Martel van zant biography for kids video
Oklahoma State DB Martel Van Zant was born deaf, but his play on the football field s
- Writers - The Bonus: Oklahoma State's Martel Van Zant speaks volumes with his play - Friday November 10, AM
The Spirit of Oklahoma State Marching Band filled Boone Pickens Stadium with the brassy sound of the school's fight song, Ride 'Em Cowboys, as junior cornerback Martel Van Zant received slaps on his helmet from teammates after separating Nebraska's Maurice Purify from the ball.
Amidst the roaring crowd of 40,plus orange-clad OSU fans, some could be seen with their hands raised above their heads, waving their wrists back and forth.
It's the sounds that define college football -- the crowd, the marching bands, the thud of a collision -- but to Van Zant there is only silence.
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. Van Zant is deaf, born without eardrums after his mother suffered from chicken pox while pregnant, but he has risen above his handicap and with the help of his interpreter, Allie Lee, Van Zant is now starting for the Cowboys.
Martel van zant biography for kids printable: Van Zant, who today begins his Oklahoma State career, was born deaf. Wearing a million-dollar smile and mischievous eyes, Martel Van Zant sits in his parents' comfortable home on Tyler's west side and tells his story, through Beth Nobles, his middle-school interpreter.
"A lot of people, they focus on that deaf side and they tell me 'Good job' and 'Congratulations' and that 'You're doing well for a deaf person," Van Zant says through Lee. "You know, I understand that, because that's what a lot of the public sees and that's fine."
What most people don't often see is that Van Zant is a 6-foot-1, pounder who runs a yard dash and has blossomed into one of OSU's best defenders.
He's overcome his handicap, but just as important he often makes people forget that he can't hear.
"He has great awareness," says Cowboys secondary coach Joe DeForest. "He has to know a little bit about the total defense and the total offense and how we get things in more than another corner."
Van Zant is fourth on the team with 37 tackles and has an interception, a sack and a forced fumble.
More importantly, he wants you to look beyond the disability and see what he truly is.
"I'm a deaf athlete, but I don't want to be called a 'deaf athlete,' " he says. "I'm an athlete first."
Leveling the field
Growing up in Tyler, Texas, Van Zant wasn't made to feel any different than other kids.
The only deaf member of his family, he was put into a regular school after second grade and despite thriving in school, he had to overcome the preconceived notions some people had of someone dealing with a disability.
"I felt like I was just as equal as anyone else, just as capable," Van Zant said. "You know, people don't really think that I'm dumb, but some people tend to think that because I'm deaf I might lack a little bit in experience and intelligence.
My family didn't treat me as a deaf person."
Through sports he leveled the field, and distanced himself from his classmates. He began playing soccer, basketball and track before discovering football in the eighth grade. By the time he finished his career at Lee High, he had 21 interceptions and was named to the Texas Top prospects list, earning him the attention of Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma State, SMU, TCU and Texas A&M.
Says Cowboys coach Mike Gundy: "If he wasn't deaf, I think he would have been a national recruit. I think because of that it scared a lot of people away."
But it didn't deter former OSU coach Les Miles, who was the first to offer Van Zant a scholarship as a junior.
"Some of the other schools, they were a little tentative on recruiting because it was their first experience with a deaf athlete or they just didn't know how to go about working with a deaf athlete," Van Zant said. "[Coach Miles], he has a deaf brother, so that was a little easier for me. He knew some signs and stuff."
If there was any trepidation within the staff about Van Zant's coming to Stillwater, secondary coach Joe DeForest says Martel's desire to play the game quickly put it to rest.
"Of course there's hesitation, but [it disappears quickly] once you realize that the kid has so much awareness and he wants so much to be good," DeForest said.
There was still the matter of communicating with Van Zant, but when he signed with the Cowboys in February , it caught the attention of a heating and air-conditioning technician who saw the opportunity of a lifetime.
A perfect match
Lee's hands work feverishly on the sideline, calling in the play to Van Zant as a backup to DeForest.
He has had to come up with his own signs to convey the slang that is so prominent in football. Lee holds up two fingers to signal cover two or forms a "Z" for zone coverage, working to get Van Zant on the same page as the rest of the defense.
Martel van zant biography for kids wikipedia
Martel was born in Tyler, Texas. When his mother was pregnant she contracted chicken pox causing Martel to be born deaf. He pursued his education without ever attending a deaf resident school, but learned sign language in preschool. Martel exceled at all sports but found football to be his true calling.
