Gail Dummer
2005 Rick Knas Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

The Lifetime Achievement Award winner has spent her career devoted to the advancement of young athletes with disabilities and promoting activities that enable both the disabled and able-bodied the opportunity to learn how to train and coach these unique athletes.

Gail Dummer grew up in St. Peter, Minnesota as the oldest of seven children. She graduated from the University of Minnesota and lettered in swimming and diving. She continued her education obtaining both a Master of Arts and her Ph.D. from the University of California – Berkeley. Today she still trains and competes in Master's Swimming for the Capital Area Tri and Swim (CATS) Club. In 1984 she began her career at Michigan State University and over the past 20 years has turned her passion into a legacy that has embraced thousands of students and children with disabilities.

Throughout her career she has supported athletes with disabilities in a dazzling array of contributions that display her passion and commitment to the disability community. Her coaching experience led her to get involved in the administration responsibilities so vital to disability competitions by serving on numerous committees serving athletes with disabilities. She spends endless hours and countless days organizing and coordinating swim competitions for young athletes with disabilities throughout the country. Early in her career she coached both able-bodied and disabled swimmers for the USA Swimming teams. She served as the Assistant USA Coach at the 1994 and 1998 International Paralympic Committee World Swimming Championships and in 1994 was responsible for the selection of dwarf athletes to the USA Team. In 1996 she was responsible for planning and conducting the first-ever Paralympic Swimming Trials.

She has been involved as the Director and Research Director for Disability Swimming Camps at the U.S. Olympic Training Center and the Technical Director for Swimming for the Dwarf Athletic Association of America. She is the author of eight books, eight chapters, over 70 articles, and over 150 scholarly presentations related to adapted physical activity. Gail is the President-Elect of the North American Federation on Adapted Physical Activity and has served on their committee since 1996.

One of her brightest accomplishments is as a Professor in Adapted Physical Activity for the Department of Kinesiology at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. In addition to teaching both graduate and undergraduate level courses, she is Director of the Sports Skills Program which is the lab component required of all undergraduate students who major in Kinesiology.

Gail was nominated for this award by her students at Michigan State University, including Aaron Moffett who said: "Dr. Dummer's students learn to appreciate the person before the disability, how to coach and teach in ways that maximize ability and accomplishment, and how to interact effectively with family members and caregivers to understand the context of their efforts."

Congratulations Gail!