{{short description|Australian Paralympic athlete}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2011}} {{Infobox sportsperson| | name = Frank Ponta | image = | image_size = | caption = | full_name = Francis Ettore Ponta | nicknames = | nationality = {{AUS}} | club = | collegeteam = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1935|11|8}} | birth_place = Subiaco, Western Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2011|06|1|1935|11|8}} | death_place = Perth, Australia | height = | weight = | medaltemplates= {{MedalSport | Men's athletics}} {{MedalCompetition|Paralympic Games}} {{MedalSilver | 1960 Rome | Precision Javelin}} {{MedalSport | Wheelchair fencing}} {{MedalCompetition|Stoke Mandeville Games}} {{MedalGold | {{nowrap|1957 Stoke Mandeville}} | Foil Novice team}} {{MedalCompetition|Paralympic Games}} {{MedalSilver | 1960 Rome | {{nowrap|Foil Novice Individual}}}} {{MedalSport | Paralympic swimming}} {{MedalCompetition|Paralympic Games}} {{MedalGold | 1964 Tokyo | 25 m freestyle}} {{MedalBronze | 1968 Tel Aviv | 25 m backstroke}} }}
'''Francis Ettore Ponta'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-29/sauvage-inaugural-paralympic-hall-of-famer/2861094/?site=paralympics/2010|title=Sauvage inaugural Paralympic Hall of Famer|work=ABC News|date=29 August 2011|access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref> (8 November 1935 – 1 June 2011) was an Australian Paralympic competitor and coach. He competed in several sports including basketball, pentathlon, swimming and fencing. A paraplegic, he lost the use of both his legs after a tumour was removed from his spinal column when he was a teenager. Ponta was a member of Australia's first national wheelchair basketball team, and is credited with expanding the sport of wheelchair basketball in Western Australia. At the end of his competitive career, he became a coach, working with athletes such as Louise Sauvage, Priya Cooper, Madison de Rozario, Bruce Wallrodt and Bryan Stitfall. He died on 1 June 2011 at the age of 75 after a long illness.
==Early life and athletic career== Ponta was born in the Perth suburb of Subiaco on 8 November 1935, as the eldest of nine children. In 1947 he moved to Geraldton because his father had a job there in the building trade. He attended Christian Brothers schools in Leederville and Geraldton.<ref name="interview">{{cite web|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4901272|title=Frank Ponta interviewed by Robin Poke|work=Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project|publisher=National Library of Australia|access-date=24 August 2011}}</ref>
At the age of fourteen or fifteen, he injured his back while diving off a wharf in Geraldton, which aggravated a tumour in his spinal column. The tumour was diagnosed when he was 17 and after it was removed, he lost the use of both his legs. He entered the spinal injury ward at Royal Perth Hospital in 1954 for rehabilitation, where he was trained in sports by John "Johno" Johnston.<ref name="interview"/>
When Ponta began his competitive career, he played several sports, in common with most paraplegic athletes at the time. He competed in basketball, pentathlon, swimming and fencing.<ref name=first-national>{{cite web|url=http://seniorwheelieswa.com/page62.php|title=How it all started|publisher=Senior Wheelies WA|first=Cliff|last=Rickard|access-date=24 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331044242/http://seniorwheelieswa.com/page62.php|archive-date=31 March 2012}}</ref> Ponta was a member of the first national wheelchair basketball team for Australia, formed in 1956, mostly composed of players from the spinal injury ward of Royal Perth Hospital.<ref name=first-national/>
==Competitive athletic career== right|200px|Australian Paralympic Team members in the in-field at the athletics during the 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Games. From left (seated) Frank Ponta, team official John Johnston, Elizabeth Edmondson, unknown and Bill Mather-Brown In 1957, Ponta competed at the Stoke Mandeville Games, the precursor to the Paralympic Games. He and teammate Bill Mather-Brown won a gold medal in Foil Novice team at the wheelchair fencing event.<ref name=fencing-1957>{{cite web|url=http://www.dsa.org.au/life_site/text/sport/index.html |access-date=24 August 2011 |publisher=Disability Services Australia |title=The history of people with disabilities in Australia – 100 years |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213172131/http://www.dsa.org.au/life_site/text/sport/index.html |archive-date=13 February 2012 }}</ref> In the same year, Ponta and Mather-Brown also competed at the Welsh Challenge Cup, where the pair also won gold.<ref name=book-long-126>{{cite web|page=126|url=http://www.rph.health.wa.gov.au/library/documents/West_of_Subiaco.pdf|title=West of Subiaco, A history of the Shenton Park Campus|first=Philippa|last=Martyr|access-date=24 August 2011|archive-date=6 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406084541/http://www.rph.health.wa.gov.au/library/documents/West_of_Subiaco.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Ponta competed in five Paralympic Games, including the first one held in Rome in 1960. As a Paralympic competitor, he won a gold medal, two silver medals and a bronze medal. He competed in several sports including wheelchair racing, wheelchair fencing, swimming and wheelchair basketball.<ref name=death/><ref name="wheelchairscanjump">{{cite web|url=http://wheelchairscanjump.com/rosters/WCJ_TR01_Paralympics-Men_A.pdf|title=Team Rosters:Paralympic Games (Men) 1960–1980|publisher=Wheelchairs Can Jump|first1=Stan|last1=Labanowich|first2=Armand|last2=Thiboutot|access-date=26 April 2012|archive-date=26 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426085404/http://wheelchairscanjump.com/rosters/WCJ_TR01_Paralympics-Men_A.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
At the 1960 Summer Paralympics, he competed in the Men's Precision Javelin, where he won a silver medal.<ref name="IPC-record">{{cite web |url=https://www.paralympic.org/frank-ponta |title=Frank Ponta |website=Paralympic.org |publisher=International Paralympic Committee |access-date=}}</ref> He was a member of the Australian wheelchair basketball team at the 1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Perth.<ref name="craven-64">{{cite book|title=The 50th anniversary of wheelchair basketball : a history|first1=Horst|last1=Strohkendl|first2=Armand|last2=Thiboutot|first3=Philip|last3=Craven|location=New York|publisher=Waxmann|year=1996|oclc= 35820139|isbn=3-89325-441-2|page=64}}</ref> At the 1964 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Ponta competed in Class 2 Men's swimming in the 25 m breaststroke event, where he failed to medal. At those same games, he also competed in the class 2 Men's 25 m Freestyle Supine event, where he won a gold medal.<ref name="IPC-record" /> He also competed in wheelchair fencing at the 1964 Games in the Eppee Team event, where he did not medal, and the Men's Foil Novice Individual, where he won a silver medal.<ref name="IPC-record" /> At the 1968 Tel Aviv Games, he competed in the Class 2 Men's 25 m Breaststroke event, where he failed to medal. He also competed in the Men's 25 m Backstroke, where he won a bronze medal.<ref name="IPC-record" /> He also competed in the 100 m Wheelchair race, the pentathlon complete, precision javelin open, slalom a, and in the wheelchair basketball team. He did not medal in any of these events.<ref name="wheelchairscanjump" /><ref name="IPC-record" />
He competed without winning a medal at the 1972 Heidelberg Games in the discus, javelin, precision javelin, and the wheelchair basketball team.<ref name="wheelchairscanjump" /><ref name="IPC-record" /> At the 1976 Toronto Games, he competed in the discus, javelin, pentathlon, precision javelin, and shot put events, and was also part of the wheelchair basketball team. He did not medal in any of these events.<ref name="wheelchairscanjump" /><ref name="IPC-record" />
==Coaching career== {{Quote box |align=right |width=20% |quote=Sometimes Rita and other parents thought I was too tough on kids. 'You push them too hard.' they'd say. 'Bloody rubbish,' I'd respond. 'If we don't do it this way we're never going to get anything out of them and they're never going to learn and improve.' Yes, I've pushed kids through the barriers that exist. Mainly I just give them the facts: 'You've got to work hard … you've got to train four or five days a week'. |source=Frank Ponta<ref name=sauvage-21>{{cite book|last1=Sauvage|first1=Louise|first2=Ian|last2=Heads|title=Louise Sauvage : my story|page=21|location=Pymble, NSW. |publisher=HarperCollins|year=2002|isbn= 0-7322-7263-7 |oclc= 155673061}}</ref> }}
Ponta coached several medal winning Paralympic athletes including Louise Sauvage and Priya Cooper.<ref name=death/> He was Sauvage's first coach, starting when Sauvage was a junior competitor. Sauvage described Ponta's coaching style as patient.<ref name=sauvage-21/>
Ponta was influential in developing junior wheelchair sports in Western Australia and the rest of the country.<ref name=WCSP-2009>{{cite web|publisher=Wheelchair Sport WA |url=http://www.wheelchairsportswa.org.au/history.htm |year=2009 |access-date=24 August 2011 |title=Wheelchair Sport WA – History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823024933/http://www.wheelchairsportswa.org.au/history.htm |archive-date=23 August 2011 }}</ref> Ponta pushed junior athletes to make something of themselves and put an emphasis on sportsmanship.<ref name=sauvage-21/><ref name=sauvage-22>{{cite book|last1=Sauvage|first1=Louise|first2=Ian|last2=Heads|title=Louise Sauvage : my story|page=22|location=Pymble, NSW. |publisher=HarperCollins|year=2002|isbn= 0-7322-7263-7 |oclc= 155673061}}</ref> He is described by the Western Australian government as having devoted his life to the Wheelchair Sport Association as a coach and role model.<ref name=wa-gov>{{cite web|url=http://www.perth.wa.gov.au/documentdb/309.pdf|page=11|title=Western Australia's 100 Local Champions|publisher=Government of Western Australia|access-date=24 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927003123/http://www.perth.wa.gov.au/documentdb/309.pdf|archive-date=27 September 2011}}</ref>
One of Ponta's coaching skills was identifying which events that junior athletes would excel at. He did this with several athletes, including Sauvage. He transformed her from a sprinter to a middle and long distance competitor.<ref name=sauvage-38>{{cite book|last1=Sauvage|first1=Louise|first2=Ian|last2=Heads|title=Louise Sauvage : my story|page=38|location=Pymble, NSW. |publisher=HarperCollins|year=2002|isbn= 0-7322-7263-7 |oclc= 155673061}}</ref><ref name=sauvage-39>{{cite book|last1=Sauvage|first1=Louise|first2=Ian|last2=Heads|title=Louise Sauvage : my story|page=39|location=Pymble, NSW. |publisher=HarperCollins|year=2002|isbn= 0-7322-7263-7 |oclc= 155673061}}</ref>
Ponta coached Madison de Rozario, who won a medal at the 2008 Paralympic Games. de Rozario considers Frank Ponta one of her heroes. In 2003 and 2004, he coached athletics competitors Bruce Wallrodt and Bryan Stitfall, who had won a Western Australian Institute of Sport scholarship.<ref name=wais-2003>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/tabledpapers.nsf/displaypaper/3622884aaf13b2769379436c48256f33001698d2/$file/wa+institute+of+sport+inside.pdf|publisher=Western Australian Institute of Sport|access-date=24 August 2011|page=18|year=2004|title=2003/2004 Yearbook and Annual Report}}</ref>
==Wheelchair basketball== Ponta is credited with developing wheelchair basketball in Western Australia.<ref name=WCSP-2009/> He is described as a pioneer of the sport. Organisations such as Australian Athletes With A Disability credit Ponta with being a driving force for the development of the sport in Western Australia.<ref name=Ponta-pioneer /> He is considered by organisations such as Disability Services Australia as one of the greatest wheelchair basketball players ever.<ref name=fencing-1957/>
The Frank Ponta Trophy tournament was introduced by Basketball Australia in 2010.<ref name=aawad-2010>{{cite web|url=http://www.sports.org.au/newsletter/19-2010/91-march-april-2010.html|title=Newsletter – March – April 2010|publisher=Australian Athletes With A Disability|access-date=24 August 2011|date=19 Mar 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823015353/http://www.sports.org.au/newsletter/19-2010/91-march-april-2010.html|archive-date=23 August 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Ponta coached the Western Australian youth team. He would remove any players who did not show good sportsmanship.<ref name="sauvage-39"/>
==Personal life== Ponta married Margaret, a nurse, in 1962. They had four children: Mark, Andrew, Tanya, and Jamie.<ref name="interview"/>
In July 2008, he had a stroke, which restricted his movement to his right arm and left him "virtually bedridden".<ref name=Western-2010/> Shortly after his stroke, he tried to get admitted to the quadriplegic centre in the Royal Perth Hospital Shenton Park Campus. His request was denied, despite having been one of the first patients at the campus. Several high-profile individuals tried to intercede on his behalf including Sue Ellery, Louise Sauvage and Bill Mather-Brown. The hospital argued against admission on the grounds that Ponta was not a quadriplegic and should have been admitted to an aged care centre instead.<ref name=Western-2010>{{cite web|url=http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/8284145/paralympic-hero-barred-from-centre/|title=Paralympic hero barred from centre|work=The West Australian|date=9 November 2010|access-date=24 August 2011|first=Bevan|last=Eakin}}</ref>
He died on 1 June 2011 in Perth after a long illness, at the age of 75.<ref name=death>{{cite web|title=Pioneering Paralympian Frank Ponta dies, aged 75|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/pioneering-paralympian-frank-ponta-dies-aged-75/story-e6frg7mf-1226068021006|access-date=24 August 2011|work=The Australian|first=Margie|last=McDonald|date=2 June 2011}}</ref>
==Recognition== {{Quote box |align=right |width=20% |quote=Sport has been a big part of my life with many ups and downs. An outlet for frustration and a challenge either in playing, coaching or administration. I enjoyed my time as a competitor, but have had almost as much pleasure watching people that I have trained become achievers. |source=Frank Ponta<ref name=mather-brown>{{cite book|last=Mather-Brown|first=Bill|author-link=Bill Mather-Brown|title=The fight in the dog|year=2002|publisher=T. Beck|location=Perth|isbn=0958000107|pages=273–274}}</ref> }} Ponta received the Sir Ludwig Guttman Award in 1984, and the Lord's Taverners Award in 1989, from Wheelchair Sports Australia.<ref name=awards-disability>{{cite web|url=http://www.sports.org.au/events/awards |title=Awards and honours |publisher=Australian Athletes with a Disability |access-date=24 August 2011 |year=2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410062122/http://sports.org.au/events/awards |archive-date=10 April 2013 }}</ref> He received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000; his citation said: "Basketball Paralympian - huge contribution to Junior w/c sports - team selector, team mgr coach".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/977712|title=Ponta, Frank|publisher=It's an Honour|access-date=11 January 2012}}</ref>
