Mr. Hoy’s was nicknamed “Dummy” in the late of 1800s. He was born on May 23, 1862 in the small town of Houcktown, Ohio.

Hoy became deaf after suffering from meningitis at age of three, and went on to graduate from the Ohio State School for the Deaf in Columbus as class valedictorian.

He opened a shoe repair store in his hometown and played baseball on weekends, earning a professional contract in 1886 with an Oshkosh, Wisconsin team which was managed by Frank Selee in 1887.

In 1888, with the Washington Nationals of the American Association, Hoy became the third deaf player in the major leagues, after pitcher Ed Dundon and pitcher Tom Lynch.

In Hoy’s time, the word “dumb” was used to describe someone who could not speak, rather than someone who was stupid; but since the ability to speak was often unfairly connected to one’s intelligence, the epithets “dumb” and “dummy” became interchangeable with stupidity. Hoy himself often corrected individuals who addressed him as William, and referred to himself as Dummy.

He was a very intelligent man. He taught the umpires to use sign language for the game, to say things like “Strike”, “Out” and “Safe”. He also taught them numbers and signs that would help the pitcher and catcher communicate during the game.

Definitely, he played a role in the use of signs during the games. There is a movement to support his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The umpires and baseball players who are using the baseball’s “sign” language nowadays should thank Hoy for establishing it.

In retirement, Hoy and his wife Anna Maria (who was also deaf) operated a dairy farm in Mount Healthy, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. Hoy had six children. One of them was Carson, an Ohio judge, and their grandson, Judson, who became a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. They also raised his nephew Paul Hoy Helms, the founder of the Helms Athletic Foundation in Los Angeles.

Hoy also worked as an executive with Goodyear after supervising hundreds of deaf workers during World War I.

In 1951, he was the first deaf athlete elected to membership in the American Athletic Association of the Deaf Hall of Fame. At the age of 99 and just two months before his death in Cincinnati following a stroke, the Reds brought him back to Crosley Field, built on the site of his former home field, to throw out the first ball before Game 3 of the 1961 World Series. He could see, if not hear, the standing ovation he received.

Upon his death that December, his remains were cremated according to family tradition and were scattered at Lytle Park in Cincinnati.

Until the 1980s, he was believed to have been the longest-lived former player ever. In 2001 the baseball field at Gallaudet University was named William “Dummy” Hoy Baseball Field. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2003.

Key Contractor with ASL Services Takes Home Award with Vcom3D, Inc. Team

Attending the 2010 National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) National Conference in Washington D.C. was Jason Hurdich. Mr. Hurdich and his Vcom3D team won the Brightest Idea Award, voted on by peers and experts in their field at the Conference’s Tech Exposition, a showcase of emerging and exciting technologies and research (http://www.nationaltechcenter.org/index.php/conf10-tech-expo/).

Mr. Hurdich is a valued contractor with ASL Services, Inc. and Team Leader of Sign Language Projects for Vcom3D, Inc., a local research firm located in Orlando, FL. According to Mr. Hurdich, “Vcom3D’s goal has always been to deliver the most realistic and expressive virtual human technology to their wide spectrum of clients.” Proving this at the NCTI Conference, he led the Vcom3D team in demonstrating their research project, “How the Signing Math and Science Dictionaries Support Deaf/Hard of Hearing Learners,” utilizing signing 3-D avatars (see demos at: http://www.youtube.com/vcom3d#p/a/u/0/dpj5lWLujZs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbWf79mRoTk).

Jason Hurdich, a deaf and native ASL signer, currently works with ASL Services, Inc. as the Interns’ Logistics Coordinator, utilizing tools to support emerging interpreters, as an Interpreter Evaluator, and as a Deaf Interpreter for community requests. He also manages the research partnerships between Vcom3D and several universities, including Gallaudet University. In addition to this, Mr. Hurdich represents Florida Association of the Deaf (FAD) for the Florida Coordinating Council of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (FCCDHH) Legal Accessibility Task Force.

Mr. Hurdich has taught American Sign Language and ASL/English at major colleges and universities for the past 18 years. He currently teaches at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and Valencia Community College as well as coordinates and coaches the UCF ASL Team that performs the national anthem at every Orlando Magic home game. In his spare time, when he actually has it, Jason enjoys spending time with his family and catching some good sports games.

She was born on February 9, 1839 in Somerset County, Maryland. She was a deaf poet and journalist. Her pseudonym was Howard Glyndon. Laura was hearing at birth but she had Meningitis at the age of 11 and became deaf. Most of her elementary school she spent in public schools. When she became Deaf she was transferred to the Missouri School for the Deaf. There she learned sign language which she used to communicate.

In her early adulthood, she interviewed President Lincoln and became personal friends with him. She also was very close to General Grant in the American Civil War’s era. When the American Civil War broke out in 1860, Laura was sent by the St. Louis Republican to cover the war in Washington DC. She was strongly pro-Union, and wrote lots of patriotic poetry that was published in the papers in addition to her more serious articles. Laura also toured the battlefields with General Grant, a place in which women usually weren’t allowed. Her first book of poems, Idylls of Battle, was published during this time as well as the book Notable Men in The House of Representatives.

