If there’s anything we know about hearing loss today, it’s that it doesn’t have to dominate your life. Hearing loss treatment allows people to do all kinds of things they may never have thought possible, and the world of sports is no exception. Whether you’re trying to make it to the majors, or just get out more for some good old-fashioned fresh air and exercise, these sports heroes who overcame their hearing loss can serve as an inspiration to all of us.
Lance Allred
Lance was born in 1981 with 75–80% hearing loss. Despite being legally deaf, he went on to play the 2007–8 NBA season with the Cleveland Cavaliers as a power forward / center. He is also the author of five books, including his autobiography Longshot: The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA. In addition to being an author, he is an inspirational speaker and a TEDx star.
Curtis Pride
Rubella rendered Curtis legally deaf since his birth in 1968, but that did not slow him down. He was an exceptional player on his high school baseball, basketball, and soccer teams in Silver Spring, Maryland, and he went on to play starting point guard on the basketball team at the College of William and Mary.
But playing basketball on his college team didn’t stop him from competing in other sports. He was on the US soccer team in the FIFA U–16 World Championship, where he competed in China. He even scored the winning goal against Bolivia!
From there, he went on to become an outfielder for the Montreal Expos in 1993. Through the 1990s and early 2000s, he played for the Expos, Tigers, Red Sox, Braves, Yankees, and Angels. At the end of his playing career, he became a baseball coach at Gallaudet University, where he still works today.
Derrick Coleman
In his advertisement for Duracell, Derrick Coleman says, “They… told me it was over, but I’ve been deaf since I was 3, so I didn’t listen. Now I’m here, with a lot of fans cheering me on in the NFL, and I can hear them all.”
Derrick is the first legally deaf offensive player in the NFL. Having lost his hearing at age three, he has been wearing hearing aids since age 4. He says, “On a scale of 0–10, normal people range from about seven, eight, or nine. Without my hearing aids, I’m about one or two.”
Some people think hearing aids prevent you from being able to move as freely as you want, while Derrick and others are proof that just the opposite is true. Hearing aids help him hear what he needs to compete at a high level in a high-contact sport like American football.
Elena Yakovishina
Elena is an Alpine skier from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia. She competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Alpine skiing events despite having disabling hearing loss, and she continues to compete in global Alpine skiing events.
Elena said of skiing with hearing aids, “It’s so different… It’s good for balance. You hear things differently: the wind, your skis, everything. Without them, I can ski, but not as well.” If a professional skier like Elena can recognize the performance improvements that hearing aids bring, you’ll surely see them too!
Jim Kyte
Jim Kyte played defense in the NHL from 1982–to 1997. To date, he is still the only legally deaf person to have played in the NHL.
And hearing loss sure did not slow him down! Over his career, he played nearly 600 games in the NHL regular season, 42 playoff games, and over 300 games in the IHL.
Since leaving the ice professionally, Kyte has been active as a writer for the Ottawa Citizen, keeping a hockey column called Point Man for four years. He went on to create a postgraduate program in Sports Business Management at Algonquin College in 2002.
He has stayed engaged in academia since then, chairing the Marketing & Management Studies Department in the Algonquin School of Business, getting a master’s degree in business administration from Royal Roads University in 2012, and becoming the Dean of Algonquin’s School of Hospitality and Tourism in 2014.
If there’s anything we can learn from these sports giants, it’s that hearing loss doesn’t have to limit your options in life. If you or a loved one may need hearing aids, make an appointment for a hearing test today and find out what hearing aids can do to help you live life to the fullest!