ANAHEIM : Disabled Athlete Lauded for Fortitude

When Bill Demby lost both legs below the knees in Vietnam, his first thought was of his mother reminding him that he was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But on Sunday, as he was named 1990 Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the Year, Demby was convinced that his fortunes have turned around.

Demby, 39, was honored at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers by the Disabled American Veterans for overcoming his injuries to become an outstanding athlete in a variety of sports including basketball, skiing, and track and field. He was also cited for being an inspiration for the disabled through television and radio talk show appearances.

Demby, a native of Price, Md., who now lives just outside Washington, became a spokesman for the disabled after a 1987 Du Pont Co. television commercial featured him playing basketball on artificial legs.

“I’ve now been in the right place at the right time,” said Demby, who walks with little indication of his disability.

In 1987, he was playing basketball at a tournament in Tennessee when, by chance, Du Pont officials spotted him and several other handicapped players and asked if any would like to be considered for a role in the commercial. Five athletes were flown to New York for interviews, and Demby ultimately was chosen.

Demby was injured on March 26, 1971, when a rocket struck the driver’s door of his gun truck in Quang Tri, South Vietnam, near the Laotion border. He lost his left leg at the knee; his right leg, above the foot. Demby said he remained conscious throughout the ordeal.

“I remember everything that happened,” he said. “I knew the leg was off because I saw it lying there on the ground.”

After he was treated in Vietnam, Demby was flown home and spent a year at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, where he met his wife, Toni.

Seven months after he was injured, he learned to walk using prosthetic devices. But the nightmare of the experience was difficult to overcome, and he became addicted to alcohol and drugs.

“I guess it was a way to forget,” he said. It took several years to fight off his addictions.

“I just slowly got myself off,” Demby said. “There’s a stigma attached to Vietnam vets that they are drug addicts. I didn’t want to confirm that stigma.”

Demby, a top basketball player in high school, said sports helped turn his life around by restoring his self-confidence.

At a track event, he saw one severely disabled man compete against other handicapped athletes in a 1,500-meter wheelchair race. The others whizzed by him, but the man kept going, even though he finished 10 minutes behind the rest.

“That inspired me,” Demby said. “I said, ‘Damn that guy doesn’t quit.’ ”

He took up skiing and now is a certified instructor with the National Handicapped Sports Assn.’s “Learn to Ski” program. He also participates in wheelchair basketball, track and field, wheelchair volleyball and auto racing. He holds the national amputee record in the shot put, discus and javelin throws.