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Bio
Tom Hernon Jr was paralyzed from the
waist down in 1997. He is the first paraplegic in the world to
compete in the sport of luge, raced on the Para-Olympic World
Cup ski circuit and preformed ski jumps with the Flying Ace
All-stars into the pool at the Utah Olympic Park.
Tom was also nominated
to the Spinal Cord injury Hall of Fame in 2004 for a business
venture that hired and trained people with disabilities to
build state of the art Adaptive Sports Equipment.
Tom is currently a motivational speaker,
writer, inventor, business owner and head coach of the US
Adaptive Luge Team. His next big adventure is to sail a 30
foot Sail Boat through the North West Passage. The boat is
specially designed to be accessible and sailed by a
paraplegic.
Tom has invented the
equipment and started training programs for two new adaptive
winter sports, Adaptive Luge and Sit Skijouring.
The Adaptive Luge program at the Muskegon
Winter Sports Complex is in its 5th year and has
added a new race team this year to compete with able body
racers.
Sit Skijouring is a special sit ski with
up to 3 sled dogs pulling it at speeds of over 30mph. Tom will
be racing in several able-body skijouring races this winter
and hopes to see more people with service dogs get involved in
this exciting new sport.
Thor is a very Special Dog, He is trained
as a service dog to help a wheelchair user live independently.
He can open doors, turn the lights on and off, pick things up
and to carry things for his owner. Thor is also trained as a
sled dog and pulls people on sit skis all winter. Thor loves
to go to schools to teach kids all about his job...
Tom and Thor would love to be the keynote
speaker for your next event or clinic.
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We have a learning session and demo on
Service Dogs,
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Ski Clinics and Skijouring lessons for
both adaptive and able body athletes
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Adaptive Luge
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Wheeled Luge
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AV Presintation on Extreme Adaptive
Sports
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Motivation Speech "Never a Last
Run"
Tom offers winter luge clinics, cross
country skiing and skijouring at the Muskegon Winter Sports
Complex and Richmond Park (Grand Rapids). He provides the
equipment, coaching and adaptive know how to make your event a
success.
  
Home
www.back2sports.net
United
States Marine Corps
Summer Ski
1995 A-Bason
Big Air in Northern Michigan
October 25th 1997
Park City
Adaptive Ski Team 2000
Park City
Adaptive Ski Team 2001
Park City
Adaptive Ski Team 2002
Career
Highlights
Skiing
- Member of the
Park City Disabled Ski Team 1999 to 2005
- Qualified and
Competed in 6 World Cup Races, 5 US Nationals and the Para
Olympic test events.
- First Para to ski
jump off of the water ramps at the Utah Olympic Park.
2001
- Feature performer
for the Flying Ace All-Stars Utah Olympic Park
- Organized and
coached the first adaptive ski jumping clinic at the Utah
Olympic Park
- Organized and
coached the first Jr. adaptive ski team at the National
Ability Center in Park City Utah
- Feature performer
for the Sprint Ultimate Air Wave at the Utah Olympic Park
ESPN 2003
- Associate coach
Park City Ski Team J4/J5 Team (able body team)
- Aerial Coach UOP
Freestyle Team
Luge
- First Para to
steer a luge sled down the Olympic track in Park City Utah
- First Para in the
world to compete in the sport of luge: Utah Winter Games 4
place 2003
- Organized and
coached first adaptive luge clinic in Muskegon Michigan Feb
2008
- Started The US
Adaptive Luge Team 2008
- PBS
"A WIDER WORLD" 2011
Advocacy
work
- Grand Rapids
Center for independent living.
- Evanston Wyoming
Business Leadership Council.
- National Ability
Center
- SCI Hall of
fame
Professional
Writing and other Press
Speaking
Highlights
- Keynote Speaker
Wyoming MEGA Conference on disabilities
- Guest speaker
Evanston Business leadership Council Governors luncheon
Evanston Wyoming
- University of
Utah Children’s
Hospital
- USA Luge National
Conference keynote speaker.
- Business owners
with disabilties confrence
- Wounded Warror
Para Olympic Training Center
Other
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