(CBS News) - A television commercial starring Seattle Seahawk’s fullback Derrick Coleman is the latest Internet sensation. Coleman is the only athlete in NFL history to play offense, despite the fact he is legally Deaf.Now, he’s getting ready to break one more barrier - the Super Bowl.
When the Seahawks take on the San Francisco 49ers, no one will be paying better attention than Coleman. “I have to be aware,” he told CBS News’ Bill Whitaker. “I have to be focused more than everybody else.”
Diagnosed with profound hearing loss, Coleman relies on lip-reading and his own unique way of communicating with the quarterback.
"He knows to look at me if he makes an audible at the line of scrimmage,” said Coleman. “He knows just tell everybody and just turn back at me one more time and he'll tell me the play." It's the way he's always played the game.
When the world tells you "no", you have two options: You can roll over and quit or you can trust your power. Derrick Coleman, running back for the Seattle Seahawks, trusted the power within.
Although he's Deaf, he never let adversity stand in his way, on his road to the NFL. Share to inspire others to trust their power within and achieve their dreams. #TrustYourPower.
He told Whitaker that he’s “capable of doing what everybody else can do,” despite his hearing loss. “You can't use your problem as an excuse,” he said. “Because you use an excuse, you're not going to get to your dream. “
He was taught that philosophy at an early age. To really know Coleman’s story you have to meet the parents, his mother, May Hamlin and father, Derrick Coleman, Sr. "You feel that uncertainty, that fear as a fear as a parent, you know, that, is my child going to be OK," said Coleman, Sr.. His mother told Whitaker that Coleman was “definitely teased, he was bullied” and kids would call him “four-ears."
“My mom always said people who make fun of you and are trying bring you down - they're already down. They're trying to bring you to their level,” said Coleman.
These days Coleman wears a skullcap to keep his hearing aids in place under his helmet, but as a kid, he had to improvise. ... Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/deaf-nfl-player-derrick-coleman-inspires-on-and-off-the-field/
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Deaf Seahawks Player Inspires Young Hearing Impaired Fans
Deaf NFL Player Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks
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