Harold Scharper Award Recipients
Harold Scharper was the first paraplegic to attend the University of Illinois. Following his death in 1950,
members of the Delta Sigma Omicron rehabilitation service fraternity and friends established the Harold Scharper
Awards in his memory. Presented by the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services, the awards are a
tribute to the example he set for others with disabilities and are given in recognition of his preference that the
unselfish achievements and services of others be recognized above all other things.
Carl Suter accepts his Scharper Award from Dean Tanya Gallagher.
Harold Scharper Achievement Award
Carl Suter
Chief Executive Officer, Retired
Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation
Bethesda, Maryland
Carl Suter retired last fall from his position as Chief Executive Officer of the Council of State Administrators
of Vocational Rehabilitation, a position he had held since November, 2001. He waged many successful legislative
battles to protect funding for vocational rehabilitation services, including securing an additional 540 million
dollars for vocational rehabilitation in the stimulus bill. Prior to his service at the national level, Mr. Suter
served as associate director of the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, executive director of the
Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, and director of the Illinois Office of Rehabilitation Services.
He led efforts to reform the Illinois Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program, which resulted in vast
improvements in the assistance provided to citizens with disabilities, and also spearheaded the creation and
implementation of the Community Reintegration Program, which provided state funds to assist people with disabilities
in moving back into their communities from nursing homes. In 2005, he was named the Justin Hart Distinguished
Citizen of the Year by the Illinois Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities. Mr. Suter received his bachelor's
degree in speech communication from the University of Illinois in 1977.
Tom Brown accepts his award from Dean Tanya Gallagher.
Harold Scharper Humanitarian Award
Thomas R. Brown
Director
National Veterans Wheelchair Games
San Antonio, Texas
At the University of Illinois, Thomas Brown earned a bachelor's degree in music education in 1971 and a master's
degree in therapeutic recreation in 1972. His career in recreation therapy started at the McGuire Veterans
Administration Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia. A former wheelchair athlete, Mr. Brown assisted the VA in
creating the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in 1981. They have become the largest annual wheelchair sports
event in the world. He served as the national coordinator of the games until 1999, when he was named director.
In January, he was named acting director of the Office of National Programs and Special Events in the Department of
Veterans Affairs. Mr. Brown set nine individual scoring records in National Wheelchair Basketball Association
tournaments between 1967 and 1974. He also earned five gold and nine silver medals in track and field as a member
of the U.S. Pan American teams in 1969 and 1971. He has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame's
Wheelchair Basketball Division and the Wheelchair Sports USA Hall of Fame.