Kathy Curtis carved a path of unwavering commitment that includes coaching, classifying and qualifying players, and developing classification clinics. Curtis started her wheelchair basketball career in 1973 with an introduction by Hall of Famer Tip Tiboutot when she was a physical therapist at Tufts New England Medical Center and Rehabilitation Institute. In the 1980s and 1990s, Curtis conducted many classification workshops across the country and defined the participant criteria. She worked with the IWBF to help develop and implement the present day functional classification system. She was the first IWBF Classification official for the United States. Today, Curtis is the Dean of the College of Health Science at the University of Texas at El Paso.