Mazyck wins NVWG honor
By Brittany Martin and John Groth
The sky is the limit for Centra “CeCe” Mazyck.
After being named the Spirit of the Games award winner Tuesday night at the closing ceremony of the 45th National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Detroit, the 50-year-old Army veteran and Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Southeastern Chapter member was nearly speechless.
“If I knew, I would have worn a better outfit,” she joked as she accepted the award in the Huntington Place convention center ballroom. “It’s been a whirlwind, ups and downs and all arounds, but I have you to thank for being in my corner, cheering me on. I just want to say thank you. There’s nothing that we can’t do, guys. Nothing. Nothing. The sky is the limit, the sky is the limit.”
Mazyck, who served from 1995 to 2005 and sustained a level L1-L2 spinal cord injury (SCI) during a routine parachute jump in 2003, says she was humbled by the honor.
“Even if I didn’t win it, the joy of just coming here every single year and just catching up with my fellow veterans, seeing their progression, seeing what I can do different, seeing what I can do to help them progress in their sport is amazing,” she says.
Look for more about Mazyck in a future issue of PN magazine.
Mazyck’s award capped a night of celebration, but the competition itself produced no shortage of memorable performances across the Games.
Some Super Moments
Darnell Calahan defended his National Veterans Wheelchair Games Super G wheelchair obstacle course title. And the PVA Nevada Chapter member did it despite drawing an unlucky number and being the first athlete to go and try out the course. He joked that next year that can’t happen again.
A 31-year-old Army veteran, Calahan finished the Super G course in 3 minutes and 51.03 seconds — beating out runner-up and PVA Northwest Chapter member Russ Norris by 5 seconds — inside the Huntington Place convention center in Detroit. It marked his second straight Super G title after taking the championship at the 2025 NVWG in Minneapolis last year.
Eight athletes competed in the event, as the top two athletes in each of the obstacle course known as slalom classification divisions get a coveted spot.
Before the event started, each athlete drew a number to pick his or her starting order. Ironically enough, it was Norris who drew No. 1 and Calahan who picked No. 2. And Norris chose to go last, which meant Calahan had to go first.
“I can’t do well unless I see people go through the course first. They walk you through it. They give you instructions, but I don’t be paying attention. I can’t. My brain is like, ‘I gotta see people actually do it,’” says Calahan, who’s in his third year at the NVWG and who sustained a level T11/T12 SCI Jan. 5, 2019, in Georgia when a tree fell on him. “So, in doing it, I had to ask a few questions while I was on the course of where I’m supposed to be and where I’m not supposed to be. So, that makes it hard.”
A couple of new obstacles were added this year, including a giant inflatable soccer ball that athletes had to push out of the way up a ramp and a series of curb cuts that athletes had to move their wheelchair over before heading into the rock, gravel and sand pit.
Calahan, who served from 2017 to 2019 as a human resources specialist, says those curb cut obstacles and then the rock, gravel and sand pit were the hardest.
Meanwhile, in the motorized wheelchair Super M obstacle course event, Lee Harris finally captured his elusive title.
After qualifying for the Super M final at the 2023 NVWG in Portland, Ore., the PVA Buckeye Chapter member and Army veteran missed out because his wife, Brenda, was dealing with a medical issue. Harris, 56, missed the 2024 NVWG in New Orleans because of left shoulder surgery and then made the 2025 NVWG Super M final and finished runner-up.
This year, though, was another story — and Brenda and their 6-year-old daughter, Elaina, got to watch him take the title in 2:37.33.
“I love having them here watching it. It kind of gives me a little a little more boost to try to do better,” Harris says.
A Leesburg, Ohio, resident, Harris didn’t have to go until fifth of the eight competitors, and he says watching what others did helped him shave off some time.
“It’s just I love doing it. I love the course. And I studied as we went through it. And I just watch how some of the other ones handle it first and try to fix their mistakes with mine, with doing it without their mistakes,” says Harris, who served from 1988 to 1990 in infantry airborne and sustained a level C6 SCI on Oct. 1, 1989, as a passenger in a car accident. “[I learned] just that the speed bumps were an issue. They do throw you, OK? … I have issues backing up. I can’t really grip it [the joystick] anymore. As time goes on, my hands are getting worse.”
