Ortiz began playing wheelchair basketball at Spalding, which has more than 450 disabled students. Ortiz, who described himself as a former gang-member wannabe, had to keep his grades up to remain eligible and then surprised himself with a 26 on the ACT.

"There is still a whole world out there for me," said Ortiz, 18.

Yet another reward came Saturday for Ortiz and about 100 other wheelchair players who had the attention of thousands of fans at the Class A boys state basketball tournament at the Peoria Civic Center.

Ten wheelchair teams, mostly from the Chicago area, played in the first wheelchair exhibition tournament on a gymnasium floor adjoining Carver Arena, where the Class A tournament games were played. Boys and girls, all of whom had to be attending high school, played on varsity and junior varsity wheelchair teams. The wheelchair tournament was part of the IHSA's March Madness Experience.

"We want this to be a recognized sport," said Mark Ciarlette, a sophomore at Joliet and a member of the Windy City Warriors.

So does the Illinois High School Association.

About a year ago the association announced it would seek ways to incorporate disabled students under its sponsorship of school activities. Last summer the IHSA sponsored its first wheelchair basketball camp at the University of Illinois under Illini wheelchair coach Michael Frogley.

This year IHSA administrative specialist Jeff Creek worked with Steve Kouri, a Peoria attorney and co-chairman of the March Madness Playing in Peoria Committee, to start the wheelchair tournament. They set it up with assistance from Cindy Windeler, an adapted sports and recreation coordinator in the western suburbs and coach of the Windy City team.

Kouri has a personal interest in the tournament because his son Steve, who has cerebral palsy, plays for Windy City's JV team. Father and son drive 150 miles each way from Peoria to Wheaton on Saturdays for basketball practices. "Eventually we'll probably have some teams here," Kouri said. "I liken it to 30 years ago when girls didn't play sports because they didn't know about the opportunities."

IHSA officials are hoping the success of Saturday's tournament, one of the biggest to take place in Illinois, will fuel interest from spectators and potential players and eventually hold sanctioned events.

Coaches and players considered the tournament, which consisted of 40-minute games, a milestone accomplishment.

They usually play games in front of small audiences, or at halftime of a game between able-bodied players.

"It's a great feeling because we weren't second today," said Matt Ciarlette, who plays for Windy City alongside his twin brother. Matt has cerebral palsy; his brother became debilitated when the cartilage in his knees deteriorated. The Ciarlette brothers have led their team to a top-10 ranking in the country. Windy City, which won this weekend's event, will finish its season next weekend in a national tournament in Birmingham, Ala.

The Spalding Bulldogs, sponsored by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, did not advance to nationals from regional play for the first time since 1991. Saturday was the team's final tournament of the season. But team members saw it as a worthy consolation prize on the biggest stage they had seen thus far, a place where they could earn a measure of respect.

"This is a hard sport," Spalding's Gary Crawford said. "It basically looks like football everyone goes for the ball. It hurts especially when you fall. But you have to get yourself back up."

Crawford and others compared the strides their sport has made to those in girls and women's basketball.

"The girls say, 'We got next,'" Crawford said. "We're rolling along right behind them."

Copyright 2002 Chicago Tribune