A drunk driving mistake left him paralyzed. It also turned him into a Paralympian.
For months after the accident, Steve Emt was lying to people — including himself.
In March 1995, Emt was driving on I-84 northeast of Hartford, Connecticut, when he crashed his car. Emt was driving drunk. Only 25 years old, Emt woke up the next day and was told he would never walk again.
He was paralyzed from the waist down.
“For six months after my crash. I was lying to myself. I told everybody a deer ran out in front of me,” Emt said. “I didn’t want to be a drunk driver. I didn’t want all the kids in my hometown, all the people around the country that love me, I didn’t want them looking at me as a drunk driver. But then I wasn’t healing. I wasn’t moving on because I didn’t accept it.”
Emt had been an athlete all his life. As a senior at RHAM High School, he played basketball and averaged 27 points per game, leading his team to the state semifinals. His exploits caught the attention of the U.S. Military Academy, where he was recruited to hoop.
Emt spent one year at Army before a shocking tragedy set him on a different course. When he was 19, his father died of a sudden heart attack. Distraught, Emt transferred to the University of Connecticut so he could be closer to home.
He eventually walked on to the UConn basketball team, playing for legendary coach Jim Calhoun.
“The first day I’m on campus, [Calhoun] pulled me into his office, and there wasn’t a word spoken about basketball,” Emt said. “He said: ‘Steve, I lost my father when I was a young kid. We got that in common. I just want you to know that I’m here for you whatever you need.’”
Emt played in two games for the Huskies during the 1993-94 season. Then, one mistake seemingly ended his athletic career and left Emt in shame.
Nearly half a year after his fateful crash, Emt was approached by a reporter who wanted to tell his real story, a moment that forced him to confront the truth. He agreed to be interviewed, and a weight was lifted off his chest.
Emt came to accept the label of “drunk driver” and put it to good use. He began touring the country, speaking at high schools and warning teenagers about the dangers of the mistake he made.
For most people, this would be the end of the story. An athlete who makes a terrible mistake who then uses that indiscretion to stop other people from repeating his failures.
For Emt, it was only the beginning.
Seventeen years after the crash, Emt, now in a wheelchair, was minding his own business in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, when he was approached by an older gentleman.
“He’s like, ‘Excuse me, are you local?’” Emt recalled. Emt told the older man he lived two hours away in Connecticut and then asked why he wanted to know.
“Well, I train with the Paralympic curling team here in Cape Cod, and I saw you push up the hill back there,” the man said. “And with your build, I can make you with an Olympian in a year.”
The man was Tony Colacchio, a former curler who had been president of the Cape Cod Curling Club. Colacchio was trying to promote the growth of wheelchair curling.
There was only one problem for Emt.
“I heard ‘the Olympics,’ and being an athlete, I’m like, ‘Let’s go,’” he said. “But I’m like, ‘What the heck is curling?’ I had no idea what the sport was.”
Excited at a chance to compete again, Emt studied curling as soon as he got home from the cape. He began balancing his day job as a teacher with training. He would leave his classroom at 3 p.m. sharp on Fridays, drive to Massachusetts and spend all weekend practicing, not returning home until the middle of the night Sunday.
At first, learning an entirely new sport was quite the adjustment.
“It was very frustrating, because I went from playing basketball with a bunch of future NBA players, talking smack, people getting dunked on and bumping heads,” Emt said. “Curling is a complete 180. We shake hands before we play. There’s no smack-talking.”
The practice paid off, however. By 2015, Emt was representing the United States in the world championships, an event he has now appeared in eight times.
In 2018, he competed in the Paralympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, and he did so again in 2022 in Beijing.
Emt is now competing at the Milan Cortina Games. He and his teammate, Laura Dwyer, have won two of their first three matches as they aim for their first Paralympic medal.
Emt thought he would never compete again after his accident. His head was filled with dark, negative thoughts as he recovered in his hospital room, wondering whether he would ever make it out the depression that had consumed him. There were even times, he admitted, he didn’t want to be around anymore.
Now, at 56, Emt is not only competing. He hopes to still be curling when the Paralympics come to Utah in 2034 — and also serve as an inspiration to others with disabilities.
“I love everything about wearing the colors, wearing the jersey,” he said.
He added: “In my opinion, the two greatest honors in a lifetime for an American are to serve in the military for their country and to serve as an athlete for their country. I’ve done them both. So I’m in a very happy place right now. Life is beautiful.”
From breaking news and local politics to art exhibitions, live music, high school sports, small businesses, and cultural events, we celebrate the people and places that make Connecticut unique.