From the obstacle course, the action shifted to the pickleball courts, where a new pairing broke a three-year streak.
New Wheelchair Pickleball Champions
For the first time in three years, there’s a new wheelchair pickleball doubles team champion.
Edwin Dunfee and Justin Hall defeated Lisa Maddox and Michael Bishop Jr., 12-10, 11-5, for the advanced wheelchair pickleball doubles championship Tuesday morning inside the Huntington Place convention center in Detroit.
Dunfee and Hall had never played together before, but the pair hope to play as wheelchair pickleball partners in more NVWGs and tournaments together.
Hall says he was actually frustrated with his own play to start because he kept cutting Dunfee off on shots that he later realized Dunfee actually had.
“He can move. So, I would look back and he’s right there. I’m like, ‘Oh no, my bad,’” Hall says.
The two championship matches — advanced and beginner — went best two-of-three games, and each game was played to 11 and you had to win by two points.
A 67-year-old Philadelphia resident, Dunfee is a Navy veteran who served from 1976 to 1981 in interior communications and has a level L4-S1 SCI. Hall is a 39-year-old Grovetown, Ga., resident who served from 2009 to 2010 as explosive ordnance disposal. He developed an autoimmune disease in 2010, and in 2019 it completely paralyzed him.
Trailing 10-7 in the first game, they scored the final five points to win, and they continued their roll in the second game.
“They’re both very good players. So, at the end, I was using placement, like where they were positioned at waiting for the serve,” Hall says. “I would just either put a lot of spin and check it out to the side and they would have to chase it down and couldn’t get there, or they would expect that and I would just do a power serve and it would be right on them.”
Jimmy Green and Joe Wittkamp captured the beginner wheelchair pickleball doubles title, as they defeated Jesse Lind and Jim Beilfuss two games to none in the championship match.
The pair have known each other since 2001 when they met on a bus to go to wheelchair basketball for the 2001 NWVG in New York City. They’ve also won a National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Division III championship together.
A 57-year-old Army veteran and PVA Central Florida Chapter member, Green served from 1986 to 1988 as a missile gunner. He sustained a level L1 incomplete SCI after being in the back of a vehicle that rolled over in Fort Lewis, Wash., in 1987. Meanwhile, Wittkamp is a Navy veteran and PVA Buckeye Chapter member who served from 1989 to 1994 and sustained a level T8 SCI on Oct. 7, 1993, in a motor vehicle accident in North Carolina.
Green says he likes doubles wheelchair pickleball because it’s a team sport and that you get to choose your partner for it.
“So, me and Joe always play together. And you know, it’s just, I enjoy the game, I love it. I never really cared for tennis — the racket, the handle of the racket is too big and you’ve got to cover so much ground. But when I when I found out they were doing pickleball here, I was excited because I didn’t know much about it, but I knew it was kind of a small-court tennis,” Green says. “So, yeah, I love it. And they need to keep this as a forever event like basketball and softball.”
Green and Wittkamp weren’t done for the day — they doubled up on gold just a short time later on the cornhole boards.
Cornhole Champions
The dynamic duo of Joe Wittcamp and Jimmy Green captured the gold medal in the NVWG cornhole finals Tuesday at Huntington Place convention center in Detroit.
Immediately after winning gold in the beginner wheelchair pickleball doubles finals, they edged out Chuck Armstead and Gene Calantoc, 21-19, following an evenly matched cornhole battle.
“Sometimes, it just comes down to being an athlete, learning the rules and going from there, and that’s kind of how we’ve been able to achieve some success,” says Green.
For Wittcamp and Green, it was redemption for their bronze-medal win in last year’s NVWG cornhole finals. Green says there was a little luck involved, and he enjoys playing cornhole with Wittcamp.
