Apollo High School junior Tristin Crusenberry has had a love affair with baseball for as long as he can remember and has been deaf since he was a toddler. However, Tristin has not allowed his hearing loss to stop him from pursuing his dream of playing college baseball and hopefully becoming a Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher.
Last year, Tristin was given the opportunity to not only experience the deaf community in a different way but to do so on the field as well as on the big screen. On Friday night, May 31, Tristin and his family walked the red carpet at the Alhambra Theatre in Hopkinsville, Ky. for the movie premiere of “The Silent Natural,” in which Crusenberry portrayed one of several deaf baseball players.
The “Silent Natural,” an independent film based on the true story of William “Dummy” Hoy, the first deaf major league baseball player, was filmed entirely in Kentucky.
“What makes this so special to us is that Tristin did a project in grade school about William “Dummy” Hoy and how he wanted to be like him and be the next big deaf MLB player,” Tristin’s father Tom said. “Then he gets an opportunity to be in a movie (even if it is not a huge part) about him five years later — coincidence — I think not. It’s a God thing absolutely. He is still chasing that dream.”
Tom said he heard of the movie opportunity, where a casting company was seeking young deaf baseball players, from Tristin’s former elementary school deaf and hard of hearing teacher Heidi Givens last year. Tom sent a message to the parties involved and, before they knew it, the two were soon making early morning drives to the Hopkinsville area each day.
Although Tristin did not have a speaking part, he did appear on the screen several times throughout the film. Tom said the overall experience of filming with other young deaf actors was a positive one for Tristin.
“It’s not an easy journey sometimes for him, living in the hearing world,” Tom said. “The other deaf actors would sign to each other. They were signing at the red carpet event.”
Tristin said he had to take his cochlear implants out during the filming and just use sign language with the other members of the cast because that technology was not available in the 1800s, the setting in which the movie was filmed.
Tristin was born in March of 2003, just two weeks early and in relatively healthy condition. It wasn’t until he turned 13 months old that he contracted bacterial meningitis, an infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Tristin soon joined the 20 percent of people who experience hearing loss after receiving a diagnosis of bacterial meningitis.
At 15 months old, Tom and his wife Christy tried using hearing aids and weekly therapy at the Wendell Foster campus with Tristin. By the time he was 18 months old, Tristin reached the narrow window still available to him to have cochlear implants. His parents felt that was the best decision at the time, although, Tom said some members of the deaf community do not embrace the procedure.
Since having the implant, Tristin has graduated from speech therapy and is currently on his fourth processor. Valued at over $7,000, and seldom completely covered by insurance, the most recent processor was gifted to Tristin by family friends that wanted to see him be successful.
“I made a promise I would do all of my work for school,” he said of the generous donation. “I started hearing a lot better.”
The updated processor connects to Tristin’s skull using an implanted magnet. Tristin has an aqua kit that helps to waterproof his earpiece so that he can swim. He can also detach the processor when showering or sleeping, which he says is his favorite time of day as the world is completely quiet.
With only one other deaf student at AHS, Tristin said it can be difficult to communicate with other students at school.
“It can be hard sometimes,” Tristin said. “New people are scared to communicate with me because I’m a little bit different.”
Not only can school be difficult but, Tristin said, so can the game of baseball with those who are unfamiliar with him as a pitcher. Tristin often relies on signs from his catcher, and the umpire, to get the job done well. This is one of the many reasons he appreciated learning more about the film’s inspiration Dummy Hoy.
“For baseball — communication is probably the most important part of the game — so you can win the game,” Tristin said. “I’m thankful that Dummy Hoy came up with signs for balls and strikes. I love baseball more than anything — he really changed the game.”
Tristin is grateful for those that paved the trail before him, like Dummy Hoy, but he also hopes to help change the stigma of the way the hearing view the deaf community.
“I don’t like the word disability,” Tristin said. “I’m just like everybody else — I just lost hearing. I know I’m deaf, but it does not describe who I am. I’ve just got to prove people wrong — it’s my favorite thing to do.”
