Harry Doyle Vines (September 12, 1938 – February 11, 2006) was a prominent member of the

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

community, winning national and international championships. Born in

Caldwell, Arkansas Caldwell is a town in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 555 at the 2010 census, an increase from 465 in 2000. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is l ...

and later residing in

Sherwood, Arkansas Sherwood is a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 32,731, making it the List of municipalities in Arkansas, 13th most populous city in Arkansas. It is ...

, he served on several commissions and boards, including the Governor's Commission on People with Disabilities and the Arkansas Community Service Commission.

Early life

Harry Vines was born in Caldwell, Arkansas. He was a member of the

Little Rock Central High School Little Rock Central High School (LRCH) is an accredited comprehensive education, comprehensive public high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas, Secondary education in the United States, United States. The school was the Little ...

Tigers, leading the team to a Big 8 championship and earned a high school All American award in 1957. He played at

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

, and upon graduation from OCU in 1961 became a basketball coach at Southwest Junior High in Little Rock.

Collegiate career

Vines played college basketball at

from the 1958–59 to 1960–61 seasons.

Wheelchair basketball

Vines graduated from Oklahoma City University in 1961, and became the basketball coach at Southwestern Junior High in Little Rock. In 1978, he began coaching a new wheelchair basketball team - the Arkansas Rollin' Razorbacks of the

National Wheelchair Basketball Association National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) is composed of 181 wheelchair basketball teams within twenty-two conferences. Founded in 1949 by Timothy Nugent, the NWBA today consists of men's, women's, intercollegiate, and youth teams throug ...

(NWBA). Over the next 22 years, Vines led his team to 21 winning seasons. He coached the Rollin' Razorbacks to five national championships (1991, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 2000). Vines later coached US national teams in the World Cup and

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

. In 1987, Harry coached the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

team in

World Wheelchair Games The World Abilitysport Games (known as the IWAS World Games before 2023) are a parasports multi-sport event for athletes who use wheelchairs or are amputees. Organized by World Abilitysport (formerly IWAS), the Games are a successor to the origina ...

(formerly known as the Stoke Mandeville Games) to its first world championship. In 1990, President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

awarded him with the President's Service Award (later known as the President's Community Service Award) for his outstanding volunteer contributions as a coach. Harry had served the NWBA as Conference Commissioner of the Arkansas Valley Conference, 1st Vice President of the NWBA and President of the NWBA. In recent years, he was the NWBA representative on the board of directors to

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA, and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States ...

. Vines was inducted in the NWBA's Hall of Fame in 2001 and the

Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame is the hall of fame and museum for sports in Arkansas, United States. The Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959. The Hall's museum is located on the west end of the Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, ...

in 2014.

References

External links

President's Community Volunteer Awards - Profile: Harry Vines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vines, Harry 1938 births 2006 deaths Oklahoma City University alumni Oklahoma City Stars men's basketball players Little Rock Central High School alumni People from Sherwood, Arkansas People from St. Francis County, Arkansas Sportspeople from Little Rock, Arkansas Basketball coaches from Arkansas American men's wheelchair basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen