COLORADO SPRINGS — There are sirens to mark the start of each half and whistles blown to end every play, but none of the participants can hear any of it. Similarly, “The Star-Spangled Banner” isn’t played or sung a cappella, but rather signed in silence.
But tone is much more than pitch; it is an attitude, a feeling. And so it was that Saturday’s homecoming at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind struck a note that was just as perfect as anything that might take place on any campus anywhere in the country.
“I’ve been to homecoming at my school, and it’s nothing like this,” school superintendent Carol Hilty said. “When you’re from here, you are part of a family, and so when you return you are truly coming back home.”
Indeed for some in the stands, the football game, a 42-22 victory over the Iowa School for the Deaf, was a convenient excuse to renew acquaintances. In the stands, some conversations moved faster than the players on the field. Those more interested in the action stood along a fence just off the home sideline. Some of the more adventurous fans moseyed just a few feet away from the players.
One interested spectator, Sharon Elstad, sat in a car in the parking lot. Earlier that day, Elstad was hit with a bout of vertigo, necessitating a trip to an emergency room. But as soon as she was cleared, Elstad returned to the field to bear witness to the latest chapter of her family’s rich athletic history.
It wasn’t so long ago that Elstad’s husband, Tim, was leading CSDB to a homecoming triumph — “I remember we played Calhan, and they were our longtime rivals,” Tim Elstad said through interpreter Janet Steele. “I still remember the score — we won 44-16. It was wonderful.”
Now the school’s athletic director and an assistant football coach, on Saturday Tim Elstad watched as son Nicholas took his turn. Before the game, Nicholas admitted to being awash in emotion — “excited, nervous — everything at the same time.”
Ties run deep
While members of the eight-man squad ate a pregame meal, word filtered in that the volleyball team, just one point away from victory, had lost its homecoming match to the Iowa team. At some schools, telling the football team their volleyball counterparts had lost would be akin to telling the players the debate squad had gotten upended during final arguments. But CSDB has only 220 students. School officials say 80 percent of them participate in athletics, and so what happens to one team can impact another.
Indeed, Nicholas Elstad said the volleyball loss provided his team with some impetus — “We can’t let them sweep us.” But Nicholas had more personal motivation.
Like his father before him, Nicholas quarterbacks the Bulldogs, and now, amid the passage of his senior year, the youngster realizes that as soon as a year from now, he’ll be up in the stands or looking on from along the sideline.
“When we played our first game, I realized afterward, that was my last time playing against Simla,” Elstad said. “I used to always say, ‘I’ve got next year, I’ve got next year.’ But it was done.
“Now I know every game could be my last, and so I’m trying to do my best.”
CSDB coach Joe Sisneros calls Tim and Nicholas Elstad “two of the finest people I’ve ever met.” The coach, a member of the National High School Hall of Fame, says he would trust either Elstad with his life, so it goes without saying that during the game, he allows Nicholas to do something Jay Cutler can only dream of — call the plays for the offense.
“He’s the one who has a feel for what’s going on out there,” Sisneros said.
Watching the teams certainly brings a different meaning to the idea of one voice in the huddle or a silent snap count. When he goes to the line of scrimmage, Elstad slaps center Regi Madril on the hip to let him know he’s there. Then, he doesn’t so much put his hands under Madril as rest his forearm near the inside of his leg; when Elstad is ready for the ball to be hiked, he gives Madril a nudge, setting the players in motion.
As it turned out, on Saturday, the only number that Elstad really needed to call was his own. He ran for three touchdowns and threw for another in a performance that Dad had to admit topped anything he ever did on homecoming.
Support crucial
At halftime, CSDB announced its homecoming courts to the crowd. The winner of the student vote was Max Wilding, a gangly senior who for the past three years has run cross country for Wasson, a “hearing” school in Colorado Springs. This year, he’s the team captain, which means that in some ways, Wilding is a Big Man on Two Campuses.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m big-headed, but yes,” he offers brightly.
Wilding has been around the CSDB campus since preschool, and although he clearly has shown his proficiency in functioning in any social circle, he admits to a bit of anxiety about what his future holds.
“I’m nervous, because I don’t know if I’m ready to be out in the world,” Wilding said. “I mean, I’m ready, but to be out on my own and everything, it’s kind of scary. You know, when you have CSDB, you’re supported.”
Perhaps the only person more anxious about a CSDB campus without Wilding is his mother, Pammie.
“It’s tough. I have an older son who graduated two years ago, but this is my baby,” she said. “I’ve worked here 14 years, ever since he was in preschool. Next year, I’ll probably treat all the kids around here like they were Max.”
When the time came for Wilding to don his crown, then climb onto a Corvette convertible for a spin around the field, Mom was right there, camera ready. Seeing the looks on their faces, indeed, there was nothing that needed to be said.
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
Athletic endeavors
The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind has 220 students, and school officials say 80 percent of them participate in athletics. A look at some of the sports highlights for the school in Colorado Springs:
Football: Won 1977 state championship in 8-man.
Wrestling: Has 13 state individual champs, including two-time winners Fidel Martinez, Jesus Contreras and Bernie Atencio.
Volleyball: Janet Adams coached the team for 21 years (starting in 1969), one year short of the state record for a coach at one school.
Other sports offered: Boys and girls basketball; boys and girls track.
