BOB LUJANO: "Smashing Stereotypes One Hit at a Time"

BOB LUJANO: "Smashing Stereotypes One Hit at a Time" - Wolfman Productions

In the summer of 2005, moviegoers got to know Bob as one of the hard charging Quad Rugby players who were profiled in the critically acclaimed documentary MURDERBALL. The film chronicled the team's quest for gold at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. The U.S. team took home the bronze.

When Bob was 9 years old his legs and most of his arms were amputated after he contracted a rare, deadly form of meningitis. Doctors gave him a few hours to live..But he survived.

"The most difficult part was that I was the only kid there with no arms and no legs," Lujano said. An affable guy, Lujano said it wasn't hard to make friends, act in plays, and have girlfriends. He just had to learn to laugh at himself. It put people at ease, he said.

After graduating from high school in 1988, Lujano went to the University of Texas at Arlington. There he discovered something that changed his life: The school offered wheelchair basketball.
Later, he went on to pursue a graduate degree in sports management at the University of Tennessee. When he started working on the U.S. Paralympic organizing committee during the 1996 games, Lujano caught a glimpse of what would become his calling.

Wheelchairs slamming into one another. Men toppling over. Shouting. Sweat. It was great! Finally, a sport he could enjoy. "I had played wheelchair basketball three to five years and was never going to be any better than the 12th man on the team," Lujano said. "With rugby, I'm one of the better players in the league, one of the elite players."

In his 10 years of playing Quadriplegic (“Quad”) Rugby, Bob has won five U.S. Quad Rugby National Championships with the Lakeshore Demolition of Birmingham, AL and has won three medals playing rugby for the U.S. Paralympic team: one gold medal (1999 World Wheelchair Games in Christchurch, New Zealand); one silver medal (Rugby World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden) and one bronze medal (2004 Paralympic Games of Athens, Greece).

For seven years, Bob has worked at the Lakeshore Foundation, an official U.S. Olympic and Paralympic training site, as the Coordinator of Athletics.

Through his success on the rugby court and in the work place, Bob is helping U.S. Paralympics positively change public attitudes and perceptions about disability.

www.boblujano.com