Stuttering Didn't Stop Rob Love

Stuttering Didn't Bench Bob Love

NBA All-Star Bob Love will lead the 2007 campaign for NationalStuttering Awareness Week, May 14-20.

Love knows first-hand the experiences of someone who stutters. Hehas overcome considerablefrustrations and setbacks since his gloryyears with the Chicago Bulls.

"Bob is more than a great basketball star and community leader,"said Jane Fraser, president of the 60-year-old Stuttering Foundation. "He was chosen to serve as chairman because his courage in copingwith his speech impediment serves as an excellent role model for themillions of people worldwide who stutter."

National Stuttering Awareness Week was established by Congress in 1988 to promote public information and understanding concerning thiscomplex speech disorder.

"I know how important it is to receive speech therapy at an earlyage," Love said. "My grandmother Ella used to swat me in the mouthwith a dishrag and say 'Spit out those words, Robert Earl,'" he recalls.

"That approach didn't work, but it underscores thepublic's misunderstanding of stuttering,"said Love, who now speaks out about stuttering awareness regularly.

Difficulty in finding a job for those who stutterwas no surprisetoLove.

"After my retirement from the NBA, reaction by potential employersto my speaking difficulty turned the usually tough post-sports careeradjustment into a living nightmare," Love relates. "I had a collegedegree and a well-known name, but personnel managers seldom call backsomeone who stutters on the telephone. For years, I was either inpoor-paying jobs or out of work."

By the end of 1984- some seven years after millions had watched himplay NBA basketball- Love took the only job offered to him. He wouldwash dishes and bus tables for a Nordstrom department store in Seattle.

Yet it was here that Love's story began a slow, grinding anddifficult turn for the better. First, there was the corporate managerof Nordstrom's restaurants, who offered to have his company pay forspeech therapy. Enter speech pathologist Susan Hamilton, whowould guide Love through countless hours of therapy in which helearned to manage his moments of stuttering and speak more fluently.

"Gradually, I learned how to work on my speech and prepare mentallyfor speaking situations," Love says today. "I began accepting a fewspeaking invitations and told whoever would listen about the trialsof those who struggle with stuttering."

Adds Hamilton, "More than 20 years after his first speech therapy,Bob's story continues to inspire people in all walks of life anditprovides hope to children and adults who stutter. He reminds us speechpathologists of the importance of life's work, and challengesus all to work on our individual problems so that we may experiencethe hidden gifts of those who stutter."

"My message to young people and parents isdirect: Don't wait, like I did," Love emphasizes. Speech therapy duringchildhood has the greatest chance of success."

Today, the comeback is complete. Bob Love rose from dishwasherto motivational speaker and director of community relationsof the Chicago Bulls.

In 1988, the National Council on Communicative Disorders awarded himits Individual Achievement Award.

And, in 1990, the NBA Players Association chose Love to receive theOscar Robertson Award for achievement outside basketball. Today, BobLove remains very active with the Bulls. He travels to schools andother places discussing issues important to children and adults alike.

"There is no 'cure' for stuttering, but therapy and hard work oftencan help those affected to speak more easily and fluently," notesFraser. "Bob Love joins an impressive list of famous people who havenot let stuttering hold them back from important careers andrewarding lives. Now he is helping others."

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

Marilyn Monroe

From Edward S. Herrington's letter to Southcoasttoday.com

I am writing in response to "The importance of voice" (May 29), which mentioned that famous actor James Earl Jones struggled with stuttering. Another famous voice that you cited was the trademark breathy voice of Marilyn Monroe; however, you did not make mention of the fact that Marilyn Monroe also struggled with stuttering at various points in her life, sometimes very painfully.

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.

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.