Craig MacFarlane has never known color, sizes or shapes.

But he knows all about winning.

MacFarlane, 41, won 103 gold medals in various scholastic competitions as a young athlete in water skiing, golf, wrestling and track and field.

The native of Canada was blinded at age 2 in a welding accident.

"The only world I remember is the world I grew up in: a world without eyesight," MacFarlane said. "Just dig in and go. I found out I could compete in sports without being able to see."

MacFarlane has been profiled by Bob Costas, became good friends with former president George Bush, spoken at three Republican National Conventions and lived with professional hockey legend Gordie Howe.

Now employed by Edward Jones, an investment company with 9,000 offices throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, MacFarlane is beginning his 13th year as a nationwide motivational speaker.

He will speak in the Pittsburgh area next week, beginning with a stop at the Butler Gymnastics Club, located at Family Sports Center on Evans City Road, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday.

Monday's talk is open to the public.

"I talk about having a sense of pride and dignity," MacFarlane said. "We're all capable of raising the bar in our lives, and I encourage people to do that.

"If I'm just another spoke in the wheel of a person's ride to success, I feel like I'm doing something worthwhile," he added.

MacFarlane said he has logged more than 100,000 miles through the air during the past year.

He was 7 when he competed in his first blind wrestling competition. MacFarlane hasn't actively competed in athletics since the 1980s, but he has won wrestling tournaments against opponents with healthy eyesight.

"Wrestling served as a springboard for me in sports," he said. "Touching and hearing are so critical to a blind person in athletics. We use so much of that in day-to-day communication."

MacFarlane has won snow and water skiing competitions, and was the first blind man ever to water ski jump at Cypress Gardens in Florida.

"After competing in the Blind National Water Skiing Championships, I wanted to try jumping," he said. "We had to get clearance from Cypress Gardens to do it and I had another person ski alongside me to tell me when to jump.

"It's having ultimate trust in another person. He says '1, 2, 3,' and you're on the ramp."

Cypress Gardens hired MacFarlane as a full-time professional water skier - his only stint as a pro athlete - and was part of four daily shows there for nearly five months.

That stint ended when he attempted a backflip on water skis and wound up with two fractured ribs and a hamstring torn completely from the bone.

"It happened because I was blind," MacFarlane said. "I had to anticipate my rotation and didn't hit it right. That was my first and last backflip."

In downhill skiing, he followed a few feet behind a guide and listened for the turn of the guide's skis to know when to do the same.

"I'd try to stay four to eight feet behind him," MacFarlane said. "I didn't want to be on top of him and I didn't want to be out of ear-shot.

"You're more mentally tired than physically tired after snow-skiing because you can't day-dream for even a second. Miss hearing one turn of the skis and you may wind up in the trees," he added.

MacFarlane ran the 100, 200 and 400 meters in track. He ran the 100 in 12 seconds and had to run alongside a guide for the 200 and 400.

He has been friends with legendary race driver Mario Andretti for 21 years and lived with hockey legend Howe for more than a year after the latter first brought him to the United States.

Yet MacFarlane considers his athletic career a normal one.

"I grew up leading a normal life," he said. "I can't see. That doesn't mean I can't live."