Keltner shows signs of a leader
Centennial senior molded by his deaf grandparents
Carson Keltner approaches the line of scrimmage and flashes a signal to his fellow linemates. And they’re off. He snaps the ball back to the quarterback and Peoria Centennial is in the end zone.
That has happened often since his sophomore year, playing center, paving holes, kick-starting the offense for the 5A football powerhouse.
Now a senior, Keltner is surrounded by sophomores on the line.
“Whatever Carson says, they listen,” coach Richard Taylor said.
Keltner has a big presence in the huddle, on the field, in the locker room, around school, in the community. Not just because he stands 6 feet 2, 285 pounds. Keltner has a heart that draws people to him, one that was fostered by two deaf grandparents on his mother Janet’s side.
Thomas and Alice Crumpler didn’t have much monetarily. Thomas would go from job to job. They moved to five different states. Alice was completely deaf. But when they found each other at a deaf school, they discovered love, a deep connection that led to five children, who gave them grandchildren.
Janet passed on sign language to her and Brett’s three children.
When she talks about Carson, she calls him bilingual because he can do sign language. But, Carson said, his older sister Shelbi, 19, is much better than him at it and might have passed their mom.
“They showed us that family is always first,” Carson said about his grandparents.
Carson’s football games and Shelbi’s dance recitals became outlets. And when they watched their grandfather die in May 2017, it left an indelible impression on both.
Both Carson and Shelbi were with him in intensive care and watched him die.
“When I saw my grandpa die, it was heart-breaking,” Carson said. “But I’m glad I got to see him, just to see him that one last time. It really helped me.”
Frustrated by how the nurses and doctors weren’t able to communicate with her grandfather because of his hearing impairment, it made Shelbi want to be an interpreter for deaf patients in hospitals.
“He didn’t understand what they were saying,” she said. “It irked me. Him passing away had something to do with what I’m doing now. I started taking classes at Phoenix College for interpreting.”
Janet Keltner said her father became deaf at 5 when he developed scarlet fever. She said her mother was born deaf.
She wouldn’t have wanted any other parents. She sees the joy in her mother’s face now when she watches Carson play his football games. On Friday, Centennial has another big one, taking on national power Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.
Keltner was a big reason Zidane Thomas ran for more than 2,000 yards a second consecutive year and won the 5A state championship.
The only thing missing was his grandfather not being there to share the moment.
“My grandpa loved painting and drawing,” Carson said. “He’d go, ‘Look what I’m doing.’ It’s hard to talk about it, but I loved my grandpa. He helped me. He’d always say, ‘Do your thing.’ He always supported me.”
He said his grandmother didn’t talk much, but she always knew what he was feeling, what he was saying.
“I wasn’t the best at sign language,” Carson said. “My mom would teach, ‘I love you,’ and ‘happy birthday.’ My grandmother is ridiculously good at reading lips. We’d put the TV on and play with her and not put the closed captions on. She would know what they were saying.”
They learned compassion and how to communicate in other ways. With their eyes. Body language. Hands. Expression.
“It’s really helped him be a leader,” Janet said of Carson. “He is warm and understanding and he always wants to help people. There was a time when my mother-in-law was in rehab. It was next to a hospice, and he heard a patient go, ‘Help me.’”
Carson wanted to help him.
“It shows his heart,” Janet said. “He’s like that with people.”
Shelbi said it would frustrate her when she was little and didn’t know what her grandmother needed. When Alice got a cell phone, it helped with text messaging. But she could read how her grandchildren were feeling through their eyes, their body language.
“There wasn’t anything I could do to help her,” she said. “I’ve progressed. As soon as my grandpa passed away, it started clicking. I want to communicate with my grandmother better.”
Janet said her parents had no problem raising five children.
“I’ve been very lucky with my parents,” she said. “My two brothers were in Pop Warner, baseball, wrestling. They were there to take part in that. After my mom retired, she watched all my kids. She took them to school. She got a phone and learned how to text.”
Janet taught her kids that just because their grandparents couldn’t hear, they could still enjoy life. They could drive. They could love.
“They never stopped to think their grandparents can’t do this because they’re hearing impaired,” Janet said. “They were able to go through life.”