Chris Stoutenburg’s was an all-around athlete that excelled in football, basketball, golf, track and field. During his senior year at CCI, many Canadian Universities scouted his football talents with Guelph ultimately being selected as Chris’s choice to wear their colours for the coming season.

In 1997, after sustaining a spinal cord injury, Chris refocused his athletic talent into the sport of wheelchair basketball where he has never looked back! A life-long Collingwood resident, Chris has become a collector of gold – gold medallions! Within 2 years, Chris became a member of the national team in 1999, Chris’s national team athletic career is represented by two Paralympic gold medals   (2000-Sydney & 2004-Athens) and one silver medal (2008 –Beijing; a world championship and Wheelchair Basketball Canada All Star (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008).
Today, a recent retiree from the national wheelchair basketball program, Chris has begun to focus his energies towards sledge hockey.Away from the world of athletics, Chris dedicates himself towards for the seamless integration of disabled persons into society. As a spokesperson on Accessibility and Paralympic Sport, Chris represents Canada Basketball, Sunnybrook “Life after Injury” and Breaking Down Barriers. Annually, he is the featured guest speaker at 20+ engagements annually.

In 2008, Chris’s services were called upon as he was the honorary chair of the 2008 Ontario Paralympic Winter Championships held in Collingwood. In his words, “never stop keep making people aware of disabilities but don’t hesitate to beat the odds yourself, make yourself important and build the muscles that still work and find another way.” Unquestionably, words that have driven Chris Stoutenburg to his incredible number of achievements in Paralympic sport. His international successes in Wheelchair Basketball have made Chris Stoutenburg a global ambassador for the Town of Collingwood.