SCI Hall of Fame » 2005 Inaugural Inductees
Dr. Rory Cooper
Dr. Rory Cooper is Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology at the University of Pittsburgh, and he is also the Director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories and VA Rehabilitation Research & Development Center of Excellence in Pittsburgh, PA. Dr. Cooper has been selected for numerous awards, including the Paralyzed Veterans of America “John Farkas Leadership Award”(1997, 1999) and the Dion-Johnson Award for Spinal Cord Research (2000).
Wise Young
Wise Young, Ph.D., M.D., is founding director of the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, Chair of the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience and a professor at Rutgers University. In 1984, he became director of neurosurgery research. In 1997, as part of Rutgers' commitment to the future, Dr. Young was recruited to establish and direct a world-class center for collaborative neuroscience.
Randy Snow
Randy Snow is an achiever, despite the fact that he has spent most of his life in a wheelchair. At the age of 16, Randy was working on a farm when a 1000-pound bale of hay crushed him, leaving him a paraplegic.
Christopher Reeve (1952 – 2004)
Since the time he was paralyzed in 1995, renowned actor Christopher Reeve put a human face on spinal cord injury.
Teddy Pendergrass
Teddy Pendergrass was born on March 26, 1950 in Philadelphia, PA. He was raised by his mother, Ida Pendergrass, a God-fearing South Carolina sharecropper's daughter. It was Teddy's mother who discovered his voice when he was only 2 1/2 years old when he began singing in church.
John Hockenberry
From covering the plight of Kurdish refugees in Iraq to advocating for the full inclusion of all people with disabilities, John Hockenberry has led by example in print, radio and television.
The Honorable Tom Harkin
Senator Tom Harkin is a product of small town Iowa who has not forgotten his origins. He was born November 19, 1939 to a coal miner father and a Slovenian immigrant mother who passed away when Tom was ten years old. He earned his degree at Iowa State University in Government and Economics.
Marilyn Hamilton
Marilyn Hamilton has been athletic and energetic since childhood, even after a 1978 hang gliding accident left her a paraplegic.
Duane Martin French
Duane Martin French was born to Robert and Peg French on December 19, 1953 in Hastings, Nebraska. Duane has 5 wonderful brothers and sisters. At age 14, Duane's C 3 & 4 SCI occurred from diving into the Platt River.
Barry Corbet (1936 – 2004)
Barry Corbet, perhaps best known to the disability community as the editor of New Mobility magazine from 1991 to 2000, was also a filmmaker and widely published author who chronicled the disability experience.