SCI Superstar: Marilyn Hamilton

Marilyn Hamilton is a legend in the disability world. Paralyzed in 1978 at the age of 29, she went on to co-found Quickie Wheelchairs, a pioneer in the lightweight manual wheelchair industry. She also went on to become a Paralympic medalist. How did she do it? Read on for her legendary story. 

Why She’s Fearless?

Marilyn was born to help people. Long before her hang-gliding accident at age 29, Marilyn was involved in her community. In 1967, at the age 18, she was the National Raisin Queen, which is a huge award for California girls, and it takes a young woman with a strong personality to get it. Marilyn also loved being active. After she was discharged in a heavy 60 lb wheelchair, she was not happy.

She needed a wheelchair that suited the active life she still wanted to lead. And then she had the biggest revelation of her life: Why not use hang gliding materials to create a lighter wheelchair, something that felt like it was part of your body? And that is how the multi-million dollar company known as Sunrise Medical was born.

After co-founding Quickie Wheelchairs a year after her accident with two hang-gliding friends who were handy with engineering, her next goal was to create lightweight sport wheelchairs. Marilyn’s company made one of the first tennis wheelchairs. They also made mono-skis, bi-skis and sit-skis for water skiing.

These sport wheelchairs transformed the world of adapted sports, making people excited about playing. They were not only easier to perform in, it opened adaptive sports to thousands of more people. Marilyn also began to be competitive in adaptive sports after her injury, winning a Paralympic Silver Medal in Alpine Skiing in 1982. And in 1982 and 1983, she was the National Wheelchair Tennis Singles Champion. She had never played tennis until after her injury.

Marilyn also founded Winner On Wheels, a nonprofit that helps kids with disabilities find their confidence through sports. Her dedication to her company garnered her a Minerva Award in 2006, one of the top honors California gives to its most successful and inspiring women. It was given to her by former California First Lady Maria Shriver. Marilyn considers this one of her greatest professional accomplishments.

What’s Next?

After working with the company she helped co-found for 21 years, she left Sunrise Medical and has done even more impressive work in regards to helping the disability community. Marilyn is the CEO of StimDesigns, a company that distributes Galileo, a universal neuromuscular training device for improving muscle fitness. And she gives motivational speeches to companies, organizations and institutions around the world. 

When she’s not busy changing lives with her genius, Marilyn enjoys life the simple with her husband on their ranch in California. Quickie continues to be one of the top lightweight wheelchairs in the world.

— Official site of Marilyn Hamilton