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A Region athlete recently received a special honor. An Ivy Tech Community College employee was inducted into the USA Wheelchair Softball Hall of Fame this summer. Dino Ramirez received the honor August 4 during the World Series tournament at Ozinga Field in Crestwood, Illinois. Ramirez is a right leg single amputee due to an injury in an ATV accident when he was a teenager. Ramirez, an employer consultant with the Lake County campus’ Career Coaching and Employer Connections in East Chicago, has gone on to play wheelchair sports for decades. You can hear more here online at Region Newsmakers.
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“I loved and played many years of baseball from 8 to 15 years of age, so the transition to wheelchair softball in 2001 was like seeing an old friend,” Ramirez said. Ramirez was injured in an ATV accident when he was 15, severing arteries and nerves in his right leg. Despite six surgeries, the nerves never regenerated and he decided to undergo amputation. About five years later, he learned about wheelchair basketball, so he tried it to get some exercise. That led to wheelchair softball and then wheelchair football.
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Although he has played third base and right field for most of his time in wheelchair softball, it is his hitting that he is best known for, and Ramirez has racked up numerous individual awards. He also has played on three national championship teams and is a two-time Team USA player.
