Silent Sports

Thomas Kot is the grandson of Philip Alfred Heupel Sr., a 1918 graduate of Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C., which at the time was the only college in the world for the deaf. Philip Heupel worked for almost 40 years in Akron’s rubber factories and eventually retired from The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in 1959. As Thomas said, “His story encapsulates a history that is not well known.” By 1920, Akron was known as the “Crossroads of the Deaf” and had the largest deaf population in the United States. Philip was a member of the Silent Squadron, a group of deaf workers who learned how to work in every department at Goodyear. He was an avid photographer, dedicated family man, and active leader in Akron’s deaf community.