I’m working on a sidebar to an article about Pete Gray (the one-armed baseball player), which will consist of a couple paragraphs each about other professional athletes who played despite a serious disability; I already know about Jim Abbott and Kenny Walker (the deaf defensive lineman who was an all-american for Nebraska and started for a year for the Denver Broncos). There are a handful of other baseball players that I know of, but I’d like to get someone from a different sport. (I’d also prefer not to get into the Oscar Pistorius issue, as I don’t think I can do the controversy justice in a couple paragraphs.) Anyone have any ideas?
There’s Bryan Berard, who nearly lost an eye during an NHL game in 2000. After seven operations and a contact lens that brought his vision in the right eye to slightly better than the minimum 20/400 threshold needed to play in the NHL, he returned to the league for the 2001-02 season, and played in the NHL until 2008.
Dempsey’s a good idea - kicker is a different enough position from lineman that it might be worth it, and the fact that a kicker with only half a foot still holds the record for longest field goal is pretty amazing.
I’m currently leaning towards Natalie du Toit, depending on how my editor feels about non-American athletes. (It’s a very US-centric publication).
It’s yet another baseball player, but former Kansas City Royals outfielder Jim Eisenreich has Tourrette’s Syndrome. It made him miss about 2.5 years of playing ball.
Alan Faneca and Tiki and Ronde Barber all have epilepsy.
Are you interested in mental/psychological impairments?
Rube Waddell was a phenomenal pitcher who there was something wrong with, whether it was some personality disorder or mental retardation or something else. It was 100 years ago so rather than an actual diagnosis what he got was the name Rube.
Zack Greinke and Joey Votto have each missed significant time due to problems with severe anxiety and depression. Barrett Robbins, the center from the Oakland Raiders, lost his career and very nearly his life because of the effects of his unmedicated bipolar disorder and substance abuse. Mike Tyson obviously has some kind of mental illness. There are more, of course.
A good guy, incidentally, and with the right sort of pride, and love for the game, to play some more in the independent minor leagues for roughly no money when his major league career was done.
There have been a few deaf baseball players, including Curtis Pride. (He played for a bunch of teams, including, fittingly, the Yankees.) The first deaf player in NBA history was Lance Allred.
South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius is a double-amputee who became controversial when some critics claimed that his special prostheses actually gave him an unfair advantage over two-legged runners. Interesting story.
(ETA: I suppose he wouldn’t count as a pro athlete, strictly speaking. Still an intersting story.)
Apparently, Jim Abbott wasn’t the first one-handed pitcher; there was a guy named Hugh Daily who pitched in the 1880s. Like Abbott, he also pitched a no-hitter.
To be fair, Willlis’ condition was treatable, and wouldn’t be considered a handicap.
Three Finger Brown’s condition, however, was indeed permanent.
ETA: That’s not to say that anxiety disorders can’t be considered a handicap. But Willis’ condition was diagnosed just last year, while he’s been playing since '03.
