Sometime after his junior year at Lemont, Gregory Schmidt approached his father about transferring high schools.
Schmidt wanted to attend Hinsdale South and as a result the Hornets gained a football player.
Schmidt fits right in at Hinsdale South. He is at least the fourth deaf player to play for the Hornets in coach Mike Barry’s five seasons. There are two deaf football players on Hinsdale South’s sophomore and freshman football teams.
With the assistance of the school’s deaf/hard of hearing program, Schmidt has received the support to communicate with his teammates by having a sign language interpreter on the sideline.
Schmidt is a 5-foot-7, 155-pound linebacker and a kick returner for Hinsdale South (5-2, 4-1), which maintained sole possession of first place in the West Suburban Gold by beating Leyden (3-4. 2-2) 28-7 on Friday, Oct. 9, in Northlake. Willowbrook (4-3, 3-1) defeated Proviso East 34-6 on Friday to remain a half game back.
Leyden must beat Morton and Willowbrook to become playoff eligible.
The game marked Schmidt’s return to outside linebacker after he injured his left knee Sept. 5 in the Week 2 loss to Glenbard West. While the school’s medical staff shut him down from playing linebacker, Schmidt continued to be a kick returner.
He entered the game as outside linebacker on Leyden’s third play from scrimmage and remained in the lineup. The senior hopes to make a bigger impact in the last two weeks with home games against Hinsdale Central and Morton.
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“He was fantastic,” Hinsdale South linebackers coach Bobby O’Brien said. “He clocked in fast, like he was 100 percent. We will use him as much as possible next week (against Hinsdale Central).”
Schmidt, who lives in Homer Glen, played for Class 6A state runner-up Lemont last season, but did not appear in the championship loss to Nazareth in Champaign. After his best friend graduated and another friend transferred, Schmidt looked for a change. Lemont also has a program for hearing-impaired students, but the community at Hinsdale South is much larger.
Interpreter Kathy Lang signs for Schmidt when his coaches want to speak with him. When Schmidt was chosen by his coaches and teammates as one of the defensive captains for the game against Glenbard West, she accompanied him to midfield for the pre-game coin toss.
“I can’t explain with words what I felt, especially since I was new kid to the football program,” Schmidt said in an email. “I transferred from Lemont due to the better social environment here. It took a lot of work for me to prove to the team that I can play at that kind of level.”
Schmidt started playing football in the fifth grade with the Lemont Celtics and also played basketball and baseball while growing up. He hopes to join Hinsdale South’s wrestling team this winter after wrestling at Lemont.
When Schmidt played youth football, none of his coaches could sign so his father, George Schmidt, came out to coach and to sign for his son.
“I’ve got to admit that my father isn’t the best signer, but I could understand many things that were going on and he understands football,” Gregory Schmidt said.
Gregory Schmidt was adopted by George and Suzanne Schmidt when he was 1 from an orphanage in Penza, Russia. George Schmidt said he believes Gregory started losing his hearing at age 2, but was not diagnosed as deaf until age 5.
Gregory Schmidt is the fourth of seven children in his family, ranging in ages from 6 to 36. The last six were adopted, including four from Russia. Gregory’s younger brother, Luke, was adopted at the same orphanage as Gregory and also is deaf.
“I do have some speech skills, sort of: lip-read and I speak, but with a heavy deaf accent,” Gregory Schmidt said.
Twitter: @geomwilcox