The Texas School For The Deaf’s Football Team Wins State Championship For 1st Time

The NBC Today Show takes a look at how the Texas School for the Deaf became state football champions last night.

A Masters Moment

Deaf golfer Kevin Hall is featured in a Masters video shared by CBS Sports. Hall lost his hearing when he was two years old after contracting meningitis.

For Kevin Hall, the silence of this year’s Masters is nothing out of the ordinary.

For everyone, the moments and magic of Augusta will remain extraordinary. pic.twitter.com/Zoyu911TDw

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 14, 2020

NFL cheerleader learning sign language

An Indianapolis Colts cheerleader has gone back to school to learn ASL so she can connect with deaf fans. Watch a video report from WTTV-TV (CBS-4) in Indianapolis below or read the story here.

Lou Brock's special friendship with young deaf girl

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Lou Brock passed away Sunday at the age of 81. He left behind many good memories—especially for a young deaf girl he met years ago. KSDK-TV has a video report below. Or read the story here.

Name of Skateboarding Move Changing to Honor its Deaf Creator

Tony Hawk is formally changing the name of an iconic skateboarding move to acknowledge the deaf skater who created it. The "mute grab" will now be called the "Weddle Grab" in honor of Chris Weddle.

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For nearly 40 years, we’ve shamelessly referred to this trick as the “mute” air/grab. Here is the backstory: around 1981, a deaf skater and Colton skatepark local named Chris Weddle was a prominent amateur on the competition circuit. The “Indy” air had just been created & named so somebody proposed that grabbing with the front hand should be known as the “Tracker” air. Others countered that Chris was the first to do, so it should be named after him. They referred to him as the “quiet, mute guy.” So it became known as the mute air, and we all went along with it in our naive youth. In recent years a few people have reached out to Chris (who still skates) about this trick and the name it was given. He has been very gracious in his response but it is obvious that a different name would have honored his legacy, as he is deaf but not lacking speech. I asked him last year as I was diving into trick origins and he said he would have rather named it the “deaf” or “Weddle” grab if given the choice. His exact quote to me was “I am deaf, not mute.” So as we embark on the upcoming @tonyhawkthegame demo release, some of you might notice a trick name change: The Weddle Grab. It’s going to be challenging to break the habit of saying the old name but I think Chris deserves the recognition. Thanks to @darrick_delao for being a great advocate to the deaf community in action sports, and for being the catalyst in this renaming process. I told Chris tecently and his reply was “I’m so stoked!” And then he shot this photo in celebration yesterday. 📷: @yousta_storytellers_club

A post shared by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) on Aug 12, 2020 at 8:40am PDT

Gally gets new swim coach

image from Galluadet.edu

Nick Pezzarossi is the new men’s and women’s swimming and diving head coach at Gallaudet University. Pezzarossi, who is deaf, was twice an assistant coach at the school—three years under former head coach Bill Snape (2004-07) and one year under former head coach Rosemary Stifter (2003-04). The most recent head coach, Larry Curran, recently stepped down after eight years. Pezzarossi's wife, Caroline Pezzarossi, teaches psychology at Gallaudet. Read more about the new coach here.

Deaf Indiana wrestler began life as a child slave in Ghana

Jacob Linky endured abuse in his native Ghana as a slave to his biological father. The Associated Press tells the story of how this deaf wrestler made his way to America here.

HoH College Basketball Player

Kameron Hill is hard-of-hearing but that hasn't stopped the Austin College senior from playing a valuable role on the school's basketball team. KTEN-TV has a video report (or read the story here).

KTEN.com - Texoma news, weather and sports

"I performed at the Super Bowl: You might have missed me"

image from Christine Sun Kim TED talk

Christine Sun Kim signed the National Anthem at the beginning of the Super Bowl—but the TV audience only saw a few seconds of it. Now Kim is calling out Fox Sports for the snub. A "bonus feed" on the Fox Sports website was supposed to be focused on Sun Kim entirely but it wasn't. In an article written for The New York Times, Kim said she was "angry and exasperated" because on the Fox Sports website "the cameras cut away to show close-ups of the players roughly midway through each song." Read her opinion piece here.

National Anthem Super Bowl Signing

image from NADvlogs

Christine Sun Kim signed the National Anthem at Sunday's Super Bowl while Demi Lovato sang the spoken English version of the son. If you missed the Berlin-based American sound artist, here's the video from the NAD.

First Deaf Player in Youth Hockey League

The Madison Gay Hockey Association has its first deaf player. Stephanie Schwartzkopf is from Colorado but moved to Wisconsin a couple of years ago and she is among the 70 players. Read more about her in an Isthmus article here.

Deaf Football Captain is "true leader on field"

A high school football captain who was born deaf "dominates on the field at Bloomfield High School in Michigan and is headed to play the sport collegiately next year." Read more about Devin Holmes from KXXV-TV here.

Deaf Coaches Teach Gymnastics

The head coaches at a gym in Utah are both deaf. KSL-TV has a video report about Champion Sports Center below or read the story here.

First Deaf Tennis Pro on Tour wins Match

The ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) has its first deaf player on the tour. South Korea's Duckhee Lee, who has been deaf since birth, won his first match yesterday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He's only 21 years old and beat Switzerland's Henri Laaksonen 7-6 (4), 6-1 in the first round of the Winston-Salem Open. Next up: Hubert Hurkacz of Poland who is seated #3. Here's a video about him from the ATP.

Texas Senior Making his Mark on the Football field

Billy Haynes is not only a hard-of-hearing senior at a Texas high school, he's an important part of the school's football team. Haynes plays for Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, Texas and has been hard of hearing since he was born. KTRK-TV has a video report (or read the story here).

Deaf Umpire Calls ‘Em Like He Sees ‘Em

Jon Breuer went from working on the New York Stock Exchange to a career as a deaf high school umpire in New Jersey. CBS New York has a video report (you can read the story here).

Baseball ASL Culture Night in Oregon

A minor league baseball team in Oregon is holding the team's first-ever ASL Culture Night this evening. The Medford Rogues home game "will feature ASL translation for all of the PA announcements, as well as fun facts about deaf culture. Half of the proceeds raised through the game’s ticket raffle will be donated to Crater High School’s Deaf Academic Bowl team." Here's a video report from the Mail Tribune or read the story here.

The Silent Natural

A new film called The Silent Natural debuts tonight in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. It tells the story of William Ellsworth “Dummy” Hoy who played in the baseball major league from 1888 to 1902. Hoy slugged "41 home runs, 605 stolen bases and one game in which he threw out three baserunners at home plate from the outfield." Read more in the Columbus Monthly here or watch the trailer for the film below.

Baseball team to honor Deaf Fans

A minor league baseball team is hosting a Deaf Awareness Night next month. This will be the third time the Pawtucket Red Sox have honored deaf fans of the Rhode Island team. The team will wear jerseys with their name spelled out on June 7. Gallaudet baseball coach, and former major leaguer, Curtis Pride, will take part in the festivities. WPRI-TV has a video report below or you can read the story here.

Deaf umpire in Jersey

Jonathan Breuer is a softball and baseball umpire in North Jersey who says, “I want to show the world what deaf people can do." NorthJersey.com has a video report.