Marilyn Hamilton

Marylin Hamilton (born 1949) is an American inventor, athlete, and entrepreneur, known as the co-founder of Quickie Wheelchairs. After a 1978 hang-gliding accident left her paraplegic, Hamilton sought to improve wheelchair design, co-creating the lightweight and customizable Quickie wheelchair in 1980 with Jim Okamoto and Don Helman.

Biography

Marilyn Hamilton was born in 1949 and grew up in Dinuba, California.^[1] In 1967, she was crowned the National Raisin Queen.^{[citation needed]}

Her life took a drastic turn in 1978 when, at 29 years old, she suffered a severe accident that left her paraplegic.^[2] Drawing from her background in hang gliding, Hamilton along with Jim Okamoto and Don Helman co-founded Quickie Wheelchairs in 1980. Their goal was to design a wheelchair that would combine advanced materials, adjustability, and vibrant colors, allowing users to personalize their mobility devices. The resulting Quickie wheelchair featured a lightweight aluminum frame, making it easier to maneuver, and offered various accessories and color options, making it a new product in the wheelchair industry. Quickie was one of the first wheelchairs to offer these features, leading to its widespread adoption.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}

After her accident, Hamilton became a competitive athlete, excelling in adaptive sports. She won a silver medal in alpine skiing at the 1982 Paralympics and became the National Wheelchair Tennis Singles Champion in 1982 and 1983.^[1][6][7]

After co-founding Quickie Wheelchairs and working with the company for over two decades, Hamilton transitioned to the CEO of StimDesigns, a company focused on the distribution of the Galileo neuromuscular training device.^[2]

Awards and honors

Hamilton was also inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame in 2024, recognizing her dual impact as an athlete and inventor.^[1]

See also

• Adaptive Sports

References

1. Dillard, Gabriel (2024-03-20). "Wheelchair inventor-athlete among Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame's '24 class". The Business Journal. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
2. Bedi, Joyce (2021-03-22). "Marilyn Hamilton". Smithsonian | The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Archived from the original on 2024-09-28.
3. "Quickie Tennis Wheelchair". Smithsonian | National Museum of American History. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
4. "We Built this: How Women Innovators Shaped The World". USA Today and Smithsonian. 2022-03-27. p. 11.
5. Blakemore, Erin (2023-07-14). "The history of the wheelchair—from early designs to modern sports". National Geographic. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
6. DiGiovanna, Mike (1982-10-24). "Hang-Gliding Mishap Did Not Slow Marilyn Hamilton". The Los Angeles Times. p. 60.
7. Disabled Americans at Work. President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. 1986.