Marblehead honors paralympic champion

MARBLEHEAD – Paralympic Gold Medalist Maureen McKinnon-Tucker received a heroine’s welcome Saturday afternoon from her hometown.After a parade to Ft. Sewall, a crowd of about 400 interrupted a long list of notable speakers with frequent applause and shouts of “Go Mo!” Those cheering included proclamation readers Selectmen Chairman Jackie Belf-Becker, State Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead and State Sen. Thomas M. McGee, D-Lynn, who all described her historic achievement.McKinnon-Tucker, clad in traditional Olympic wear – a dark blue jacket, with white pants and shoes – is the first female sailor of any nationality to become a Paralympic champion, and she and her teammate Nick Scandone are the first U.S. Paralympic sailing team to win gold.McKinnon-Tucker became paralyzed after a fall in the 1990s. Her teammate has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and during the past year McKinnon-Tucker and her husband, Dan Tucker, have had to help their son, Trent, battle cancer.McGee made a reference to her “personal obstacles in and out of the water” and Ehrlich referred to McKinnon-Tucker’s work with the Marblehead Disablities Commission.Local sailor Bill Lynn compared McKinnon-Tucker to his mother, Gay Lynn, a staunch and early advocate of disabled sailing and noted that she and Scandone didn’t even have to sail in the last race to win Gold. “They blew them (the competition) away,” he said proudly. “This is a butt-kicking that will be remembered.”Lynn noted the efforts of Tim Angle, who sailed in the Sonar class in the Paralympics but fell short of a medal. “The U.S. sent six sailors to China and two were from Marblehead,” he said. “In 2012 it’s in London, Tim, go get ’em.”U.S. Olympic Sailing Director Katie Kelly told the medalist “how incredibly proud of you we are” and gave her a U.S. Olympic Flag signed by the Olympic and Paralympic sailing teams.The Rev. Wendy Von Zirpolo of the Marblehead Unitarian-Universalist Church, the Tuckers’ minister, gave an invocation and Glovers’ Regiment fired a salvo. The Tuckers’ daughter Dana and her friends from the Glover School held a Paralympics banner during the ceremonies. Her friend Julie Hanke acted as emcee, wearing a Scottish outfit and local teen Nate Canty and his skateboarder friends handed out 720 small U.S. flags to the crowd.In her response, McKinnon-Tucker told her fellow Marbleheaders, “I did not get here by myself. It took a village – this village.” Voice quavering, she listed other Paralympics medalists who inspired her. “The gap is closing between the able and disabled athletes,” she said.