31 years ago, Steve Emt heard the words that would change his life forever: ‘You will never walk again.’
In March, 1995, Emt crashed his car in Hartford, Connecticut while driving drunk. At the age of 25, the accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.
For many, the tragedy would have marked the end of their athletic career. For Emt, it marked the beginning of a new sporting chapter.
Now, he is a three-time Paralympian for the United States.
The 56-year-old is partnering with Laura Dwyer to represent Team USA in the debut of the mixed doubles event at the Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina.
Emt had always been an athlete. A talented basketball player, his high school performances attracted the attention of the US Military Academy, where he was recruited to play.
Steve Emt became a wheelchair curler after becoming paralyzed in a car accident
The 56-year-old is representing Team USA at the Winter Paralympics for a third time
After one year at Army, Emt moved closer to home in the wake of his father’s sudden death from a heart attack. He transferred to the University of Connecticut where he eventually became a walk-on for the Huskies’ legendary coach Jim Calhoun.
Emt played in two games for the Huskies during the 1993-94 season alongside the likes of Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie and Donyell Marshall.
Then, with one fateful accident, his budding basketball career came to a screeching halt and Emt was left living in shame.
‘For six months after my crash, I was lying to myself. I told everybody a deer ran out in front of me,’ Emt told NBC.
‘I didn’t want to be a drunk driver. I didn’t want all the kids in my hometown, all the people around the country that love me, I didn’t want them looking at me as a drunk driver. But then I wasn’t healing. I wasn’t moving on because I didn’t accept it.’
Eventually, Emt lifted the weight off his chest, telling his story to a reporter and confronting the truth. He began touring the country, speaking at high schools and warning teenagers about the dangers of drunk driving.
He also eventually found hope of resurrecting his athletic career. He tried everything: wheelchair basketball, baseball, tennis, racing.
But nothing filled the void. Not until 17 years later, when a chance encounter changed his entire trajectory.
Emt has been paralyzed since 1995 when he crashed his car while driving drunk
Emt has competed at eight World Championships as well as three Paralympics
While in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Emt, now in a wheelchair, was approached by an older man.
That gentleman turned out to be Tony Colacchio, a former curler who had been president of the Cape Cod Curling Club, who had seen Emt pushing up a hill in his chair and singled him out as a prospect.
Colacchio trained with the Paralympic curling team in Cape Cod and was trying to promote wheelchair curling.
He told Emt there and then that he could transform him into a Paralympian within a year. Emt was ready to sign up on the spot – there was just one issue.
‘I heard “the Olympics,” and being an athlete, I’m like, “Let’s go,”‘ he said. ‘But I’m like, “What the heck is curling?” I had no idea what the sport was.’
He began to study the sport as soon as he got home, and eventually started to juggle his job as a teacher with training.
The switch from basketball to curling provided quite the culture shock for Emt.
‘It was very frustrating, because I went from playing basketball with a bunch of future NBA players, talking smack, people getting dunked on and bumping heads,’ Emt said. ‘Curling is a complete 180. We shake hands before we play. There’s no smack-talking.’
It was an adjustment that has paid off. Emt, who has competed at eight World Championships, made his Paralympic debut in PyeongChang, South Korea in 2018.
He made a return to the Paralympic stage in 2022 in Beijing, and is back competing at the Milan Cortina Games.
