Dallas Cowboys Are USA Wheelchair Football League Champions
In a thrilling showdown against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Dallas Cowboys won the 2024 USA Wheelchair Football Championship 27-14! Dallas quarterback, Ret. Corporal Jason Rainey, led the way, throwing four touchdowns and zero interceptions.
History of the USA Wheelchair Football League
For the last six years, the Bob Woodruff Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF) has teamed up with the NFL to support programs that help our veterans grow connections in their communities and build healthy lifestyles. In 2019, the NFL-BWF Salute to Service partnership funded the creation and expansion of the first USA Wheelchair Football League. Today, Move United runs the League.
The League is the first of its kind football league for adults with disabilities, including wounded veterans. It offers these heroes a chance to find new challenges, a new purpose, and a new community after service.
Now entering its fourth season, this groundbreaking League offers players a platform to embrace new challenges, and rediscover and redesign their purpose, while forging bonds within a supportive community.
Dallas Cowboys Join the League
The Dallas Cowboys team was created in the 2022 League expansion. Since then, they’ve showcased their prowess, cruising through the regular season with only two losses and emerging as championship contenders in only their second season!
Among the standout athletes is Jason Rainey, a former Corporal in the United States Army who served in Iraq. Rainey’s journey with football began in high school and continued into semi-professional play after graduation until a leg injury ended his football career.
Rainey was medically retired from the military and was living a retired life, “just chilling” as he says. Following service, a gunshot wounded Rainey. It was during his recovery that Rainey discovered the world of adaptive sport. He credits this discovery with changing his life. He calls it a blessing to get back into sports and be active, to compete again, to be with teammates and build camaraderie.
According to Rainey, the league “means a lot to me. It allows me to get back on the field. I can get back in the football environment of that community. I can get out here with like-minded people just trying to compete and win.”
When asked whether being a veteran influences how he approaches the team, Rainey answered that “we veterans usually have that military bearing. We stay motivated and try to motivate other people.” He added that “a lot of military people are good leaders. So that’s what we try to do on the field: let the leadership carry over.”
Learn more about the NFL-BWF Salute to Service partnership.
