Mark Zupan (sportsman)
Zupan at the SXSW 20X2, March 16, 2009
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| Date of birth | 20 May 1975 |
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| Place of birth | Cleveland, Ohio |
Mark Zupan (born May 20, 1975) is a wheelchair rugby player and the captain of the United States wheelchair rugby team which competed in the Paralympic Games in 2004. He is best known for his appearance in the 2005 film Murderball. Zupan was also a part of the 2008 United States gold winning team at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
Zupan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Thomas and Linda Zupan. He played varsity football and soccer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, earning him a scholarship to Florida Atlantic University.
After a soccer game on October 14, 1993, Zupan got drunk with teammates at a bar and then crawled into the back of friend Chris Igoe's truck to sleep. Some time later Igoe left the bar unaware that Zupan was asleep in the back. Driving drunk, Igoe spun out and Zupan was thrown from the pickup bed, over a fence, and into a canal, where he held onto a branch for 14 hours until being discovered by a passerby. He went into hypothermia and became paraplegic as a result of the accident. Zupan has incomplete quadriplegia and is able to walk for short distances with crutches.
After his accident, Zupan graduated from Georgia Tech, became a two-time quad rugby national champion, the 2004 quad rugby player of the year. He was a member of the bronze medal-winning U.S. team at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, and the gold medal-winning team at the 2008 Games. He is a resident of Austin, Texas.
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