Ron Harper

Professional basketball player Ron Harper, now retired, grew up playing the game in Dayton, Ohio. While by the end of his career he had won five NBA Championships, as a high school freshman and sophomore he was cut from his varsity basketball team. After transferring to Kiser High School, Harper was finally granted the opportunity to prove himself on the court, and he did not disappoint. As a senior he averaged 20.5 points and was named first-team All-Ohio.

Harper went on to play for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and became the first player in the history of the University to have his number retired. He launched his professional career as eighth pick in the 1986 NBA Draft when selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He played with his hometown team for three years until he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. Harper then played for the Chicago Bulls and the L.A. Lakers, helping the Bulls win three NBA Championships and the Lakers two. After overcoming many injuries and playing for 15 seasons, Harper finally retired in 2001.

While he excelled on the court at Kiser High School, Harper struggled in the classroom due to his severe stutter. He cites his stutter and consequent shyness as a major factor in stunting his education. Ridicule from his classmates only worsened the situation. "When I was a young kid going to school, people were making fun and laughing at me," he says. Playing basketball was his way of regaining confidence. "When we stepped on the football field, the baseball field or the basketball court, I laughed at them back." In 2006, Kiser High School named their gymnasium after the basketball player, proving that Harper’s perseverance in the face of adversity paid off.

As a child, a doctor suggested that Harper undergo tongue surgery to help his stutter. Harper, however, took a different route and enrolled for speech therapy while at Miami University. Although speech therapy failed to rid Harper of his stutter, he has learned not only to accept his speech impediment but also to appreciate his differences. "It made me stronger," he says. "It made me deal with more than most kids do. Till this day I've had young kids come and talk to me about their stuttering, and ‘how did you do it?’ I just tell them that everybody ain't the same. It's just who I am. I'm not going to go hide.”

As an avid supporter of the stuttering community, Harper continues to motivate people living with speech impediments.

Published Oct. 31, 2017

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From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

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