Bauer, center, at the awards ceremony.
Photograph courtesy of DSUSA.
Kirk Bauer, JD, executive director of Disabled Sports USA (DSUSA), has been named one of Maryland’s 2015 Most Admired CEOs by The Daily Record. Maryland’s Most Admired CEOs awards program recognizes talented business CEOs and nonprofit executive directors throughout the state for their leadership and professionalism.
As a Vietnam veteran who sustained a transfemoral amputation during his service and DSUSA’s executive director for more than 30 years, Bauer “has taken a small, all volunteer organization, and made it the nation’s largest sports and recreation organization for physically disabled individuals,” according to a DSUSA press release. DSUSA’s 120 chapters in 42 states offer programs in more than 30 individual and team sports and activities, annually serving more than 60,000 youth, wounded warriors, and adults. He has also led a group of wounded veterans on a climb of Aconcagua, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro as part of a team composed of individuals with amputations, and rides 100-mile bike rides as part of DSUSA’s Warfighter Sports program for veterans with severe injuries.
Bauer has previously received the Gene Autry Courage Award, the George M. Steinbrenner III Sports Leadership Award by the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the Healthy American Fitness Leader and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.
“I’m a firm believer in leadership by example,” said Bauer. “I am honored to have received this award for leading an organization that utilizes sports to improve lives. Athletes participating in Disabled Sports USA programs are shown to lead healthier, happier, and more productive lives.”
