Newark's Binger hustles for Delaware at National Veterans Wheelchair Games

Larry Binger of Newark is literally Team Delaware when it comes to competing in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games held annually in major cities across the United States.

This was the 30th anniversary of the games, and the U.S. Navy veteran has been to 25 of them. He initially competed out of Alexandria, Va., but he has since been the lone representative of the Diamond State at the games for 19 years.

The event is the largest annual wheelchair sports competition in the world and offers 17 different sports to veterans who use wheelchairs due to spinal cord injuries, amputations and neurological diseases, organizers said.

At the 2010 games held in Denver from July 7-9, Binger competed in the masters divisions and took the bronze medal in bowling, finished in sixth place for trap shooting and sixth place in the archery.

“My trap shooting, I went from gold [in 2008] to silver [in 2009] to zip. I was hoping for the bronze,” Binger said Wednesday, July 21. “I was a little disappointed I didn’t get it. … But I don’t have room for the medals I’ve got. After I show them to my sponsors, bam, they go in the closet.

"And after doing it for so long it’s really about getting a chance to see all my friends after a year and meeting the new vets after they come out of the hospital," he said. "They look like they’re 15 years old. They’re all scared. They have no clue. As an older veteran, we say, if you need something or need somebody to talk to, we’re here all week long."

Binger’s preparation each year starts in January, when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs makes applications to the games available online, he said. The Vietnam veteran finds out what the assigned hotel is, buys an airline ticket in advance – to get the best deal - and builds up a budget from there. He usually needs about $2,000 for trip as well as expenses. Then, he writes letters to Delaware’s VFWs, Moose lodges, Elks lodges and give them a history of what he’s done at past games, including the gold medal in trap shooting two years ago in Omaha.

Then, the self-described schmoozer goes around Main Street talking to local merchants and restaurants, telling them about the games. Merchants, including the Five and Dime, give him excess inventory that he can sell to raise funds. And he holds raffles at different restaurants, to help bring in business to those establishments.

The Vietnam veteran, who served aboard the Navy’s U.S.S. Shangri-La, also has a trust fund set up at Delaware National Bank that people can send donations directly to.

“Without sponsors I don’t go,” Binger said.

Brunswick Blue Hen Lanes General Manager Freda Stephenson said Wednesday, July 21 that she is in her second tour of duty at the bowling facility and during her first time around, Binger told her about the wheelchair games.

“More or less, we adopted each other,” she said. “This has become his home base. He works very hard. He always supplies me with a picture [from the games]. It’s just a pleasure to help him out.”

Binger has become such a fixture on Main Street that Newark Memorial Day Parade organizers asked him to march for the first time this past May. He led all the veterans.

“It was fun for me because everybody on Main Street knows who I am after asking for sponsors for the competitions,” Binger said. “I do the same thing Mayor Vance Funk does; I get out and schmooze.”