Jon McCullough
Washington, DC
Soccer

Jon McCullough has played Soccer since the age of 4. He grew up in a small town near Washington, DC in Virginia. He had an active childhood, playing Varsity Basketball and Soccer in high school. After graduating from Rappahannock County High School, he joined the Coast Guard for search and rescue. In 1987 he was badly injured, while on a ship in rough seas. His injury left him permanently disAbled and suffering from Cerebral Palsy. He was honorably discharged from the Coast Guard as a service connected disabled veteran and was awarded the Good Conduct Medal.

After years of Rehab, Jon attended The American University in Washington, DC, where he received a BS in International Environmental Health. It was at American University where Jon returned to soccer, the sport he had always loved! He joined the intramural program, and was working with Disabled Sports, USA. Through his position, he learned that he qualified to try out for the Paralympic Program. He started training and through his hard work, was named to the US National Team in 1996. He has since played in the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, The Pam American games of 1998 in Brazil and 2002 in Chile, England World Cup in 2001. The World Championships in 1998 in Brazil and 2003 in Argentina where the US National Soccer team won a bid to the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece. Jon was named a member of the World All-Star Team in 1998, and in the exhibition match in 2002 Pan American Games. He was also named captain for the international tournament in Russia in 2003 and was a member of the team that brought home the Championship Trophy in the 2002 Dutch Cup in the Netherlands.

Jon is serving his fourth successful term as Chairman for the US Soccer Federation of Disabled Soccer (one of the first disabled athletes to serve as chairman of a major sports federation in the US). He is also on the Rules and Appeals Committee for the Federation. In addition he was elected as the Athlete Coordinator/Liaison for the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games held in Salt Lake City. This year he was elected a Vice President for the Olympic Alumni in the Washington DC region.

Jon runs clinics and started programs for children with disabilities. He has spoken internationally in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Sarajevo. He has worked with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation to develop a "Sports for Life" program in Kosovo, an initiative to integrate individuals with disabilities back into society. This included conducting the first integrated soccer game involving Kosova/Serbian youth with disabilities (this was an hour long TV special in Eastern Europe). Jon is an advocate for global issues that transcend sport. He was the director of the Washington DC leg of the multi-ethnic award winning choir Pontanima US tour. Jon became active with the choir while in Sarajevo and has been a supporter of the programs and involvement, that included the performance at the Vatican this year to celebrate the International Day of the DisAbled. Jon McCullough strives to demonstrate what an individual can accomplish with the right motivation