Bob Hall and Halls Wheels
Halls Wheels was a company started by a man named Bob Hall who contracted polio when he was only 9 months old. Despite numerous surgeries, extensive physical therapy and the use of leg braces, Bob Hall was still not able to walk for more than short distances, so he opted to accept his disability and use a wheelchair. But his life changed one day when a friend suggested that he try wheelchair basketball. It was from there that his love for wheelchair sports grew. His first wheelchair was a clunky, heavy standard chair that his friend stole from a mental institution, which he later modified to become what is known today as the Halls Wheels Leader.
The Halls Wheels Leader is a 15lb racing wheelchair with an aluminium frame setting with nylon upholstery and Velcro straps. It has a uniform crown system; meaning it has three wheels, one in the front and two in the back, which makes this wheelchair able to balance even at high speeds. It has adjustable wheel sizes and has a special aero-design for better air flow.
Bob Hall quickly started to excel in wheelchair basketball, even beating a lot of players that were fully capable of using their legs. This i led him to the greater challenge that is the Boston Marathon, where he became the first ever official disabled racer after completing a trial run the year before in 1975. In 1978, Hall was approached by an engineer, asking him if he ever thought of making his original design into a real, mass produced wheelchair, and that was when Halls Wheels was born.
Aside from the Halls Wheels Leader, a pioneering design in sports wheelchairs is the Halls Wheels Defiant. This wheelchair has an aluminum frame with a brushed finish with adjustable leg and foot support. It has a 7 speed thumb shift and a caliber brake system. It has a padded seat and back, and is fully compatible with mountain bike tires.
Bob Hall and Halls Wheels opened up a whole new world to wheelchair users all over the world. Because of his accomplishments and the possibilities that his chairs bring to wheelchair users, he has given more people hope that just because you can’t run or walk like the rest of the world, it doesn’t mean you’re disabled. He showed wheelchair users and the world that anybody can do anything as long as they set their mind to it, even if it’s something as big as a man with a lifelong polio injury finishing the Boston Marathon.
