Nice feature on Larry Lage (AP Detroit sports editor) and his father

Shawn Windsor, a very good feature writer for the Detroit Free Press, penned this story. It's pretty cool.

Both Larrys have to be proud.

http://www.freep.com/article/20101024/SPORTS06/10240635/1433/AP-sports-editors-dad-cant-hear-but-cheers-on-U-M

 

That's a great story. Thanks for sharing.

 

Sweet, but I found it a bit odd there was no mention of Larry's sister. It's also not unusual for hearing babies to learn to sign - my nephews did.

Can't believe it's been 10 years since Larry joined AP. Happy anniversary!

 

Big Larry or Little Larry's sister?

 

Larry Lage is a very good journalist and an even better person. The AP is very lucky to have him.

 

LLarry's sister. I thought she was an intrepreter somewhere.

Maybe it was in there. I'm out of the country and my Internet is so bad I had to skim the article. I'd have been better off getting a copy of the actual hard copy sent via camel across the Sahara. But news-wise, I think she should have gotten a mention. Seems most "family" stories at least mention in passing all the siblings.

 

Shawn, as usual, nails this. I don't know Larry but it's a beautiful story.

 

She was a big chunk of the story. If you get a chance to read the story, you'll see it. She's in there a lot.

 

Ah. That's good. Must not have been in the parts I skimmed.

I'll have to read it when I get back. I am having such horrible Internet issues it's insane.

 

In case you can read here, but not on their site:

"He was functionally illiterate," said his daughter, Marian Lage, who is a professional translator and the parent to two deaf children herself. "That's where sports came in. The communication is about the rules."

******

Sports then, became his principal language. Think about it this way, said Marian: "Three-quarters of communication happens through the body."

When her father tried communicating in that 25% where the rest of the world operated, he often got frustrated.

"There was a lot of misunderstanding," she said. "But there is no misunderstanding his knowledge of football."

*****

Marian and Little Larry grew up in the deaf community and the hearing community. Marian threw herself into bridging those worlds through signing. Larry melded them through sports. His father took him to games and taught him to throw a baseball and helped him to follow teams through newspapers.

 

I like the football comment. It echoes what my mom was telling some friends the other day: she can no longer hear well, so she can't watch movies or anything on TV. She says she prefers sports, because you don't have to be able to hear to know what's going on.

Which is absolutely true, although, for her, she's always watched sports. Now she just has the "excuse" of it being about the only thing she can follow.

On a different note, I will never be able to think of Larry as just "Larry" anymore. He's going to be "Little Larry" from here on out.

 

Great read. Interesting the Larry was Sparty.

I can't believe the pay rate for his stories were $25 back then. They paid $30 when I was in college.