Ken Moran

Ken Moran

Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	27 February 1925 Beaudesert, Queensland
Died	August 6, 2009(2009-08-06) (aged 84) Beaudesert, Queensland
Medal record Lawn bowls] Paralympic Games 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Men's Pairs paraplegic Table tennis Commonwealth Paraplegic Games 1974 Dunedin ?

Kenneth (“Ken”) James Moran MBE (27 February 1925 - 6 August 2009) is a Paralympic lawn bowler from Australia. He won a silver medal in the Men’s Pairs at the 1984 Summer Paralympics.

Personal

He was born in Beaudesert, Queensland on 27 February 1925, the sixth of eight children of Tom and Johanna Moran. He grew up on the family farm during the Great Depression in Australia, and had a busy and active young life which included farm duties, schooling and playing tennis and cricket. At age 14, he left school to work fulltime on the farm to help support his family during the difficult economic times. While playing a representative cricket match in February 1945, he experienced serious physical symptoms - a sudden but lasting dizziness, loss of balance and inability to focus - that forced him to retire from the match. Within a couple of days, Ken was diagnosed with polio and spent the next two years in a polio ward at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. When he was finally discharged, he spent a year with an uncle in Brisbane, managing his own rehabilitation and transition to life in a wheelchair before returning to Beadesert. He studied accounting by correspondence and worked in the field, and began a lifelong involvement in community work.

Sport

He took up table tennis and lawn bowls to keep active, playing against and alongside able-bodied players. He won a bronze medal in table tennis at the 1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games , Dunedin, New Zealand. He won a silver medal in the men's lawn bowls pairs at the 1984 Summer Paralympics. In 1986, he received an MBE for his services to the community and paraplegic sport.