Randy Snow, 1959-2009

I had the pleasure of meeting Randy Snow many years ago in Texas. He is from a small town just a few miles down the road from Wills Point, TX, where my family is from.

Randy is a genuine, nice but very driven man. He never let anything stand in his way. I'm happy that I was fortunate to have been an acquaintance of his.

Randy Snow, 1959-2009

The wheelchair sports community lost one of its icons Nov. 19 when Randy Snow — wheelchair tennis pioneer, four-time Paralympics competitor and the first wheelchair athlete inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame — died unexpectedly at age 50.

"According to the Dallas Morning News, Snow died of an apparent heart attack in his hotel room in El Salvador, where he had been teaching wheelchair tennis.

Born in Terrell, Texas, Snow was a state-ranked tennis player as a teenager before sustaining a spinal cord injury in 1975. A few years later, while a student at the University of Texas at Austin, he formed a wheelchair basketball team and also began racing. In the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Snow competed in a 1,500-meter wheelchair race as an exhibition event, winning a silver medal and receiving a standing ovation — the first Paralympic event to receive wide public exposure.

He won two gold medals in tennis at the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona, and was a member of the U.S. wheelchair basketball team that won the bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games. To date, he is the only athlete to have won medals in three different sports.

Remarking on his death, those who knew him praised him as a trailblazer in wheelchair sports, a worthy opponent and a loyal friend.

“When I first got injured 25 years ago, I met Randy six months later — we were friends from the get-go,” says fellow wheelchair tennis player Rick Cooper. “He was very outgoing, very friendly, very talented — he was such a gifted athlete.

When I saw the level of tennis that Randy played, I wanted to get to that level. He never let disability hold him back. And he made anybody and everybody that he met feel important.”

Click here for the full story.

Thank you Randy for living your life fully and sharing your talent with the world.

Sharon

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act

Visit Veterans Employment Information for guidelines and current information on the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) Training.

The site provides the basic information to be used by Federal executive branch agencies in conducting training required by the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2008, Public Law 110-389, regarding USERRA and Federal employment.

Who Is Entitled To Veterans’ Preference In Employment?

Five-point preference is given to those honorably separated veterans (this means an honorable or general discharge) who served on active duty (not active duty for training) in the Armed Forces:

during any war (this means a war declared by Congress, the last of which was World War II);
during the period April 28, 1952, through July 1, 1955;
for more than 180 consecutive days, any part of which occurred after January 31, 1955, and before October 15, 1976;
during the Gulf War period beginning August 2, 1990, and ending January 2, 1992; or
for more than 180 consecutive days, any part of which occurred during the period beginning September 11, 2001, and ending on the date prescribed by Presidential proclamation or by law as the last day of Operation Iraqi Freedom; or
in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign medal has been authorized, such as El Salvador, Lebanon, Granada, Panama, Southwest Asia, Somalia, and Haiti.
Medal holders and Gulf War veterans who originally enlisted after September 7, 1980, or entered on active duty on or after October 14, 1982, without having previously completed 24 months of continuous active duty, must have served continuously for 24 months or the full period called or ordered to active duty.

Effective on October 1, 1980, military retirees at or above the rank of major or equivalent, are not entitled to preference unless they qualify as disabled veterans.

Ten-point preference is given to:

those honorably separated veterans who 1) qualify as disabled veterans because they have served on active duty in the Armed Forces (including training service in the Reserves or National Guard) at any time and have a present service-connected disability or are receiving compensation, disability retirement benefits, or pension from the military or the Department of Veterans Affairs; or 2) are Purple Heart recipients;
the spouse of a veteran unable to work because of a service-connected disability;
the unmarried widow of certain deceased veterans; and
the mother of a veteran who died in service or who is permanently and totally disabled.
When applying for Federal jobs, eligible veterans should claim preference on their application or resume. Applicants claiming 10-point preference must complete form SF-15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference. Veterans who are still in the service may be granted 5 points tentative preference on the basis of information contained in their applications, but they must produce a DD Form 214 prior to appointment to document entitlement to preference.

Note: Reservists who are retired from the Reserves but are not receiving retired pay are not considered "retired military" for purposes of veterans' preference.

The Department of Labor's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Veterans Employment and Training Service developed an "expert system" to help veterans receive the preferences to which they are entitled. Two versions of this system are currently available, both of which help the veterans determine the type of preference to which they are entitled, the benefits associated with the preference and the steps necessary to file a complaint due to the failure of a Federal Agency to provide those benefits. To find out whether you qualify for veterans’ preference, visit America's Job Bank, operated by the Department of Labor (DOL).

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