Scanning video offerings on CNN.com this afternoon, my eyes fell on this tag: Deaf Kids Get NBA Quality Instruction. The story (below) reported on Mike Glenn and his 30 year-old Decatur, Georgia basketball camp: free for deaf kids. Intrigued, I searched for Glenn's bio. What I read made me wonder why I had not known of this remarkable man before today.
Born in Rome, Georgia in 1955, he learned to play basketball from his father, who voluntarily coached all sports for black students and taught math at the Georgia School for the Deaf in Cave Springs. He went on to graduate from Coosa High School in Rome as the number 1 ranked state basketball player and held a record which stands today: 2400 career points. Glenn graduated with a degree in mathematics and a minor in computer science (with honors) from Southern Illinois University. During his time at SIU, Glenn was recruited by UNC's basketball coach, Dean Smith, to try-out for a spot on the US Olympic team. Instead, according to Sports Illustrated, he chose to spend that summer in Carbondale volunteering at a deaf camp and taking a math class.
He broke his neck in a car accident in 1977, but recovered and returned to the NBA where he played in the NBA for 10 years and received the Walter Kennedy Service Award in 1981. He is a published author, licensed stock broker, television analyst, commissioner of the World Basketball Association, and avid collector of African-American artifacts. A successful life by any count.
What I find most amazing about this successful man is his apparent humility. He says that he was inspired to begin his deaf basketball camp when he saw deaf students' reactions as he signed to them at a deaf basketball tournament in New York. Mr. Glenn's father's volunteer coaching at GSD likely influenced him as well. He has certainly honored his father by combining the sign language and basketball skills his dad taught him with the generosity of self that his dad modeled.
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