Reuben Ngata was a member of New Zealand’s very first Paralympic Games team which competed at the Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games.
On Thursday night Paralympics New Zealand will hold the first of many events recognising the hundreds of NZ paralympians from that time.
The athletes will be presented with an official Paralympics pin and certificate and, for the first time, the athletes will be given an official number.
Ngata will be recognised as New Zealand's 10th paralympian.
The 1968 NZ Paralympics team that competed in Tel Aviv, Israel. Reuben Ngata is 5th from left, back row. Photo/Paralympics New Zealand.
Born in Tikitiki on the East Coast in 1936, Ngata was diagnosed with polio in 1961. He says he lost function in his legs but his upper body stayed healthy.
Ngata took up athletics, eventually gaining selection for the first official New Zealand Paralympics team and heading to Israel in 1968.
He nearly went to the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica in 1966 but had to withdraw due to the birth of his first child.
Ngata represented New Zealand again in 1976 at the Toronto Paralympic Games. He competed in para-athletics, para-powerlifting and para-table tennis.
He says his favourite sport was weightlifting, where he bench pressed 100kg, although he thinks the record at that time was 112kg.
Ngata did enough to win a bronze medal in the men's lightweight division, finishing third behind gold medalist Edward Coyle (USA) and French silver medalist Alex Eguers.
Reuben Ngata in weightlifting action. He won a bronze medal for NZ at the Toronto Paralympics in 1976. Photo/supplied
Now 82, he says that while it's been 51 years since he first represented New Zealand it's great to be officially recognised, especially while there are still some of his teammates are around to accept the recognition in person.
Ngata believes there are only three of the original 16 athletes living today.
A total of 12 events recognising the 209 Paralympians who have worn the Silver Fern at the Paralympics will be held in the lead-up to the next Paralympics in Tokyo 2020.