“It’s not just because Joe’s really good. It’s because we’ve been good friends since 2001,” Green says. “We met at the Games in New York the first time, and we’ve been really good friends ever since. The fact that I can do it with Joe, that’s what I like most about it.”
Team Shock Wins Basketball
Team Shock pulled away in the second half and rolled to a 58-39 victory over Team Diesel in the wheelchair basketball championship Tuesday afternoon inside the Huntington Place convention center in Detroit.
Team Shock player and Army veteran Christopher Pettway competed in his first NVWG this year. After competing in wheelchair softball and cornhole earlier, he finally won his first medal. Even better, it was a gold.
“I mean I got placed on a good team for basketball,” Pettway says. “So, like I said, it was nice to finally win a medal.”
Pettway, who served from 1992 to 2009 in track vehicle repair, is a bilateral amputee after sustaining injuries in a Jan. 27, 2007, motorcycle accident in Killeen, Texas. Some of his friends in Texas convinced him to come this year, and he’s glad he did.
“Most of the people on our team were experienced,” Pettway says. “ … We got to run and push, and we were a little more faster than the other teams. So, we were able to get out and push on them.”
Team Huron Races To Rugby
Team Huron closed with a strong second half to beat Team Superior, 47-34, in Tuesday afternoon’s wheelchair rugby championship game inside the Huntington Place convention center in Detroit.
That title helped Army veteran Steven Lewis close his Games with a gold medal.
A Wesley Chapel, Fla., resident, Lewis served from 1985 to 2006 and sustained a level C3/C4 injury and was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a condition that causes collections of immune system cells in any part of the body, from affects of the burn pits in Iraq.
He’s been attending the Games since 2012 and has played wheelchair rugby for the past five years.
“It’s just you just get to see some people that you don’t see ever. So, now you get to see them once a year,” Lewis says.
Team Dart Holds On
Team Dart drove their way to the power soccer gold medal Tuesday night at the NVWG in Detroit.
Team Dart defeated Team Mustang, 1-0, inside the Huntington Place convention center. Army veteran and PVA member-at-large Jessie Oliff scored the lone goal and was also named to the power soccer all-star team.
The Richmond, Va., resident served from 2002 to 2008 and sustained a level L4/L5 SCI during service in 2005.
After missing out on power soccer during the 2024 NVWG in New Orleans because of an infection, she was happy to be back — and to take the championship away from her friend and fellow Virginia Power Soccer Association player Amy McKee.
“For us to be able to represent Virginia Power Soccer and the U.S. Power Soccer Association and play against each other at the championship level, it’s amazing,” Oliff says. “And for me to beat her, because she’s been on a gold streak the last four years, and for me to come in here and just take that away from her, it means absolutely everything to me. She’s a little ticked, but she loves me.”
She says teamwork and camaraderie put Team Dart over the top.
“Just because I know so much as a coach and playing competitively, I can’t do it alone,” Oliffsays. “I cannot do it without my teammates.”
Not every event took place inside Huntington Place, though — Tuesday morning’s fishing tournament brought competitors out to the water at Belle Isle.
Catching, Not Fishing
Navy veteran and PVA Keystone Chapter member Tom Strang (Canonsburg, Pa.) took home both the individual and team gold medals at the NVWG bank fishing tournament Tuesday morning at Belle Isle in Detroit. His 3.17-pound catch beat Paul Stewart (one fish, 2.86 pounds) and Glenn Mayes (one fish, 1.40 pounds).
Stewart and Margarita Hernandez took second-place in the team division, while Mayes took third. This year’s competition didn’t have a boat division.
Strang, who served from 1960 to 1963 and sustained a level T10-T11 SCI in a fall at home in 1991, says he enjoyed the location and was happy about his catch.
“That was amazing. That was as good as it gets,” he says.
He used a Pop-R lure to bring in his winning bass. He doesn’t normally use topwater lures, but because of the river’s rocky bottom, he didn’t want to snag his line.
“What I like about fishing is catching fish,” Strang says. “When I go I want to catch fish. I don’t care if they’re bluegills, bass, catfish. Whatever it is, I want to catch them. I don’t go fishing. I go catching.”