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    Y2CJ41

    #MondayMatness: From deaf slave to Warsaw wrestler, Linky has taken quite a journey

    By STEVE KRAH

    stvkrh905@gmail.com

     

    Real adversity meets opportunity.

     

    That’s the story of Jacob Linky.

     

    The wrestling room at Warsaw Community High School is filled with pulsing music and coaches barking instructions as more than three dozen Tigers get after it.

     

    One wrestler — junior Linky — goes through the workout, rehearsing his moves with his workout partner, cranking out pull-ups and running laps around the room.

     

    But without the sounds heard by the others.

     

    Linky lives in a world that is mostly silent.

     

    Without his cochlear implants, Linky can’t hear much of anything.

     

    There was one incident where smoke alarms went off all over the house where Jacob now resides with Nrian and Brenda Linky. It was 3 a.m.

     

    “Jacob slept through the alarm,” says Brian Linky, Jacob’s legal guardian. “I woke him in the morning.”

     

    The young man was not born deaf.

     

    Now 18, Jacob was about 5 and in native Africa — Lake Volta, Ghana, to be exact — when he lost his hearing at the hands of his father.

     

    “We were slaves,” says Jacob, speaking of his early childhood through interpreter Rebecca Black. “We helped my dad in his fishing business.

     

    “I didn’t used to be deaf. My dad hit by head a whole bunch. That’s how I became the way I am.”

     

    His father demanded that young Jacob dive into very deep waters full of dangerous creatures.

     

    “I felt a pop in my ears,” says Jacob. “I was a kid.”

     

    His native language was Twi, but he didn’t hear much that after his hearing was gone.

     

    Growing up the second oldest of seven children, Jacob has a brother who was born to another family, rejected and traded to his father.

     

    It was a life that is difficult to imagine for those in the U.S.

     

    “My mom didn’t do anything wrong,” says Jacob. “She fed me.”

     

    Wanting the best for Jacob, his mother placed him in an orphanage. He eventually came to live in Warsaw when he was adopted by Andy and Dawn Marie Bass and began attending the fifth grade at Jefferson Elementary in Warsaw. He received hearing aids and then implants.

     

    “I’m thankful the Basses adopted me and brought me here,” says Jacob.

     

    “I now live with the Linky family.”

     

    Following grade school, Jacob went on to Edgewood Middle School in Warsaw and was introduced to wrestling.

     

    “I knew nothing (about the sport),” says Jacob. “I played around.”

     

    Drive and athletic prowess allow Jacob to excel on the high school mat.

     

    “At times his feisty side comes out because of that past,” says Warsaw head coach Kris Hueber. “He’s channeled it well and we’ve been able to harness well most of the time.

     

    “He has days where he is cranky and fired up, You know that he’s drawing from stuff that no one else has.”

     

    After missing his freshmen season, Jacob made an impact with the Tigers as a 145-pound sophomore, advancing to the East Chicago Semistate.

     

    “This year, I’d like to go all the way to State,” says Jacob, who spent the summer pumping iron and continues to eat a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables and protein while packing more muscle on a  5-foot-7, 160-pound frame.

     

    “(Jacob) fell in love with the weight room,” says Hueber. “There is not much on him that is not muscular. He’s one of those guys with his energy level he needs to be active. As an athlete, he is a remarkably gifted human being. He’s able to do things no one else in the room can do. Between strength, balance and agility, he is uniquely gifted.”

     

    Ask Jacob what his best quality is as a wrestler and says speed. His quickness and and strength come into play in the practice room with larger practice partners — 170-pound Brandon Estepp, 182-pound junior Mario Cortes and 195-pound senior Brock Hueber.

     

    “I don’t like to wrestle light persons,” says Jacob. “It makes me work hard to wrestle the big guys.”

     

    Warsaw opened the 2019-20 season Saturday with the Warsaw Invitational and Jacob went 5-0 with four pins.

     

    Sign language and lip-reading help him navigate life as a teenager and athlete. When Jacob wrestles, Black circles the mat to maintain eye contact and relay information to him.

     

    “She always looks where my head is,” says Jacob. “She always gets sweaty.”

     

    Who gets sweatier during a match? “Me,” says Jacob, thrusting a thumb at his chest. “I’m a harder worker.”

     

    Black has been around Jacob since he was in eighth grade.

     

    “I feel privileged to be involved in his life,” says Black. “He’s an amazing person. He just is.”

     

    Hueber has come to appreciate that Jacob has the ability to be both competitive and light-hearted.

     

    “He’s ornery still, but in a good way,” says Hueber. “He has not been able to out-grow being a kid. I love that.”

     

    While Jacob’s background and circumstance are different than his Tiger mates, Hueber says he’s “just one of the guys.”

     

    “(They) don’t treat him differently in any way,” says Hueber. “They love being around him because of his charisma and personality. He’s a really great teammate.”

     

    Hueber says working with Jacob has helped others recognize their influence.

     

    “They might be able to goof off for two minutes and snap right back,” says Hueber. “If (Jacob) misses one line of communication, there’s a lot that he’s got to recover from.”

     

    This means that workout partners need to be focused and attentive as well — not just for themselves but to also help Jacob. Hueber notes that Jacob has to concentrate and keep focused on his interpreter in class (his current favorite class in English and he is looking forward to Building Trades in the future) and practice.

     

    “There are probably times when he’s looking for a break,” says Hueber.

     

    “He’s on and he’s full-wired all day. That’s taxing mentally for sure.”

     

    Brian Linky works in payment processing at PayProTec in Warsaw and Brenda Linky is the special needs coordinator for Warsaw Community Schools. The Linkys have two sons who played basketball at Warsaw — Zack (now 28 and living in Calfiornia) and Ben (now 22 and attending Indiana University).

     

    Taking in Jacob means they have a teenager in the house again.

     

    “He’s been nothing but polite,” says Brian Linky. “He’s hard-working around the house (mowing the lawn, making his bed, walking the dog and cooking his own meals). He has friends over. He’s very happy.”

     

    As for the future, Jacob is considering joining the football team next year (he has never played the sport). He turns 19 in May.

     

    A brother, Christian, lives in Virginia and communicates with Jacob and family in Africa through text.

     

    “We’re going to save up so we can visit our parents in Africa,” says Jacob.

     

    Right now, he is doing life as an Indiana teenager and wrestling is a big part of it.

     

    Real adversity meets opportunity.

    Edited by Y2CJ41

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