13 hours ago, gchs_uk9 said:

There was a huge rubella outbreak in the United States from 1962-65. Rubella during pregnancy is the most common cause of congenital deafness. That explains why the numbers at KSD in the late-70s and early-80s were high, with good teams to boot. (The lone trip to the basketball region tournament for the Colonels came in 1982 behind David Hamilton, who I believe was also the region player of the year). Once the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine was made available, far fewer kids were stricken with deafness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962–1965_rubella_epidemic

Main streaming deaf students into regular population has also added to fewer numbers at KSD.  A lot of folks don't realize that ASL (American Sign Language) is a language in itself...not the same as english.

A lot of deaf kids who mainstream aren't taught ASL, thus they really have no language.  That is what makes KSD so unique.  A lot of parents struggle to send their kids to a campus 5 days a week however.

Another positive for Coach Lefors in the new role is that he inherits two Kentucky boys on his roster. So he should feel right at home as he gets settled in. Jacob Hundley from Jackson County and my son Brayden Stewart from Dixie. He met with the staff and team after the news went public and was well received by the team. He gets an enthusiastic group of kids who just genuinely love the game and want to play. He got a chance to check out the new At&T 5G football helmet that made its debut last season. Staffing can be a challenge there because of the communication. Recruiting can be an issue too because it's hard to find deaf kids that are good at football. But due to the fact they accept not only deaf, but also hard of hearing and CODAS, the numbers aren't bad. Super stoked for him to get to work on his next chapter. 

On 4/15/2025 at 2:05 PM, BobbyKnight said:

One of the best running backs to play at KSD - Patrick Harris. They used the Danville home field for their home games. 

 

On 4/15/2025 at 4:09 PM, BEChargers said:

Boyle's JV used to scrimmage KSD for many years.  They had a decently large drum at most of their athletic events.  I don't actually remember them using it for cadence but not saying they didn't.  Those guys took it very seriously and had some pretty good players throughout the years.  They just never had a lot of depth.  Knew several of them outside of school and coached some of their kids in youth ball.  I think the Danville area is blessed to have a large deaf community.  Having conversations with their students over the years you learn that they develop a "sixth sense" to recognize when a play has ended on the football field.  It's harder than baseball and basketball.  In the 70's and 80's the school was much larger than today.  

I played a JV game against them one year, but I don't remember a drum as well.  They forfeited the varsity games against Casey County from 1990-1992 but then played and beat Casey in 1993 with Patrick Harris running all over the place.  KSD athletes often carried a large "boom box" at the track meets. 

On 4/16/2025 at 8:07 AM, BEChargers said:

I coached David's kids.  David was a heck of an athlete and a really nice dude.  

I didn't know you coached David's kids.

His brother, Oscar, often forgotten about, was two years older and a very spectacular athlete as well.