Wayne Field gives a dry-land demonstration of the swimming stroke he relied on when the muscles in his shoulder failed, lifting his arm, then letting it flop into an imaginary pool like the limb of a rag doll.
“You adapt,” said the wheelchair-bound Field, 81, who has won more than 200 first-place swimming medals in contests such as the National Veterans Wheelchair Games and the USA Senior Games.
His grit and success in competition led cereal giant General Mills to plaster his image on boxes of Cheerios that will be sold at VA medical centers beginning next month.
On Thursday, the Colorado Springs resident appeared at the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center, his beefy upper body clothed in a bright yellow T-shirt branded with a Cheerios logo, a cluster of swimming medals dangling from his neck.
A veteran of World War II, Field’s legs were cut from beneath him as he ran across a field toward a heavily-defended German town. His right shoulder also was injured.
“I can remember being hit and falling down. I was there for quite some time. My legs froze.”
He left a military hospital still capable of walking.
After the war, he got a job selling outboard motors and boats. In 1969, he entered a new field — computers. “Nobody knew about computers. I felt they were the future.”
His first job with Wolf Research and Development required him to read numerous textbooks on programming and recommend those he believed that trainees would find easy to understand.
When he turned 55, he started swimming and competed in the Senior Olympics for the first time.
Over the years, his wounded legs deteriorated and walking grew steadily more painful. About 20 years ago, he took to a wheelchair.
His shoulders, too, were giving him trouble, but he continued to swim, fighting the pain and learning to stroke in spite of the pain.
Eventually, both shoulders required rotator-cuff surgery, said his wife, Patricia.
Those shoulders still hurt when he swims, she added. “He goes through so much pain, but he loves to do it. He pushes himself.”
Wayne Field was thrilled when he was picked to be one of the 12 gold medal winners of the 2007 Veterans Wheelchair Games to appear on the special Cheerios boxes.
He recently began to ski and expects to ski competitively in the upcoming National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic.
He offers these words of advice for other disabled people who want to follow a similar path: “Almost anybody can do it. You have to try, you have to accept help and work at it.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
