In 1948 the University of Illinois was the first college in the United States to establish a collegiate wheelchair basketball team, the University of Illinois Gizz Kids. Under the management and coaching of Dr. Timothy Nugent the U of I wheelchair basketball team held the first National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in April 1949. Later in 1970, the University of Illinois formed the Ms. Kids, the first women’s wheelchair basketball team in country. After twenty nine years of wheelchair basketball, the university hosted the First Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament. Since then, the University of Illinois has hosted a number of Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournaments claiming a total of 29 national championships between the men and women’s teams with the men holding 15 titles and the women 14 respectively. Today, the men’s team is led by head coach Matt Buchi, and the women’s head coach Stephanie Wheeler.
