Sound of silence: Beckham overcomes hearing loss with wrestling success

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HAMPTON – When North Butler-Clarksville’s Koltyn Beckham puts on his wrestling head gear, he blocks out all sound as he steps on the mat.
It isn’t that he isn’t focused. He is, indeed, but the senior 145-pounder for the Bearcats literally can’t hear the crowd.
He experienced hearing loss due to an illness as a baby.
“I have a lot of hearing loss,” Beckham admitted. “My left ear is 100 percent completely deaf, my right is halfway. When I was a baby I had bacterial meningitis.”
Despite all of this, Beckham recorded his 100th career match win on Tuesday, Jan. 9 in a triangular at Hampton-Dumont High School. Impressive in the 5-1 decision over Nevada’s Emilio Saldana was that his opponent was in the 138-pound final of the Jones Brothers Invite at Iowa Falls, the same tournament in which Beckham placed third at 145 last month.
“That’s awesome,” NB-C head coach Gordy Smith said of the milestone match...
The full story appears in both Jan. 17 print issues of the Clarksville Star and Butler County Tribune-Journal.

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