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Brent Rasmussen

Sport: Sitting Volleyball
Residence: Omaha, NE

Brent’s journey began as a dedicated high school athlete. Hard work and good coaching allowed him the opportunity to play college baseball at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He worked hard to earn academic honors while serving as team captain of the UNO Mavericks baseball team. During his senior year, he was named to the NCC All-Conference team, and soon after was picked up as a free agent for the Omaha Royals. He spent the next three years with the Gulf Coast Royals with big dreams of a future in baseball.

One night on his way home, he noticed a stranded motorist and he stopped to help. As he provided assistance, another car hit him, hospitalizing him for one month and leaving him bed-ridden for an additional five months. The accident caused him to lose his left foot, and left him with a shattered right ankle and a 16’ rod in his right femur.

Soon after he returned to work in 2002, he received an invitation to play on a new wheelchair softball team a good friend was trying to get launched. After only one practice, he was hooked. One month later, he was featured in Sports Illustrated for being named MVP in his first wheelchair softball tournament by hitting .916 with two homeruns, five doubles and six intentional walks. Since that day, Brent has never looked back.

Now Brent is the captain of the U.S. Men’s Sitting Volleyball team and a World Player Representative for Volleyball for the Disabled. He serves on several non-profit organizations’ Board of Directors, as well as his service to the Nebraska Chapter of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. Brent is also the president of his own mortgage firm, Mortgage Specialists, LLC, and enjoys his roles as a certified instructor and motivational speaker.

Career Highlights
Sitting Volleyball

  • 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships: 10th Place- Edmond, OK
  • Member of the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championship Team
  • World Organization of Volleyball for the Disabled Athlete/Player Representative
  • 2007 Para Pan American Games Silver Medal
  • Captain of U.S. World Team 2006
  • Captain of the USA Sitting Volleyball Team since 2004
  • 2004 U.S. Paralympian
  • 2003 Para Pan American Games Gold Medal

Brent works closely with The Hartford, Founding Partner of U.S. Paralympics®, a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee, helping to positively change public attitudes and perceptions about disability.