A Pocatello man who tried unsuccessfully this year to become the first handicapped person to scale Mount Everest has been named one of Newsweek magazine's 50 American heroes for 1989.
Tom Whittaker, 40, is honored in the weekly magazine's July 10 issue, which appeared on newsstands Monday.Newsweek, which this year chose the theme of voluntarism for its hero selections, said Whittaker was picked because of his work in Idaho State University's Cooperative Wilderness Handicapped Outdoor Group.
Whittaker lost most of his right foot as the result of an automobile accident in 1979. In 1981, the veteran outdoorsman founded the C.W. HOG program for other disabled people left out of traditional activities.
The program has grown throughout eastern Idaho and has been duplicated in five U.S. cities. Activities of the Pocatello group have included river expeditions, sea kayaking, horse packing, dog sledding and skiing.
"It has been successful in enriching the lives of the disabled by providing challenging recreational activities, advancing the physical and emotional development of the disabled and educating communities to accept and value disabled individuals who have attained self-sufficiency and independence," said a Newsweek news release on Whittaker's selection.
Weather and illness prevented Whittaker and two other Idahoans on the 1989 American Everest Expedition, Jeff and Kellie Rhoads of Inkom, from making the summit of the world's highest mountain.
Equipped with a prosthetic right foot, Whittaker climbed to the 23,500-foot level on the 29,028-foot mountain.
He was the first disabled person to attempt the ascent, but said afterward that the trip was not aimed at putting "the first cripple on the summit. I had to earn my place on the summit team."