A Hero of their Own - chargers.com | Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter

When Alex Scharnitzky, a sixth grader at San Diego's De Portola Middle School, shook hands with Darren Sproles, it wasn't just about meeting his favorite athlete. It was about finding common ground with someone who has faced and overcome similar obstacles.

"I didn't know anyone else who stutters and my dad told me that there was a famous football player who stutters, too," Scharnitzky said."It was cool to know that I'm not the only one."

As part of National Stuttering Awareness Week, Sproles visited roughly 30 San Diego students who also struggle with the speech disorder. The students gathered at Morse High School where Sproles answered many of their questions, signed autographs and mingled with the group for approximately an hour.

"I was nervous at first, but I'm glad I got to meet these kids," Sproles said. "Hopefully I encouraged them a little."

Sproles, who has stuttered throughout his life, sat in front of the room as students asked him not only about life in the NFL, but also about his personal speech struggles.

"Sometimes when I talk, I try to go too fast, and that's what gets me in trouble,"he explained."?If you put a camera in my face, I get nervous. That's when it (stuttering) comes out the most. Once I get relaxed, I'm fine. I've got to stop and breathe and just try to talk slower. That helps."

The students' questions were pointed. They asked if he was picked on at school because of his speech and were eager to hear how he's overcome his struggles.

alt text "They got right to the point," Sproles said. "I told them that I never really worry about it. If you let something bother you, it can get in your way. It's like football. You just have to work at it."

Thursday's event was set up by The Stuttering Foundation, a non-profit organization that works towards the prevention and treatment of stuttering. Sproles became acquainted with the group through San Diego native and former NBA star Bill Walton. Sproles has formed a friendship with Walton, and Walton has helped Sproles with the running back's speech issues.

Sproles now serves as a national spokesman for The Stuttering Foundation, and his image is featured on a large poster that each student received Thursday. The poster contains the message, "Stuttering didn't keep him out of the game."

"It's wonderful for these kids to have a role model like Darren," said Jennifer Taps, Senior Speech and Language Pathologist for the San Diego Unified School District." It means so much because in a lot of ways, they feel like they'e alone, that they're the only ones that have this kind of challenge. To see someone with the same challenge that is so successful, it's really encouraging to them."

Taps was impressed that despite his nervousness, Sproles engaged the students as a group and carefully answered each question.

"As he said, this kind of a group environment is a challenge for him, yet he was outstanding," Taps said. "It would have been easy for him to just sit down and sign autographs, but he didn't ask for that. He was outstanding."

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Alan Rabinowitz

Alan Rabinowitz, Ph.D., who passed away in 2018, was an explorer, wildlife conservationist, and author. He established the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Myanmar, which is about the size of the state of Vermont.

His love for animals began when he was very young.

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.

Lewis Carroll

The recent Disney version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland, garnered a great deal of media hype. Even though the mainstream media has not made mention that Carroll was a person who stuttered, his family history gives credence to the discovery of the genetic link to stuttering. Carroll was born to parents who were first cousins; almost all of their eleven children, three girls and seven boys, struggled with stuttering past childhood.

Bill Withers

While Bill Withers has long been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter, many people probably didn’t realize he stuttered. He passed away on March 30, 2020.

Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, W.V., Withers was the youngest of six children. When his father died when Withers was small, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as domestics.

Jack Paar

While Jack Paar is among the most prominent of the entertainers on the Stuttering Foundation’s list of Famous People Who Stutter, he deserves special recognition as he was among the first to openly address his stuttering in public. As host of The Tonight Show from 1957-1962, he spoke of his difficulties as a stuttering child and teenager, giving hope to young people.