Norway’s Connor Ortman, shown here in a game against Negaunee, was named the recipient of the Gil Heard Courageous Athlete Award by the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association at its late March meeting. He was also selected to the All-U.P. Class ABC First Team. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Adam Niemi)

NORWAY — Sometimes the noise in the gym is overbearing with the crowd yelling, student sections clapping rhythmically and the band playing at full volume.

But when Connor Ortman’s earpiece falls out, there is no volume for him. Despite being on the basketball court in the middle of all the noise, he hears total silence.

The noise comes back as he pushes his cochlear implant back in while running back down the basketball court on defense.

Ortman, a dominant junior guard for the Norway Knights, was named this year’s recipient of the Gil Heard Courageous Athlete Award by the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association at its basketball meeting in late March.

Heard was a sportscaster, U.P. Sports Hall of Fame inductee and longtime sports information officer and director at Northern Michigan University.

Ortman has made one thing loud and clear with his play on the court — his hearing impairment doesn’t hinder his athletic ability. He was selected to the All-U.P. Class A-B-C First Team by the UPSSA for leading the Knights to an 18-3 record and co-championship in the Mid-Peninsula Conference.

Born completely deaf in both ears and diagnosed with a hearing impairment at 2 years old, Ortman’s cochlear implant gives him the gift of hearing. The implant doesn’t completely solve his impairment. The challenge to communicate has made him an expert lip reader, even in the middle of close, chaotic games.

“The most challenging thing about it is that it always comes off every now and then, just going for rebounds or taking a shot, all that,” Ortman said of the implant. “Thanks to my parents — my parents have been there ever since I found out I was deaf. We decided I should wear a headband and see if it would help.

“Thanks to (Norway) Coach (Ben) Leiker, Coach (Jeff) Gallino and all the other coaches I’ve had and to my teammates I’ve had, I just couldn’t do it without them.”

Ortman has played basketball since second grade and had most of the same teammates since, including best friend Josh Plante.

“Me and JP (Plante) have been best friends since kindergarten. Sometimes I can hear coach Leiker in the game and sometimes it’s so loud he’ll have JP tell me what to do,” Ortman said. “Having someone like JP who understands what I have to go through and what I’ve had to deal with, it’s nice for JP to have to do that for me, and for Coach Leiker.”

Leiker, Norway’s head basketball coach, said despite the hearing impairment, Ortman is the team leader.

“He’s never lived without it so I don’t think he knows any different. He had a great season this year,” Leiker said. “We really needed him to score. He rebounded well. He led us in both rebounding and scoring and field goal percentage. He can play outside and inside.”

Ortman’s mother Amy said the implant was placed about nine months after Connor’s diagnosis at 2 1/2 years old. The surgery, which lasted five hours, included drilling into his head, installing a half-dollar-sized magnetic disc and placing wires with electrodes connected to his auditory nerve. He only stayed in the hospital overnight.

“It’s amazing they don’t keep them longer, drilling into their skull,” Amy Ortman said. “After they do the surgery they have to wait about a month for everything to heal up before they turn it on.”

When Connor heard sound for the first time, at about 3 years old, the world became his playground.

“It was quite a … just like all the YouTube videos, their eyes get large,” his mother said of Connor’s first moment hearing sound. “I do remember him running around the house, flushing toilets and turning on faucets. (He) never knew that the rain made noise or that the leaves blowing in the wind made noise. It was awhile of auditory discoveries after that.”

Given Connor’s dominant presence on the floor and his ability to score points, he draws plenty of attention from opposing defenses. The contact going up for a shot or a rebound often dislodges the earpiece, forcing him to quickly reinsert it either after a basket as he runs back on defense, or at the next whistle.

Every time the earpiece comes out, Connor is completely deaf and the traditionally verbal game of basketball — with point guards calling plays, coaches yelling assignments and players calling screens — becomes entirely a game of visual cues for Connor until the earpiece is back in.

“The two magnets have to be in contact for the mechanism to be transmitting and working,” Amy Ortman said.

Connor’s father Steve said the implant imposes obvious challenges for Connor on the basketball floor, and wonders how much more dominant Connor could be if he had no hearing impairment.

“As dad, I’ve always wondered ‘What if?’ because he does do so well with that,” Steve Ortman said. “Can you imagine what it would be like if he didn’t have that, and could hear with both ears? He could hear who’s behind him, and calls, switch defenders. That’s all verbal, that’s all noise that he has to do visually.

“What do you say? It’s amazing. I could never do it.”

His father said Connor’s abilities are helped greatly by being able to communicate seamlessly with teammates who have been around all his life.

“Coach could yell as loud as he wants but he won’t hear him. All that ambient noise comes in at once,” Steve Ortman said. “Because he reads lips so well and Josh has been playing with him since he was in second grade, he can come over and communicate almost nonverbally because they know each other so well.”

Connor has a strong bond with his 11-year-old brother Alex because both have the same hearing impairment. Alex, whom their father said is a “pretty good athlete,” wears the same cochlear implant.

“I just hope everything goes well for him. I know he can do a lot of great things,” Connor Ortman said. “I’m just proud to be a big brother for him and be a role model for him.”