Wheelchair basketball champ earns engineering master's
College of Engineering graduate Ben Thornton wraps up his engineering degree with academic and athletic distinctions.
Ben Thornton has finished a busy few years at the University of Arizona. His academic career involved engineering and wheelchair basketball, both of which were successes.
Thornton survived a spinal cord injury as a toddler. A doctor's suggestion to try wheelchair basketball ended up changing Thornton's life and schooling.
“Right off the bat, I knew there was a community here — a community in Tucson that competed in adaptive sports,” Thornton said in an interview with KGUN9.
Thornton rose the ranks of the University of Arizona Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team, becoming team captain and an All-American athlete. In 2025, he helped lead the team to the national championship. And this year, he was able to see the championships hosted on his campus.
“Just to see the glow on my teammates… Every little thing we did was worth it," Thornton said.
Thornton earned his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Arizona in 2024. This May, he graduated with a master's degree in engineering management.
“I think wheelchair basketball gave me self-esteem and confidence,” he said in an interview with the College of Engineering. “Just because I’m in a wheelchair doesn’t mean that I need to throw my life away – I need to earn everything that I want in life. I don’t need to be given handouts.”
Arizona Wheelchair Basketball Camp will take place this summer July 31 - Aug. 2, 2026.