Sports story makes point on stuttering

As someone who both has stuttered during my life and is a sports fanatic, your article "Stars from different sports bond over shared experience" made me very happy. I think it is great that Astros star George Springer and Charlotte Hornets' Michael Kidd-Gilchrist have bonded over their shared stuttering and that the public is aware of this, because it brings attention to stuttering.

I wish to add that other pro athletes of past generations come to mind as pioneers who were open about their stuttering. First, golf champion Ken Venturi was open about his stuttering during his career in the 1950s and 1960s; Venturi was the first national spokesman for the Stuttering Foundation.

In my opinion, the most glaring example of an early pro athlete who went public with his stuttering is New York Islanders great Gord Lane, who was on that team's four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983. Gord Lane never let his speech hold back his career. While he was not able to do radio and television interviews like the other players on the Stanley Cup champion Islanders, he did something that was more powerful. During his six seasons with the Islanders, Lane gave interviews to the major New York newspapers in which he discussed his stuttering, as well as his attempts at speech therapy.

Lane spoke openly about his stuttering in a way that would inspire other people who stutter not to let stuttering derail their dreams. The website of the nonprofit Stuttering Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org) has a tribute article to Gord Lane entitled "Retired New York Islander Gord Lane is a Perennial All-Star."

Marinus Jensen

Iowa City