Running is a part of life for Overbrook School for the Blind new marketing director
LOWER MERION » Taking a run from her home in Ardmore to work at the Overbrook School for the Blind can be difficult for most people
It can even be a more daunting task to do so when you’re legally blind.
But for a Paralympian gold medalist who has been legally blind since birth, it’s just another daily commute to work.
Pamela McGonigle, who recently started a new position as the director of development and communications at the school, has been running to work as part of her daily commute. But she doesn’t go alone. McGonigle makes the trip with the help of her guide dog, Maida. Maida is specially trained as a running guide dog.
“I can’t see a foot in front of me, and yet my dog and I are running to school, and that’s how we are commuting,” McGonigle said in a recent interview.
A native of North Hills, Pa., just outside of Pittsburgh, McGonigle now lives in Ardmore.
But besides making that daily trip to work, McGonigle may be more proud of the gold medal she earned during her four-time as a Paralympic athlete in track and field from 1992 through the 2004 games.
But it was that gold medal she won in her first Paralympics in 1992 that has been the most memorable.
Despite being legally blind, she still ran competitively in college. But over time, as her eyesight continued to decline, and she had to stop running.
But while working in a lab in late 1990, a co-worker mentioned the Paralympics. At the same time, she learned about using a guide runner to help her. That was when she began training for the 1992.
At the same time, her father, Edward McGonigle, was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
“I promised him that I would win him a gold medal at the 1992 Paralympic games in Barcelona,” she said.
In Barcelona that year, she competed in the 800, 1500, and the 3000-meter races. McGonigle took home bronze medals in the first two events – the 800 and 1500 meters.
McGonigle believed her best shot at winning gold was in the 1500-meter race, but an interference from a Russian athlete left her with the bronze. Since that was her best event, it seemed like gold wouldn’t happen for her in 1992.
But then when it came time for the 3000-meter race, she won it easily.
Although her father had already passed away, she felt he was in the stadium with her.
“It was very emotional for me, I was in a stadium with 80,000 people, and I could hear a group of my teammates rooting for me, and I felt my father’s presence. Being on the top of that podium and hearing the National Anthem and knowing that I delivered on a promise that probably shouldn’t have been made because the odds of delivering it were probably not that good. But my father was my biggest supporter, and he instilled in me a lot of the traits that helped me become a successful athlete, and I know he was by my side that whole evening.”
Although she continued to compete and won medals in other games and in world championship games, the gold she won in 1992 was the only one she got in the Paralympics.
Part of the reason was that in 1992, she was finishing graduate work and was able to divide time between school and training. After finishing school and moving on to a full time career, it was more difficult to spend the time training.
McGonigle said she didn’t regret choosing a career instead of training because even if she had won other gold medals, they wouldn’t have matched the one she got as the promise she made to her father.
When she moved to the Philadelphia area, her first full time job was at the Overbrook School for the Blind as a substitute teacher.
After taking on other roles at Overbrook, she eventually moved on and worked at other places.
Her most recent position was the lead development officer for the United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she created a comprehensive development program for the $1.4 million organization.
Before the USABA, McGonigle was the development manager for the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration in Radnor and previously worked for the Mont
gomery County Foundation, Inc., the Philadelphia Society for Services to Children, and the Bethesda Project. She has an master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Northern Colorado and a bachelor’s degree in education from Slippery Rock University.
But coming back to Over
book has a special meaning for her.
“It was kind of like coming back home for me,” McGonigle said about returning to Overbrook. “They gave me an opportunity to teach right out of school, and now they are allowing me to have a key role in the advancement of the school.”