"Murderball" Athlete to Present on Campus

Bob Lujano

Bob Lujano, a Paralympic rugby athlete who was featured in the documentary film “Murderball” will be presenting "No Arms, No Legs, No Problem!" at 7 p.m., Feb. 22, in Baldwin Auditorium.

Lujano will be speaking about the sport of wheelchair rugby, his involvement in the film “Murderball,” and living life with a disability.
Lujano was born in Wichita, Kan., and graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a Bachelor of Arts in pre-law. He holds a M.S. in sports management from the University of Tennessee. He’s also a quadruple amputee. On Jan. 7, 1979, he lost limbs below the elbow and above the knee, due to a rare blood disease called Meningococcemia, a rare form of meningitis.

In July 2005, Lujano was featured in the documentary “Murderball.” This film, winner of the best documentary award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, treks the trials and tribulations of the United States quad rugby team as they prepare for the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.
 
The sport of "Murderball," quad rugby, combines the finesse of soccer with the bone-jarring collisions of a demolition derby. The athletes use custom wheelchairs that look like something out of a “Mad Max” movie. Players careen around the court with reckless abandon, like a rock-em-sock-em NHL on wheels. They smash. They spill. They swear. They score. During the process, they also unwittingly seek and destroy stereotypes about people with spinal cord injuries.

In his 10 years of playing quad rugby, Lujano has won five U.S. Quad Rugby National Championships with the Lakeshore Demolition of Birmingham, Ala., and three medals playing rugby for Team U.S.A.:  a gold at the 1999 World Wheelchair Games, a silver at the World Championships, and a bronze at the 2004 Paralympics. For seven years he has worked at the Lakeshore Foundation, an official U.S. Paralympic Training Site, as Coordinator of Athletics.

Lujano’s presentation is sponsored by Pi Kappa Phi, with funding from the Funds Allotment Council and the Residential College Program. All students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to attend free of charge. There will also be a free screening of the film “Murderball” at 2 p.m., Feb. 19, in Violette Hall 1000. Contact Lukin Murphy at 785.7162 for more details.