A drunk driving mistake left him paralyzed. It also turned him into a Paralympian.

[ad_1] For months after the accident, Steve Emt was mendacity to individuals — together with himself.

In March 1995, Emt was driving on I-84 northeast of Hartford, Connecticut, when he crashed his automotive. Emt was driving drunk. Solely 25 years outdated, Emt awoke the subsequent day and was advised he would by no means stroll once more.

He was paralyzed from the waist down.

“For six months after my crash. I used to be mendacity to myself. I advised everyone a deer ran out in entrance of me,” Emt mentioned. “I didn’t need to be a drunk driver. I didn’t need all the children in my hometown, all of the individuals across the nation that love me, I didn’t need them taking a look at me as a drunk driver. However then I wasn’t therapeutic. I wasn’t shifting on as a result of I didn’t settle for it.”

Emt had been an athlete all his life. As a senior at RHAM Excessive College, he performed basketball and averaged 27 factors per recreation, main his staff to the state semifinals. His exploits caught the eye of the U.S. Navy Academy, the place he was recruited to hoop.

Emt spent one yr at Military earlier than a stunning tragedy set him on a special course. When he was 19, his father died of a sudden coronary heart assault. Distraught, Emt transferred to the College of Connecticut so he could possibly be nearer to dwelling.

He finally walked on to the UConn basketball staff, taking part in for legendary coach Jim Calhoun.

“The primary day I am on campus, [Calhoun] pulled me into his workplace, and there wasn't a phrase spoken about basketball,” Emt mentioned. “He mentioned: ‘Steve, I misplaced my father after I was a younger child. We bought that in frequent. I simply need you to know that I am right here for you no matter you want.’”

Emt performed in two video games for the Huskies in the course of the 1993-94 season. Then, one mistake seemingly ended his athletic profession and left Emt in disgrace.

Almost half a yr after his fateful crash, Emt was approached by a reporter who needed to inform his actual story, a second that compelled him to confront the reality. He agreed to be interviewed, and a weight was lifted off his chest.

Emt got here to simply accept the label of “drunk driver” and put it to good use. He started touring the nation, talking at excessive colleges and warning youngsters in regards to the risks of the error he made.

For most individuals, this might be the top of the story. An athlete who makes a horrible mistake who then makes use of that indiscretion to cease different individuals from repeating his failures.

For Emt, it was solely the start.

Batoyun Uranchimeg and Steve Emt of the U.S. compete in wheelchair curling on the Nationwide Aquatics Heart in Beijing on March 10, 2022. Carmen Mandato / Getty Pictures file Seventeen years after the crash, Emt, now in a wheelchair, was minding his personal enterprise in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, when he was approached by an older gentleman.

“He is like, ‘Excuse me, are you native?’” Emt recalled. Emt advised the older man he lived two hours away in Connecticut after which requested why he needed to know.

“Properly, I practice with the Paralympic curling staff right here in Cape Cod, and I noticed you push up the hill again there,” the person mentioned. “And together with your construct, I could make you with an Olympian in a yr.”

The person was Tony Colacchio, a former roller who had been president of the Cape Cod Curling Membership. Colacchio was attempting to advertise the expansion of wheelchair curling.

There was just one downside for Emt.

“I heard ‘the Olympics,’ and being an athlete, I am like, 'Let's go,'” he mentioned. “However I am like, 'What the heck is curling?' I had no thought what the game was.”

Excited at an opportunity to compete once more, Emt studied curling as quickly as he bought dwelling from the cape. He started balancing his day job as a instructor with coaching. He would depart his classroom at 3 p.m. sharp on Fridays, drive to Massachusetts and spend all weekend practising, not returning dwelling till the nighttime Sunday.

At first, studying a wholly new sport was fairly the adjustment.

“It was very irritating, as a result of I went from taking part in basketball with a bunch of future NBA gamers, speaking smack, individuals getting dunked on and bumping heads,” Emt mentioned. "Curling is a whole 180. We shake palms earlier than we play. There is no smack-talking.”

The follow paid off, nonetheless. By 2015, Emt was representing america on this planet championships, an occasion he has now appeared in eight occasions.

In 2018, he competed within the Paralympic Video games in PyeongChang, South Korea, and he did so once more in 2022 in Beijing.

Steve Emt in the course of the Workforce United States Welcome Expertise at Milan-Cortina 2026 Paralympics on March 01, 2026 in Venice, Italy. Elsa / Getty Pictures Emt is now competing on the Milan Cortina Video games. He and his teammate, Laura Dwyer, have received two of their first three matches as they intention for his or her first Paralympic medal.

Emt thought he would by no means compete once more after his accident. His head was full of darkish, damaging ideas as he recovered in his hospital room, questioning whether or not he would ever make it out the despair that had consumed him. There have been even occasions, he admitted, he didn’t need to be round anymore.

Now, at 56, Emt isn't solely competing. He hopes to nonetheless be curling when the Paralympics come to Utah in 2034 — and in addition function an inspiration to others with disabilities.

“I like every little thing about sporting the colours, sporting the jersey,” he mentioned.

He added: “In my view, the 2 best honors in a lifetime for an American are to serve within the army for his or her nation and to function an athlete for his or her nation. I've accomplished them each. So I am in a really completely satisfied place proper now. Life is gorgeous.”