberley Pullings, whose husband Randy coaches the Brooks Ballers Wheelchair Basketball team here in Jacksonville. Randy started out as a player for the team, then became their coach for the 2017-2018 season, narrowly losing the championship in his first season as coach. They have since run the table in each of the next three seasons. At one point, the team included former Jaguars player Richard Collier, who was paralyzed after a tragic shooting in 2008. These folks have similarly taken the unfair hand dealt them by fate and found a way to find not just joy from life, but excellence, and in the process, generated a lot of positive attention for our community.

Wheelchair basketball has existed in some form since at least 1944, and today’s version is played all over the world. The number of disabled veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam helped contribute to the sport’s increased profile, and it’s now an established highlight of the Paralympic Games. There are slight variations in gameplay in different countries and on different levels of the game, but it essentially follows the same rules as standard basketball.

There is a popular manga (Japanese comic book) called “Real”, which depicts the efforts of a group of young men to excel in the sport. It debuted in 1999, selling more than 16 million copies in 15 volumes over the subsequent 20-plus years. It is probably the most well-known pop culture treatment of wheelchair basketball, outside of real-time coverage.

Brooks Ballers are official members of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, which I never knew existed until just a few days ago. The NWBA has multiple  categories for adults, juniors, intercollegiate and women’s competition. The Brooks Ballers are listed in the Adult Division III category. The team is currently training for their return to nationals, which takes place in Wichita from March 31 to April 2. This event will include all three adult divisions, as well as the varsity and prep divisions. Brooks Ballers are in the running in both the adult and juniors divisions; they have won at least one of those divisions each year since 2019. 

As you would expect, the logistics involved are highly complicated for all involved, especially in terms of travel and lodging. The pandemic wreaked chaos on their sport, as it did with so many others. In 2020, they lost their primary sponsor just days before nationals, but they were able to raise over $24,000 in just two days, allowing the team to travel successfully.

The team’s efforts and achievements have been documented a good bit in local media, but knowing the passion that the 904HappyHour team has for local sports, and their commitment to help people who are doing the right, this seemed like a perfect way to inaugurate this new series of articles here on their website. They can use all the support they can get, and they certainly deserve it. They also maintain a 501(c)3, Live Cdc Inc(dba  LiveCenter), designed to help the team, and to facilitate greater access for people with disabilities. Tax-deductible donations can be made via Cashapp and Givelify. You can contact them directly via Facebook, or you can reach out to us, and we’ll put you in touch with them. 

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