http://www.cjonline.com/stories/101807/cat_209459890.shtmlMANHATTAN — Like every player, Martel Van Zant shows up to the football field with his pads, his helmet and his gear.
The only thing missing is his hearing, though you'd never know it.
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Martel Van Zant
Van Zant, a deaf cornerback for Oklahoma State, has starred despite his hearing impairment. It's a condition he was born with after his mother, Alice, contracted chicken pox while she was pregnant with him.
It hasn't held him back.
After starting every game as a junior, Van Zant is now one of the best defensive backs in the Big 12 Conference. He'll be lining up against Kansas State at 6:05 p.m. Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium.
"I earned a starting position, and I proved some people wrong," said Van Zant, through his interpreter Allie Lee. "Being deaf is all I have ever known. I couldn't hear, but I still had my eyes, and I still had my body to play."
As good as he's been on the field, there's a lot more to him than playing man-to-man coverage and breaking up passes. He serves as an inspiration to his fans, who have loyally followed him throughout his college career. Many of those fans are children with the same setbacks.
They write him letters and pay him visits. They also look up to him.
"It's really exciting to be a role model for some of these kids, to show them they can do anything," Van Zant said. "Even for some of these adults, for them to see what I can do, it's given them the motivation to go to college."
Van Zant responds to the letters he receives from deaf kids, sending them autographed pictures and an accompanying note. He also takes time to involve himself in the community and on campus, speaking with various organizations through sign language rather than voice.
"I already knew I could do anything I wanted to do," said Van Zant, a native of Tyler, Texas. "I knew I could do these things. I knew I could come in and play football. I knew I could come in and get a college degree. I am the way my parents taught me to be."
It didn't take Alice long to figure out her son was gifted. He picked up on sign language quickly, and was playing team sports by age 7.
Nothing, she said, held him back. He was just like all the other kids.
In many ways, he was better.
"Some kids just have something about them, and you just knew it was going to blow up," Alice said. "I just knew he had that. I knew it."
When Alice found out her son was born with a disability, she never once thought of it as a disappointment. She has told her friends that time and time again.
Instead, she thought of it as a blessing, knowing there was a reason for why it happened. She knew that it would all work itself out, that her son would succeed and develop. She also knew God was looking down on her family.
"To me, God doesn't make mistakes. I just don't believe in that," Alice said. "I have to give God all the praise. Allowing Martel to be a part of our lives — just watching him as he was growing up — I knew that he would be in the spotlight in some capacity."
Alice said she believes her son will someday make it to the NFL, which would make him only the third deaf player in league history. But whatever the future holds for him, she knows he'll continue to send his message.
More importantly, she knows people will continue to be inspired by it.
"He's always successful because he's overcome so much," Alice said.
"Some people in similar circumstances are afraid. But watching Martel do it, it's like, 'why not me?'"