In 2003, at the Wheelchair Sports WA Annual Awards, Ponta was named the Coach of the Year.<ref name="Ponta-pioneer">{{cite web|access-date=24 August 2011|url=http://www.sports.org.au/newsletter/23-2003/144-november-2003.html|title=November 2003|publisher=Australian Athletes with a Disability|date=14 November 2003|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408092505/http://www.sports.org.au/newsletter/23-2003/144-november-2003.html|archive-date=8 April 2011}}</ref> He received the Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award in 2007.<ref name="annual-report">{{cite web|url=http://www.docstoc.com/docs/15063676/ANNUAL-REPORT-2007|title=Annual report 2007|publisher=Celebrate WA|access-date=24 August 2011|page=9}}</ref><ref name="celebrate-wa">{{cite web|url=http://www.celebratewa.com.au/download/619|title=Western Australian Citizen of the Year Awards Recipients from 1973 to 2010|publisher=celebratewa.com.au|access-date=24 August 2011|year=2010|page=5|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928082806/http://www.celebratewa.com.au/download/619|archive-date=28 September 2011}}</ref> In 2011, he was one of the first people to be inducted into the Australian Paralympian Hall of Fame, along with Louise Sauvage and George Bedbrook.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org.au/apc-programs/australian-paralympic-hall-fame/australian-paralympic-hall-fame |title=Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame |publisher=Australian Paralympic Committee |access-date=8 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207221048/http://www.paralympic.org.au/apc-programs/australian-paralympic-hall-fame/australian-paralympic-hall-fame |archive-date= 7 February 2012 }}</ref> In 2012, he was inducted into the International Paralympian Hall of Fame at a ceremony in London.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paralympic.org/news/ipc-announces-visa-paralympic-hall-fame-inductees |title=IPC Announces Visa Paralympic Hall of Fame Inductees |publisher=International Paralympic Committee|access-date=30 August 2012}}</ref> In 2017, he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as an Athlete and General Member.<ref>{{cite web|title=Media Release: Paralympic icon Frank Ponta honoured with Hall of Fame induction|url=https://sahof.org.au/paralympic-icon-frank-ponta-honoured-with-hall-of-fame-induction/|website=Sport Australia Hall of Fame website|date=5 October 2017|access-date=27 September 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IPC athlete|frank-ponta}} *[http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-219077776/listen Frank Ponta interviewed by Robin Poke in the Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project, National Library of Australia, 2010]
{{Visa Paralympic Hall of Fame}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponta, Frank}} Category:1935 births Category:2011 deaths Category:Paralympic athletes for Australia Category:Paralympic swimmers for Australia Category:Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Australia Category:Paralympic wheelchair fencers for Australia Category:Australian male fencers Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Category:Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Category:Wheelchair basketball players at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Category:Wheelchair fencers at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Category:Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Category:Wheelchair fencers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Category:Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Category:Wheelchair basketball players at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Category:Wheelchair basketball players at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Category:Wheelchair basketball players at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Category:Medalists at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Category:Medalists at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Category:Medalists at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Category:Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Category:Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Category:Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Category:People with paraplegia Category:Athletes from Perth, Western Australia Category:Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Category:Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Category:Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Category:Paralympic medalists in swimming Category:Paralympic medalists in wheelchair fencing Category:Australian male freestyle swimmers Category:Australian male backstroke swimmers Category:Paralympic javelin throwers Category:Sportsmen from Western Australia Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen