College football is an arena where many inspiring stories surface and touch the heart. It is also a place where the passions of players, enthusiasm of fans, desires of coaches and expectations of community coalesce to form a unique atmosphere. Games are fan packed. Teams are considered home teams. Players clash and helmets thud. Marching bands pay tributes to their teams. 40000 plus fans are loud and critical. Amidst all these commotion and noises, all that Martel Van Zant hears is the beating of his heart. His story is deafly inspiring.
Van Zant is deaf, born without eardrums after his mother suffered from chicken pox while pregnant. He can feel the vibrations from the screaming crowd and from a hit, but he is unable to hear the referee's whistle and must use his eyes to confirm the play is over. Growing up in Tyler, Texas, Van Zant was brought up like any other school kid. His parents didn't treat him differently. They retained the same hopes in him. Van Zant attended regular high school and has thrived in his community. The source of this success an inspiring story was sports.
Growing up in a sporting community, and with four brothers to play with, athletics was a way of life for the Van Zant family. Martel took to this field very well. Through sports he leveled the field, and distanced himself from his classmates. He started playing soccer at first. He also tried out basketball and track. He excelled at all these, but he did not feel the great sense of fulfillment with these games. At eight grade, he was introduced to American Football. He learnt the game and compensated his hearing loss by watching the ball. The focus on the ball together with his natural athleticism made him into a very good defensive player. The more he played, the more he realized that he could use football as a leverage to his education and inspiring story.
By the time he finished his career at Lee High, he had 21 interceptions and was named to the Texas Top 100 prospects list, earning him the attention of Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma State, SMU, TCU and Texas A&M. His ability caught the attention of former OSU coach, Les Miles. Other coaches were hesitating about choosing him, But Miles, with some basic sign language proficiency tool a chance on Van Zant and signed him for OSU. The rest of this inspiring story as you can say is history.
How does a deaf football player go about bridging the gap in the high tempo of American Football? Thankfully, Van Zant has the help of Allie Lee, his interpreter of sort. Lee is himself a inspiring story. He makes the 132-mile round trip from Oklahoma City to Stillwater every day, accompanying Van Zant to classes, team meetings, practices and games. If playing Division I-A football is a dream realized for Van Zant, being part of the Cowboys family is just as big of a thrill for Lee.
He may not like referring to himself as a "deaf athlete," but Van Zant has seen the way it inspires others. He has received letters from deaf children and has seen the excitement in their eyes when they approach him, an example of never giving up on their own dreams and expectations. They are all inspiring stories to be written.
"I'm a role model to these younger deaf people that they can do it too," Van Zant said. "It makes them get more involved in their interests and to go on to college and follow the same steps and do just as well as I have."
His triumph hasn't been lost on those outside of the deaf community. He has been nominated for the FexEx Orange Bowl FWAA Courage Award, which honors athletes/coaches who have displayed courage, on or off the field, including overcoming an injury or physical handicap, preventing a disaster or living through hardship. Van Zant's mother sums up Martel's inspiring story best, "I really believe God does things for a reason," she said. "He doesn't put any more on us than we can bear. I never ever doubted that he would be doing the things he's doing now. It's just my faith."
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