Harlem Globetrotter signs love for students at Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf

Harlem Globetrotter Chris “Animal” Hyche sat on the bleachers inside the gymnasium surrounded by students he didn’t know. But he felt comfortable telling them something personal. Lifting his right hand, he told them: “I love you.”

The children from the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Edgewood raised their hands, too, returning the love.

“I wanted them to know I love them and that I understand them,” said Hyche, who is a CODA — a term in the deaf community for “child of deaf adults.” Fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), he addressed the students on Tuesday at their school on a visit promoting the Globetrotters shows coming up on Dec. 26 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh’s Uptown section.

When he walked into the gym, the students cheered. They didn’t know he knew sign language, but he signed a message.

“I told them I am a CODA, and I also sign and that I can relate to them,” Hyche said. “I understand how to communicate with them.”

ASL was his family language growing up. “My friends were impressed that I could communicate with my parents by using my hands, but that was normal in my house,” he said.

He often communicates with his mother, Wendalon Hyche-Payton, over FaceTime — the Apple service that connects people by video and voice — which allows them to use ASL.

He said one of the hardest things for him was realizing that his mother hasn’t ever heard her children talk.

“Getting the opportunity to be here at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf means so much to me,” Hyche said. “It is not often I get to do this. And I think the students liked it because I know what they are going through.”

The 6-foot-5 forward from Jackson, Miss., played at Talladega College as well as professionally in Mexico, Morocco and Kosovo. He’s participated in the nation’s first basketball camp for deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes, the Mike Glenn Basketball Camp, and said he would love to come back to the school for the deaf for a camp in summer.

Interacting with the students, he asked them questions as part of the Globetrotters’ “T.E.A.M. Up at School Program” that discourages bullying, cultivates empathy and assures the bullied that they are not alone. He also showed them basketball tricks such as putting the ball between their legs, then behind their back and then passing it from their head to the next player. One girl assisted him on a thunderous dunk. (Hyche got the nickname “Animal” because of the ferocious way he dunks a basketball.)

Watch this dunk! Chris “Animal” Hyche of the Harlem Globetrotters at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf pic.twitter.com/MzienzwrI7

— JoAnne Harrop (@JHarrop_Trib) December 10, 2019

The students were were excited about having a visitor “without needing an interpreter,” said Hyche. “So I was excited that they were excited. Being here with these children made my day. It’s such a rewarding feeling.”