Top Athletes Among the Short : Sports Activities Bring Couple Love, a Shot at Glory

As youngsters, Scott and Pam Danberg never had the chance to compete in athletic events simply because they were considered too small.

“Even though you tried just as hard, you could never compete against anyone,” said Pam Danberg, who is 4 feet, 2 inches tall.

But that has changed, even if their sizes have not.

This fall, Scott, 25, and Pam, 31, will compete in the 8th annual Paralympics, an international competition for disabled athletes sponsored by the U.S. Olympic Committee, to be held in Seoul.

“This gives us, for the first time as adults, what we never had in childhood,” Pam said. “Now we finally have a chance to compete.”

Members of the Dwarf Athletic Assn. of America, the Tujunga couple was chosen to represent the United States in various track and field and swimming events. Eleven other athletes 4 feet, 10 inches and under were chosen from 95 dwarfs across the country who tried out for the team.

Others eligible to compete in the Paralympics, to be held Oct. 15-24, are amputees, those suffering from cerebral palsy and the blind. All participants in the Paralympics will stay at the Olympic Village in Seoul and compete in events such as archery, wheelchair basketball, cycling, fencing, lawn bowling, power lifting, shooting, soccer, swimming, table tennis, track and field, volleyball and wrestling.

The Danbergs, who were just married Saturday and are off on a week-long Hawaiian honeymoon, are the only husband and wife among the 500 disabled athletes competing from around the world, said Anita Hutcheson, a spokeswoman for the United States Organization for Disabled Athletes.

As dwarfs, Pam and Scott qualify as disabled athletes, but they do not regard themselves as handicapped.

“People look at Scott and me and say ‘where is the disability?’ ” said Pam.

Added Scott, who stands 4 feet, 8 inches, “There are little people half our size. We’re both fortunate. . . . We make the best of what we do have.”

They also have made the most of an athletic partnership that blossomed into romance on the softball field. The couple met four years ago while playing for the Hollywood Shorties, a league of dwarf athletes. Pam was pitcher and Scott was the first baseman.

“I got to watch her pitch all those curve balls,” Scott quipped. “It was pure love from then on.”

These days, Pam and Scott do almost everything together, including training for the upcoming Paralympics.

In order to be in optimum shape for the games, the couple are training with coaches at Cal State Northridge and USC. Pam and Scott also train at a Burbank gym, which has offered them a year’s membership for free.

“He encourages me while I’m working out,” said Pam, an actress turned dialogue coach and stand-in for child actors on the television situation comedy, “Charles in Charge.”

They have received financial assistance from Transamerica Financial Corp. to help cover the costs of air fare, equipment, room and board and training, but still need to raise $3,500 to go to Seoul.

Still, the Danbergs are determined to make the trip.

Scott, a salesman for a North Hollywood company that sells parts for diesel engines, grew up playing sports and swimming with his normal-sized brothers and sisters.

“I was raised as normal as anybody,” Scott said.

But, by the time he reached high school, he realized that the rest of the world did not regard him as normal. So, Scott pursued non-athletic activities in which size was not a factor.

“I took up activities like band because I didn’t know any better,” he said. “I didn’t know I could compete. Once I got with the Hollywood Shorties, I realized I really am athletic.”

He is also modest. Scott has set national swimming records for the disabled in the 25-yard backstroke, the 25-yard freestyle and the 50-yard freestyle. He was referred to as Scott “Mark Spitz” Danberg in a recent article in Palaestra, a sports magazine for the disabled.

“When you’re in the pool the short stature is all taken away from you,” Scott said.

Pam also grew up playing sports with her family. During the qualifying competition for the Paralympics, she set a record in the javelin toss--without having thrown one ever before.

Pam said she and Scott are proud to be representing disabled people in the Paralympics, but emphasized that they want people “to recognize our abilities more than our disabilities.”

“We want to show that little people are not different and awkward, that they’re capable,” Scott said.

They also want to serve as role models for young people.

“It always amazes me how many kids look on me as their big brother,” Scott said.