The year-old Lee is an unlikely figure on the Cowboys sideline. He looks like he "should be a water boy" according to defensive coordinator Vance Bedford, and knew little outside of the basics of football before coming on as Van Zant's interpreter. Early on, he struggled to learn the terminology and the intricacies of the game.
"He had to understand football, football terms and the speed of the game and how quick you teach," DeForest said of Lee. "There's some slang involved in football and that's something we had to work through."
Lee makes the 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 grew up a Cowboys fan, and when he learned OSU was recruiting Van Zant out of Tyler, Texas, he offered his services. Two months passed and he thought the school went with someone else.
It turned out they had lost his phone number. Now he is under contract with the school, staying on as long as Van Zant is a student.
Biography for kids amelia earhart Van Zant is deaf, born without eardrums after his mother suffered from chicken pox while pregnant, but he has risen above his handicap and with the help of his interpreter, Allie Lee, Van Zant is now starting for the Cowboys.
"It's like they say, 'It's kind of a dream job,' " Lee said. "There would be no other way for me to come in and work with this team like this."
Van Zant's mother, Alice, feels a lot better knowing Lee is always present to be an advocate for her son. "Having Allie Lee is basically like having a member of the family with him," she says.
"Because he has Martel's best interests at heart and we love him for that. Everything about him is sincere. Some people are in it for whatever reasons, you know, fame or whatever. But he is very sincere."
It took a little while for Lee and Van Zant to get on the same page as the rest of the team and there were some tough moments during Van Zant's freshman year.
During practice, Lee once signed for Van Zant to go out on the field for kickoff return coverage, but the team was practicing punt coverage. "It was a big learning experience for me," Lee said. "Martel would come over and he would teach me things I didn't now about and that would make my job easier for him as a better interpreter."
Linebacker Roderick Johnson says things may have been lost in translation early, but Van Zant has developed into a flawless player.
"Early on in his career it caused a little bit of confusion," he said. "[Now] he's perfect. He hardly makes any mistakes."
Bridging the gap
Sitting at home, Van Zant fires off text messages to his three roommates, running backs Julius Crosslin, Mike Hamilton and John Johnson.
It's a luxury of modern technology that has made communication possible in the go, go, go world of being a student athlete.
"Really there's not a lot of time for us to sit down and try to communicate in sign language, because for someone who really doesn't know a lot of it, it take a little bit more time," Van Zant said.
"Everyone's on the go all the time, [so] texting is a lot quicker.
"Everybody's got their phones. Deaf people, they like to get their Blackberries and Sidekicks and things."
But talking among teammates isn't relegated to text phrases. Many of the Cowboys players, like Roderick Johnson, have learned to talk Van Zant in his own language by taking the school's American Sign Language (ASL) course.
"Now we can understand kind of more of what he's saying," Johnson said.
"But we don't understand fully what he's saying. We know a couple of signs that we can signal to him jokingly."
Van Zant says he's enjoyed seeing his teammates embracing him by showing a desire to sign, but that they all have a one-track mind when it comes to what they want to learn.
"A lot of them, right off the bat, they want to learn the cuss words first and then some basic signs," Van Zant said.
"They'll learn their ABCs, but a lot of them, they just want to learn the cuss words."
Van Zant's arrival in Stillwater has also had an effect on the coaching staff. Gundy says he's had to create his own way of talking to Martel that he describes as "like Charades," while DeForest has had to refine his way of speaking through Lee to get his point across.
"I've learned a lot coaching Martel because it makes me kind of condense my thoughts and learn how to communicate with him in a non-slang way and really be precise with what I say to him," DeForest said
An inspiration
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.
"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 jokes he "has that award coming." But he has his eyes on bigger accomplishments, like the NFL.
There have been two other deaf players to play in the league, former St. Louis Cardinal Bonnie Sloan and ex-Denver Bronco Kenny Walker, and if he does make it, Van Zant says he's taking Lee along with him.
"I don't want to have to retrain an interpreter," Van Zant said. "Having to teach an interpreter and learning everything in the NFL would be really tough on me."
Whether he makes it to the NFL or not, Lee has already made an impact both for himself and the deaf community.
Van Zant's mother always had faith her son would be a success and is overjoyed that Martel has overcome the odds.
"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."
As his image flashes across the Boones Pickens video board during pregame introductions, Van Zant signs "M-A-R-T-E-L," and the crowd erupts. But it's those pairs of hands, extended to the sky, waving back and forth that are the truest example of how far Van Zant has come.
In his world, it is that silent display that rings the loudest.