 "Photo: Maddie Crum/The Daily Texan")
Olympic swimmer and Texas Ex Garrett Weber-Gale was the keynote speaker at a dinner Thursday night to recognize the Lee Bagan Endowment, a fund for economically disadvantaged students facing cognitive disabilities.
Bagan, a 2007 UT graduate, is the former director of Student Government’s Services for Students with Disabilities Agency. During his time as director, he established a fund to provide diagnostic testing for students who struggled financially. Bagan began raising money for the fund by collecting donations in a cup on the Drag. He eventually recruited help from fraternities and other organizations on campus.
Last year, the endowment was created along with a constitution and a committee to formalize the process of determining who will receive the scholarships, said Liam O’Rourke, Student Government president and co-founder of the endowment. Two students have received scholarships for testing.
“Lee and I had envisioned not just the creation of the endowment, but to have an annual celebration dinner as well,” said O’Rourke. “It is not enough for the scholarship. We want to raise awareness.”
Bagan now works for the U.S. military as a civilian intelligence specialist in Iraq. He sent a speech via e-mail to his brother Scott Bagan, a senior communication studies major who read it during the dinner.
“Our parents have always championed philanthropy and have always stressed the importance of helping others who can’t help themselves,” said Scott Bagan. “Lee has really taken it to a different level. Once he has his sights on something, it’s going to be done 10 out of 10 times.”
Weber-Gale, who was diagnosed with high blood pressure and a learning disability, spoke about his experiences dealing with disabilities on the Olympic team and starting his own business.
Weber-Gale said he learned from UT head swim coach and U.S. men’s Olympic coach Eddie Reese the importance of hard work and sacrifice. Reese also instilled in Weber-Gale that the main rule in life is to support and take care of one another.
Weber-Gale said that his high-risk high blood pressure could have had an effect on his swimming career had he not handled it properly. Learning about nutrition and cooking, however, has changed his lifestyle, and he now wants to help people live a better life through better nutrition.
“[People] should not have a stigma against disability. Everyone has to find their own way,” he said. “One has to be willing to do way more than what is necessary.”
