Curtis Pride; a Deaf Life
By: Jason King
Early Life
"All my life I've believed in myself. And never gave up"- a quote from Curtis Pride. Curtis John Pride was born on December 17, 1968 in Washington D.C. where he was raised. He was born a deaf baby. As a child he was a multi sport star athlete; playing soccer, baseball, and basketball. in 1985 he played in the Fifa u16 Soccer Champ"ionship in China. During the tournament he scored twice. That year he was named on of the top 15 soccer prospects. Curtis graduated from John F. Kennedy high school in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Career
Pride entered the league at 24 years old and played for a total of 6 MLB teams and one Mexican league team; Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Mayos de Navojoa (Mexican team), New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angles. This was from the year 1993 through 2006. He had career stats such as a batting average of .250 with 20 homeruns and 82 RBI. He was the winner of the Tony Conigliaro award (rewarded to a player who overcomes a obstacle and adversity through attributes of spirit, determination and courage; trademarks of Conigliaro himself.)
Pride with his 2 kids
The first anual Together With Pride wiffle ball touroment
Gallaudet University logo
Impact in the Deaf Community
When not playing baseball, he and his wife Lisa are active members in the Together With Pride foundation; this aids in helping hearing impaired children through a hearing aid bank. Several foundations in the foundation support or add to hopes by offering scholarship programs, literacy and monitoring.
Curent Situation
Pride is still living as the head baseball coach at Gallaudet University in his home town of Washington D.C. This is a very prestigious school for the hard of hearing and deaf and he was hired in 2008 just 2 years after retiring from the MLB.This upcomming season will be his will be his 9th year a Gallaudet. Curtis uses his 5% of hearing to help him speak and he is a fluent lip reader.