Kyler Prunty has spent the last few years of his life showing people how much of a competitor he can be.

The 20-year-old Special Olympics athlete from Marshalltown carries himself with a confident, upright posture, gives a firm handshake and wears a constant smile.

Prunty, known to many of his friends as “Smiles” or “Smiley,” came to Iowa State last Thursday to join a few thousand other athletes in the Special Olympics Iowa State Summer Games, which lasted through Saturday.

He won two gold medals over the weekend to add to his collection of more than 150 Special Olympics medals: One in swimming – his best sport – and the other in bowling, which he won as a part of a four-member team.

“It helps me out all the time,” Prunty said of being involved in sports. “I’d probably go down the wrong kind of path if I did not have Special Olympics.”

Prunty’s parents, Marvin and Vickie Wieck, of Marshalltown, said their son schedules his life around his sports. Over the years, he has been involved in swimming, basketball, bocce ball, volleyball, downhill skiing, bowling and golf – and he starts softball for the first time Tuesday.

His large collection of medals, which Prunty’s mother proudly pointed out in pictures of him, is not all that has distinguished the athlete over the years. As a “global messenger,” Prunty has done public speaking and even gone to Washington, D.C., three times to talk to senators about funding for Special Olympics.

The global messenger program allows Special Olympics athletes who show leadership ability to advocate for the organization, bringing in other athletes by speaking at schools and raising awareness for people with special needs.

The role has brought Prunty in contact with many influential people, and he has been in the local and national spotlight more than once.

Whether it is Prunty’s leadership in his role of global messenger, his success in athletics or his captivating smile, it seems that admiration seems to follow him wherever he goes. So what does he think of all the attention?

“It’s pretty good,” Prunty said with a laugh.

Prunty was originally expected to live only to age 12. When he was 3 years old, he was diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis complex, a genetic disorder in which tumors form on organs – mainly on the brain, eyes, heart, kidney, skin and lungs, according to www.tsalliance.org.

Prunty would have seizures every five to seven seconds inside his brain, 24 hours a day.

“The doctor described him as an electrical current,” Vickie said.

Prunty was given anti-seizure medications, which he and his parents said kept him very sedated much of the time.

Vickie said she, Marvin, and Prunty’s two siblings, Kenard and Kendra, did their best not to let Prunty’s diagnosis affect their daily lives.

“We never really changed the way we did things,” Vickie said.

In 2004, Prunty went to the doctor, but this time, the doctor told Prunty and his parents there was nothing to be found. The seizures had stopped. The family never found out why they went away, but Prunty has not had any trouble with seizures since, and he stopped taking medication.

Prunty still, however, has some challenges: a second-grade reading level, a slight speech impediment and an inability to perform such basic mathematical operations as counting change – however, he can do enough math to observe a football game, he said with a laugh.

In Prunty’s work as a global messenger when he advocates for the needs of people with disabilities, he discusses his own challenges, stressing how he can live on his own, but, like others with disabilities, he needs assistance in certain important matters.

In sports, however, Prunty can be in charge of himself, and he can push his limits without other people setting them for him.

In addition to his participation in Special Olympics, which began in third grade, Prunty participated on his high school swim team in Marshalltown.

“I wanted to do normal sports,” Prunty said.

When Prunty was a freshman, his mother talked with the swim coach, who agreed to let Prunty on the team.

“The coach said I could come out and try it, and I did pretty good,” Prunty said. “At 5 a.m. [practices] in January, I was the first one in the water.”

Michael Loupee, boys’ swim coach at Marshalltown High School, said he initially thought Prunty wouldn’t be able to deal with “the rigors of swim team,” but that was before Loupee met him.

The first day of practice, it was clear to Loupee that Prunty was going to stick around, he said.

“He gave everything he had the first day, and he was exhausted at the end of it,” Loupee said. “He was thrilled. About halfway through the practice, I said to the assistant coach, ‘I think this guy’s got more heart than we have ever seen.'”

The changes Loupee saw in Prunty during his time on the swim team were “tremendous,” he said. He started out somewhat overweight, but dropped 30 pounds his freshman year and kept the weight off throughout high school.

“Over three or four years, his strokes improved,” Loupee said. “He had consistent time drops through his whole career.”

Prunty never asked for any special accommodations, and never complained, Loupee said.

Throughout the years Prunty was involved with swim team, Loupee said he could see Prunty’s confidence improve.

“He stood a little taller; walked a little straighter,” Loupee said. “He was ready to take on anything.”

Loupee said it was when Prunty became a global messenger that Prunty “really took off.”

When Prunty went to Washington, D.C., this year, Loupee went along. He said he was “in awe” of the way Prunty interacted with people at the capital.

“Representatives from other states were recognizing Kyler and stopping and greeting him,” Loupee said. “Kyler’s kind of a rock star. He knows people, and people know him. He’s very highly respected.”

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