For months after the accident, Steve Emt lied to people, including himself.
In March 1995, Emt was driving on I-84 northeast of Hartford, Connecticut, when he crashed his car. EMT was driving drunk. At just 25 years old, Emt woke up the next day and was told he would never walk again.
He was paralyzed from the waist down.
“For six months after my accident, I lied to myself. I told everyone that a deer ran in front of me,” Emt said. “I didn’t want to be a drunk driver. I didn’t want all the kids in my hometown, all the people across the country who love me, I didn’t want them to look at me as a drunk driver. But then I wasn’t healing. I wasn’t moving on because I didn’t accept it.”
Emt had been an athlete all his life. As a senior at RHAM High School, he played basketball and averaged 27 points per game, leading his team to the state semifinals. His exploits caught the attention of the United States Military Academy, where he was recruited to play basketball.
Emt spent a year in the military before a shocking tragedy led him to take a different path. When he was 19, his father died of a sudden heart attack. Distraught, Emt transferred to the University of Connecticut so he could be closer to home.
He eventually moved on to the University of Connecticut basketball team, playing for legendary coach Jim Calhoun.
“The first day I was on campus, (Calhoun) took me into his office and not a word was spoken about basketball,” Emt said. “He said, ‘Steve, I lost my dad when I was a little boy. We have that in common. I just want you to know that I’m here for you whatever you need.'”
Emt played in two games for the Huskies during the 1993-94 season. Then a mistake seemingly ended his athletic career and left Emt embarrassed.
Almost half a year after his fateful accident, a journalist approached Emt to tell him his true story, a moment that forced him to face the truth. He agreed to be interviewed and a weight was lifted from his shoulders.
Emt came to accept the “drunk driver” label and put it to good use. He began touring the country, speaking at high schools and warning teenagers about the dangers of the mistake he made.
For most people, this would be the end of the story. An athlete who makes a terrible mistake and then uses that indiscretion to prevent other people from repeating their failures.
For Emt, it was just the beginning.
Seventeen years after the accident, Emt, now in a wheelchair, was minding his own business in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, when an older gentleman approached him.
“He said, ‘Excuse me, are you local?’” Emt recalled. Emt told the older man that he lived two hours away, in Connecticut, and then asked him why he wanted to know.
“Well, I train with the Paralympic curling team here on Cape Cod and I saw you going up the hill back there,” the man said. “And with your constitution, I can make you an Olympic athlete in one year.”
The man was Tony Colacchio, a former curler who had been president of the Cape Cod Curling Club. Colacchio was trying to promote the growth of wheelchair curling.
There was only one problem for Emt.
“I heard ‘the Olympics,’ and as an athlete, I said, ‘Let’s go,’” he said. “But I wonder, ‘What the hell is curling?’ “I had no idea what sport was.”
Excited by the opportunity to compete again, Emt studied curling as soon as he got home from the Cape. He began to balance his daily work as a teacher with training. On Fridays he would leave his classroom at 3 pm sharp, drive to Massachusetts and spend the entire weekend practicing, not returning home until midnight on Sunday.
At first, learning a completely new sport was quite an adjustment.
“It was very frustrating, because I went from playing basketball with a bunch of future NBA players, trash talking, people getting dunked on and hitting their heads,” Emt said. “Curling is a complete 180 degrees. We shake hands before we play. There are no rude comments.”
However, the practice paid off. In 2015, Emt represented the United States at the world championships, an event in which he has already appeared eight times.
In 2018 he competed at the Paralympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, and did so again in 2022 in Beijing.
Emt is now competing at the Cortina Games in Milan. He and teammate Laura Dwyer won two of their first three matches as they aim for their first Paralympic medal.
Emt thought he would never compete again after his accident. His head filled with dark, negative thoughts as he recovered in his hospital room, wondering if he would ever overcome the depression that had consumed him. There were even times, he admitted, when he didn’t want to be around anymore.
Now, at 56 years old, Emt not only competes. She hopes to continue curling when the Paralympic Games come to Utah in 2034, and also serve as an inspiration to other people with disabilities.
“I love everything about wearing the colors, wearing the jersey,” he said.
He added: “In my opinion, the two greatest honors in the life of an American are serving in the military for your country and serving as an athlete for your country. I have accomplished both. So right now I feel very happy. Life is beautiful.”
