Larry Sidebottom, who inspired scores of disabled people for decades, died of bladder cancer March 13 at his Littleton home. He was 50.
Sidebottom, who was left a paraplegic after an auto accident, worked for the city of Lakewood as sports and athletics coordinator.
Sidebottom “didn’t give himself much time” to think of his disability, said his wife, Denise Sidebottom. “He just went beyond it.”
Four days shy of his 18th birthday, looking forward to going to the University of Kansas on a football scholarship, Sidebottom was in a head-on auto collision.
The accident left one person dead and Sidebottom with a broken back.
He came to Craig Hospital for rehabilitation, and resumed sports by joining the Craig Crusaders, a wheelchair basketball team.
He never referred to his condition and never believed his illness would take him, said his wife.
“He never said goodbye because his mind and soul and heart were with us to the end,” she said.
In addition to playing with the Crusaders, now called the Denver Rolling Nuggets, Sidebottom coached teams of wheelchair-users and worked with the developmentally disabled in sports.
He was frequently called to Craig to talk to and work with the newly disabled, his wife said.
“Larry just had something special about him in working with people,” she said.
Sidebottom often ran summer camps for wheelchair basketball players, a sport he played from 1979 to 2003. He also founded the Junior Rolling Nuggets.
The week before he died, a Junior Denver Rolling Nugget won the Most Valuable Player trophy in an Omaha tournament. He gave the trophy to Sidebottom.
“Larry was passionate about sports and compassionate with people,” said Stuart Klug ler of Lakewood, who wrote about wheelchair sports in his book, “Wheelchair Basketball: One Rebound at a Time.”
Sidebottom was one of the people featured in the book, published by Lifevest Publishing in Centennial.
“Larry never talked about the accident or his ability,” Klug ler said. “And I never viewed him as someone who was disabled. He was just someone who happened to be in a wheelchair.”
Larry Sidebottom was born in Pasco, Wash., on May 31, 1957. He graduated from Ensign High School in Ensign, Kan., where his family had moved. He earned a degree in recreation at Hutchinson (Kan.) Junior College and began coaching wheelchair sports at the Hutchinson Recreation Center.
He married Denise Bremer in 2000.
In addition to her, he is survived by 5-year-old twins, daughter Jayden and son Dylan; three sisters, Shirley Kienow and Judy Hatzenbuehler, both of Hutchinson, and Roberta Clayton of Texas; and three brothers, Bill Sidebottom of Yukon, Okla., Leroy Sidebottom of Montezuma, Kan., and Danny Sidebottom of Hutchinson.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
