35 Facts About Frank Ponta

Francis Ettore Ponta was an Australian Paralympic competitor and coach.

Frank Ponta competed in several sports including basketball, pentathlon, swimming and fencing.

Frank Ponta was a member of Australia's first national wheelchair basketball team, and is credited with expanding the sport of wheelchair basketball in Western Australia.

Frank Ponta died on 1 June 2011 at the age of 75 after a long illness.

Frank Ponta was born in the Perth suburb of Subiaco on 8 November 1935, as the eldest of nine children.

Frank Ponta attended Christian Brothers schools in Leederville and Geraldton.

Frank Ponta entered the spinal injury ward at Royal Perth Hospital in 1954 for rehabilitation, where he was trained in sports by John "Johno" Johnston.

When Frank Ponta began his competitive career, he played several sports, in common with most paraplegic athletes at the time.

Frank Ponta was a member of the first national wheelchair basketball team for Australia, formed in 1956, mostly composed of players from the spinal injury ward of Royal Perth Hospital.

In 1957, Frank Ponta competed at the Stoke Mandeville Games, the precursor to the Paralympic Games.

Frank Ponta competed in five Paralympic Games, including the first one held in Rome in 1960.

Frank Ponta competed in several sports including wheelchair racing, wheelchair fencing, swimming and wheelchair basketball.

Frank Ponta was a member of the Australian wheelchair basketball team at the 1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Perth.

Frank Ponta competed in wheelchair fencing at the 1964 Games in the Eppee Team event, where he did not medal, and the Men's Foil Novice Individual, where he won a silver medal.

Frank Ponta competed in the Men's 25 m Backstroke, where he won a bronze medal.

Frank Ponta competed without winning a medal at the 1972 Heidelberg Games in the discus, javelin, precision javelin, and the wheelchair basketball team.

Frank Ponta coached several medal winning Paralympic athletes including Louise Sauvage and Priya Cooper.

Frank Ponta was Sauvage's first coach, starting when Sauvage was a junior competitor.

Frank Ponta was influential in developing junior wheelchair sports in Western Australia and the rest of the country.

Frank Ponta pushed junior athletes to make something of themselves and put an emphasis on sportsmanship.

Frank Ponta is described by the Western Australian government as having devoted his life to the Wheelchair Sport Association as a coach and role model.

One of Frank Ponta's coaching skills was identifying which events that junior athletes would excel at.

Frank Ponta transformed her from a sprinter to a middle and long distance competitor.

Frank Ponta coached Madison de Rozario, who won a medal at the 2008 Paralympic Games.

Frank Ponta is credited with developing wheelchair basketball in Western Australia.

Frank Ponta is described as a pioneer of the sport.

Organisations such as Australian Athletes With A Disability credit Frank Ponta with being a driving force for the development of the sport in Western Australia.

Frank Ponta is considered by organisations such as Disability Services Australia as one of the greatest wheelchair basketball players ever.

Frank Ponta would remove any players who did not show good sportsmanship.

Frank Ponta's request was denied, despite having been one of the first patients at the campus.

The hospital argued against admission on the grounds that Frank Ponta was not a quadriplegic and should have been admitted to an aged care centre instead.

Frank Ponta died on 1 June 2011 in Perth after a long illness, at the age of 75.

Frank Ponta received the Sir Ludwig Guttman Award in 1984, and the Lord's Taverners Award in 1989, from Wheelchair Sports Australia.

In 2003, at the Wheelchair Sports WA Annual Awards, Frank Ponta was named the Coach of the Year.

Frank Ponta received the Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award in 2007.