College Honors Handicapped Entrepreneur

Risk-taking put Don Krebs in a wheelchair 10 years ago. The same daredevil attitude won him recognition this week in the business world.

Krebs, 33, was honored by California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks for founding a mail-order firm that sells recreational equipment to the handicapped. He said he was driven to risk all he had on the business by the same competitive spirit that 10 years ago made him water-ski so fast he fell and broke his neck.

“I’ve always had to outdo everybody else,” Krebs said. “Now that I can’t compete in sports, I get my thrills from business.”

Krebs, who is paralyzed except for the use of his arms, has received national recognition for overcoming his disability. President Reagan appointed him in 1987 to serve on the President’s Disability Advisory Council, and Krebs spoke at a self-help conference at the White House in July.

But, Krebs, whom Reagan called “an American hero,” said he almost committed suicide at age 23 when he learned he would never walk again.

“I looked out my window one day at these three young guys drinking beer and taking a motor out of a car, and I had to cry,” Krebs said. “I’d been water-skiing since I was 4 years old, and I thought I’d never do the thing I loved most again.”

Today, Krebs goes water-skiing as often as he can using a special piece of equipment that resembles a small surfboard with a canvas chair mounted on it. His mail-order catalogue features the water-ski equipment and other recreational devices for the handicapped, such as electronic fishing reels, Frisbees with special handgrips for quadriplegics and four-wheel-drive wheelchairs.

A former construction worker, Krebs sought retraining after his accident because he was determined to be financially independent.

He conceived the idea of a mail-order firm offering recreational products to the handicapped in 1985 while enrolled in a business course at Cal Lutheran.

Armed with an “A+++” on his business proposal from Prof. Howard Becker, Krebs financed the mail-order firm, Access to Recreation, with about $30,000 worth of grants, loans and savings. He mailed the first catalogue to about 14,000 customers earlier this year.

Krebs overcame extraordinary obstacles, said Greg Stone, a business professor at Cal Lutheran who helped select Krebs for the award.

“When you see Don, you’re looking at someone who is constantly oppressed by pain from nerve damage,” Stone said.

Although the business has yet to show a profit, Krebs said, he is thrilled with running it.

“I enjoy talking to my customers every day,” Krebs said. “So many physically challenged people are unemployed and have time to use recreational equipment if it is available.”