Medals just part of rewards for A-K Valley athletes at National Veteran Wheelchair Games

The summer of 2020 will mark the 40th annual National Veteran Wheelchair Games, and multiyear participants, Alle-Kiski Valley residents Jerry Baylor, Brenden Beck and Mark Rosensteel, are planning to be a part of the milestone games.

All hope to have as much success — or even more — next July in Portland, Ore., as they did earlier this month in Louisville, Ky.

“Everyone at the games is pretty competitive, but it’s friendly competition,” said Baylor, who, along with Beck and Rosensteel, again brought home several medals, including gold, from this year’s event. “You see a lot of old friends, but it’s exciting to meet new ones. New athletes come to the games each year.”

Baylor, an Allegheny Township resident, has been competing at the games since the first one in 1981, and he has seen the event grow each year. More than 600 athletes took part in events in 2018, and that number, Baylor said, increased to a record amount this year.

Competing this year in 11 events in the senior division, Baylor placed in 10 with nine gold and one silver. He captured 10 golds at the Buckeye Wheelchair Games in Ohio this spring.

In addition to his own success, Baylor, 72, said seeing people he helped get started in competition excel at the games is satisfying.

According to its website, the National Veteran Wheelchair Games is the world’s largest annual wheelchair sports event solely for military veterans. The games are open to all U.S. veterans with spinal cord injuries, amputations, multiple sclerosis or other central neurological conditions that require a wheelchair to compete athletically.

Each wheelchair athlete is placed in a competition group based on their age, experience in the games and physical status.

“No matter how we do, just being able to be at the games and compete in our events is always a great feeling,” said Beck, 45, a Leechburg resident who competed at the games for the second time. “There is a ton of inspirational energy in each event competition.”

Beck, a former enlisted member of the U.S. Army and Army National Guard who was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident four years ago, went into the national games with a lot of momentum. He won the Outstanding Athlete award with 11 gold and one silver at the Buckeye games.

Last year, Beck, as a first-year competitor at the national games, was in the novice division. This year, he moved up to the open division and won a gold medal in powerlifting (220 pounds).

“It was the heaviest I’ve ever lifted,” Beck said. “I just put it all on the line, and it was an absolutely amazing feeling.”

Beck added bronze in the 100-, 200-, 400- and 800-meter track races and archery.

“Last year, I brought home gold on the track, but the open division is a whole lot stronger competition,” Beck said. “I have a year to train, and I plan on going bigger and better next year.”

He said the bronze in archery was extra special as he used theh bow belonging to his son, Lane.

“(Lane) had won many medals with that bow, and to place third in my first-ever archery competition, that medal and that target stays with that bow,” Beck said. “Those were for my son.”

Rosensteel, 59, an Apollo resident, has competed every year since the national event came to Pittsburgh in 2011.

Paralyzed since a swimming pool diving accident more than three decades ago, the Air Force veteran won five medals in Louisville: gold in the 5K handcycle and the rally race, silver in bowling and slalom (obstacle course) and bronze in air rifle.

He uses a power wheelchair operated with a joystick. He has no use of his hands, but he moves the joystick with the limited use of his arms.

Rosensteel said he enjoys interacting with his fellow athletes and appreciates the opportunity each year to meet new people.

From this year’s event, he recalled meeting a 30-year-old man from Hawaii named Joe who had been injured in a motorcycle accident within the past year.

“You never know who you are going to meet and be able to help and influence,” Rosensteel said. “(Joe) was kind of depressed about his situation, which is understandable. After I showed him a few things and gave him one of my cards to contact me, I think we’ll be in touch. I hope to help him get on the upper side of his situation.”

Beck, Rosensteel and Baylor represented the Keystone chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America.