In 1865, Laura traveled to Europe to study languages. She married a Lawyer from New York named Edward Whelan Searing. She had only one daughter named Elsa. She died in her daughter’s house in 1923 and is buried in Colima, California.

Laura C. Redden Searing was a woman full of courage. She didn’t let the stereotypes of her era dictate what she could and couldn’t accomplish both as a Deaf woman and as a writer. She has left a lasting contribution to the world with her beautiful poetry, her insightful articles, and the knowledge that anyone can achieve greatness by ignoring negative expectations.

Lance Collin Allred was born February 2, 1981. Allred was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, but he spent his very early years growing up on an isolated compound in Montana. He is nearly 7 feet tall and his listed weight is 255 pounds. He is the first Deaf American basketball player in NBA history. He is also the author of Longshot: The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA, his memoir/autobiography published by Harper Collins. The book was critically acclaimed and featured in several sports publications.

He competed in the 2002 World Deaf Basketball Championship in Athens, Greece, leading Team USA to a second place finish.

On 2009 Allred signed contracts to play in Italy and on 2010 he came back to the USA to play with the Idaho Stampede. Presently, Allred is writting 2 books. The first one is about a 14th Century Historical Novel and the second one is a Victorian satire.

As we can see Allred not only excelled in basketball but also has a personal interest in book writting and publishing. GraciasVRS will like to recognize Allred for all his accomplishments and for being a model for the Deaf Community.

The information used for this article was excerpted from WIKIPEDIA.

Sergio Peña is the first person in the Nation to be Dually Certified in Both LSM and ASL.

Sergio Peña, born in Los Angeles, CA, is a dual citizen of both the US and Mexico. He currently possesses a NIC certification (2008) in the US through the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). Mr. Pena has also obtained his LSM/Spanish Interpreting certification in 2010 through the Consejo Nacional de Normatividad y Certificación in Mexico. This accomplishment makes him the first in the US to be certified under both the new national certification test in Mexico and through RID.

In addition to his certifications, Mr. Peña has a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from San Diego State University and a Post BA Certification in LSM/Spanish Interpreting at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Tijuana, Mexico.

Mr. Peña is presently a certified staff interpreter, instructor, presenter and linguistic consultant for the international service provider, ASL Services, Inc. (Kissimmee, FL). ASL Services also manages Gracias VRS and provides consulting support services for Tijuana SVR. Sergio inspires all who meet him with his amazing quad-lingual skills and talents as well as his engaging, warm and humble personality. Congratulations are in order for such a special and historic accomplishment!

Robert Davila was born in southern California to Mexican-American parents who worked in fields and orchards. At age eight, he contracted spinal meningitis and became deaf. When his mother learned about a school for the deaf in northern California, she sent him alone on a journey to California School for the Deaf, Fremont but he attended to Berkley before moved to Fremont in late of 1930’s and early of 1940’s. He graduated from Gallaudet University and earns Bachelor degrees in Education. He was class of 1953.

Dr. Robert Davila is first Deaf Hispanic to earn a doctorate degree in Educational Technology at Syracuse University. He became the highest-ranking Deaf person ever appointed to a federal government position in 1990’s during President George W. Bush.

He served as the ninth president of Gallaudet University from 2007 to 2009. Dr. Davila was chief executive officer of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) from 1996 to 2004, and assistant secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the U.S. Department of Education in 1989 to 1993.
He did selling his book in 2007, the book called “Moments of Truth: Robert R. Davila, the Story of a Deaf Leader”.

Born on July 3, 1980 in Walnut Creek, California, Shoshannah Stern is from the fourth-generation of a deaf family. Growing up in Fremont, California, she was educated at California School for the Deaf, where her parents worked and her siblings also studied. As soon as she completed her studies, her family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. She later attended Gallaudet University, the only liberal arts college for the deaf in the world, where she actively participated in theater, garnering awards and recognition. As a child, she aspired to become a professional actor, and as soon as she graduated from college, she moved on to pursue her dream.

Shoshannah Stern is American Actress and she appeared on ABC’s Threat Matrix, and had a recurring role in Showtime’s Weeds. She was also on ER, Providence, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Cold Case. She starred in the film Adventures of Power and appeared with Matthew Broderick in the film The Last Shot. Her most recent role was that of the character Bonnie Richmond in the CBS post-apocalyptic drama Jericho. Stern also appeared on the popular music video “Yes We Can”, written by will.i.am for the Barack Obama campaign.

Louis Frisino is Deaf Commercial Creative Artist.

Deaf since birth in 1934, Frisino grew up with a love for art. He attended the Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick, Md, until his graduation in 1953. After graduation, he attended the Maryland Institute College of Art. From there, he went on to work as a commercial artist at the News American and also made his reputation in the Deaf community. He won many awards for his ducks, waterfowl, salmon, and trout stamps from 1970 to 1990.

Louis Frisino works from photographs on special orders to capture the uniqueness of a personal pet. He is retired from the News American, where he was employed as a commercial artist for 25 years. He is now a full time artist at home with his wife Elaine, and the youngest of their three children. A sketch of Louis Frisino’s life is included in Deaf Heritage: A Narrative History of Deaf America.