Tech Faculty Member Goes for Paralympic Gold Saturday

The 2012 London Paralympic Games are underway and Cassie Mitchell, a research faculty member in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, will be competing in three events as a member of the USA Track and Field team.

Mitchell is set to compete in the Women's T52 100 Meters on Saturday. The finals are set for 3:15 p.m. EST. On Sept. 5, she will compete in the T52 200 meters and then the F51-52-53 Discus on Sept. 7.

View the events live on-line at paralympic.org. Read more about Mitchell here.

On Saturday, Mitchell will be competing in a chair designed by Barry Ewing, owner of Eagle Sportschairs in Snellville. Ewing started building wheelchairs in 1979, after his brother-in-law was hurt in a car accident. His brother, a paraplegic, wanted to play sports despite his challenges, and Ewing jumped at the opportunity. 

At that time, there were no sports wheelchairs. Now, his company is internationally recognized. In addition to Mitchell, Tatyana McFadden, a six-time Paralympic medalist, also uses Ewings chairs.

Soon, Ewing will head to South America to design chairs for the disabled population there. He also builds wheelchairs for Wounded Warriors and partners with the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Eagle Sports Chairs designs and builds around 400 chairs a year from scratch in the workshop behind Ewing's house. 

“My father bought 50 acres back in ’44,” he said. “He paid $1,000 for it at the courthouse.” 

Born and bred in Snellville, he plans on keeping the operation on his family's land. He employs around 10 people who come in from all over Atlanta, including welders and master craftsmen. 

No wheelchairs are kept in stock since each one is built for a specific person. 

Ewing has served as the equipment manager for Team USA and has traveled all over the world. This year, his son, Jonathan, will serve instead. Although Jonathan now owns an Italian restaurant in Milledgeville, he is still involved in the family business. 

“He grew up while I was doing all this,” said Ewing.  “He went to a lot of the events.”

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