All the Right Signs : 9-Year-Old Deaf Football Player Isn’t Letting His Disability Sideline Him

Nine-year-old Jesse White wears his blue-and-yellow football uniform with pride. Like the other members of the Fullerton Cobras, he likes to show off his “stick marks,” those splotches of color left on a helmet after it smashes into an opponent’s helmet. He has only a few now because it is his first year playing for the Cobras, but he is eager to earn more.

But unlike his teammates, he can’t hear the cheers of the crowd, or the grunt of an opposing football player he tackles. Jesse is deaf, the result of nerve damage from a bout with spinal meningitis as an infant.

During games, his father Rick, who works for Mahaffey Drilling, uses sign language to clarify instructions for him from the sidelines. The other players tell Jesse, who started off playing center but who is now at the tackle and guard position, whom to block. Still, his coaches and teammates say that aside from needing those occasional assists, he is the same as any other member of the team.

“They treat him like a normal player. They don’t see him as any different. And he doesn’t see himself as having a problem,” said Cobras head coach Al Arevalos.

When the Whites, who live in Buena Park, signed up Jesse for football in August, Arevalos said he had some reservations.

“At first I was kind of leery, wondering how the kids would react to him,” Arevalos said. “A lot of times they say that kids (can be) the meanest in the world. The key was going to be would the kids accept him. But I have to give him a lot of credit. He’s made a place for himself on the team. He’s made a place for himself in the hearts of the players.”

Likewise, the game has won a place in Jesse’s heart. Through sign language, he said he loves playing, especially running and pulling opponents to the ground by their jerseys. He then pointed to a blue stick mark on his yellow helmet and smiled.

“He’s so proud of playing football,” his mother, Meta, said. “He asked me if he could take his football to school. He’s that attached to it.” Jesse motioned to his mother to add that he is also teaching a boy and a girl how to block at his school, Raymond Temple in Buena Park.

Rick White, who attends all of his son’s practices and games with Meta, said that the language barrier makes some things more difficult to explain but that Jesse is a quick learner and that everybody helps out.

“I talk to him,” he said. “Other kids talk to him, and he reads their lips. One of the kids knew a little sign, and he would talk to Jesse. Coaches ask me when they cannot adequately explain something.”

Arevalos said Jesse was not the only one learning from his experience on the team. The coaches are learning sign language, and the players have adapted to Jesse’s hearing loss by cooperating with him to ensure plays run smoothly.

“In my nine years as coach, this is the first time we’ve had a kid with a disability. It teaches everybody something,” Arevalos said.

Jesse’s enthusiasm for the game is obvious. After sweating through a recent two-hour nighttime practice, he relaxed on the sidelines catching his breath, which was visible in the cool air. Asked if he was tired, Jesse answered by sprinting a lap around the playing field. Teammate Ronald Morris, 10, said Jesse plays well at center, calling him “the best snapper on the team.”

Arevalos agrees that Jesse’s performance has been excellent, especially for a first-time player and that he has potential to be a star if he continues to play.

“There’s no stopping him,” Arevalos said. “He’s real strong. But what amazes me is his ability to learn. He’s got good size, good speed. In a couple more years, in high school, he’ll be an asset to any team.”