A prince of a competitor

Powerlifter raises the bar, wins spot in Paralympics

I call Andy Wise. His mother Sally answers and says, "Do you want to talk to the prince?"

Spoken like a loving parent. Andy, 25, is indeed a charismatic kid - great looks, articulate speaker, major jock. He's a powerlifter who will be bench-pressing at Beijing in September. In 2006, he placed sixth in the world in his class lifting at the world championships in South Korea.

He has set national powerlifting records, competed at the national level in skiing, basketball, and track and field. He was recruited by three colleges for his basketball skills. It goes on and on.

But no more of those other sports until after Beijing. "At this level, you don't want to get injured," Andy says. He lifts in the 67.5 kilo class, which translates to 148 pounds. He can't participate above it. "I want to be a few pounds under, say 145 pounds," he adds about the competition in Beijing.

We're sitting out on the shady front porch of his Needham home. The man has a grand smile and easy manner. He actually thinks before he answers a question, which bodes well for him. His shoulders extend for miles. It's his lower body where things get interesting.

Andy's in a wheelchair. He was born with spina bifida, a birth defect of the neural tube in one's back that, in his case, damaged the nerves affecting his lower body. His father has forgotten the exact number of operations he has endured, but he says it's well over 10.

Prominent among them, when he was 8, was the insertion of a shunt extending from his head to his stomach to drain his cerebrospinal fluid and avoid hydrocephalus. Some doctors were convinced he'd never walk or talk.

Sally and her husband, Dale, got a call all these years ago from the Department of Social Services about a baby who was born with spina bifida. The mother had given the infant up for adoption. The couple was known for taking in foster children with major mental and physical disabilities, so the call was a natural. They took Andy home at three months with every intention of a speedy adoption process. Wrong.

"We were the wrong color," says Sally. "The thinking was, a child of color belongs in a home of color." Andy, you see, is black, and his parents are white. Sally and Dale heard while they were trying to adopt Andy that a black couple attempted to adopt two white infants. They don't know what happened.

Andy was almost 3 by the time his parents made it through the adoption obstacle course.

"People used to stare at me, and that made me feel uncomfortable," he says. "I never knew if it was because I was black or because of my wheelchair. Now, I couldn't care less."

He recalls one session of the psychotherapy he was given when he was about 7. The therapist had set up an array of different colored paints. "I took the white paint and put it on my face to look like everyone else," he says. "Dad came with me the next session and put brown paint on his face. "He said, 'I want to look like you.' "

Since then, things have changed. "I was accepted. I never felt I was an outcast," Andy says.

His parents have three natural children of their own - one died of cancer - and have had an astonishing 40 foster children in their home over 21 years. (The mind boggles.)

"Our first foster child had severe post-traumatic stress disorder," recalls Sally. "Every abuse under the sun. When the soul is damaged, it's much worse than being physically damaged."

It gets more complicated. Dale, who will retire from the Dover police force in November, contracted cancer in his left tibia in 1978. It was treated and he was doing fine until 1993, when a strep infection attacked the bone. His leg was amputated. Twice. First, below the knee, and then above it. Son and father have a special bond.

So the Wise clan is not your standard Brady Bunch. There's not much money in the coffers. Never has been. The house needs work, inside and out, but husband and wife have other priorities.

Andy is a familiar face at the Gold's Gym in Needham, where he works out three days a week. Only he and one woman will represent the United States in powerlifting at the Paralympics that take place in September after the regular Olympics are over. Andy's big day will be Sept. 13, when his competition takes place.

His best bench press is 375 pounds. While that stuns me, he cites a disabled Egyptian in his class who has lifted 489 pounds. A lot of the top powerlifters, he says, come from the Mideast.

Andy attends Bridgewater State College, majoring in exercise science. He's waiting to hear whether he passed a written test to become a certified personal trainer. He turned down an invitation in 2002 to try out for the Paralympic ski team in Colorado Springs to stay in school. He insisted on attending Needham High School because he wanted to stay local and be part of a large, varied student body. But sports have always been his outlet. "They've been a huge way for me to express my emotions," he says. "When I'm in a bad mood, I'll go work out with headphones."

Beijing dwarfs anything else Andy has done. It ratifies his hard work, relentless focus, and ferocious competitiveness.

"He's had some really lousy challenges," his mother says, "but he has been blessed."

Sam Allis can be reached at allis@globe.com.