Steve Emt's incredible story: From UConn basketball to three-time Paralympian

STEVE EMT HAD BEEN been conscious for only a few moments when he heard the words that would change his life forever.

He had been in a serious car accident days before and had awoken in an unfamiliar hospital room from a coma. The doctor didn't mince his words.

"You will never walk again," he said.

It was inconceivable. Emt was just one year removed from playing as a walk-on for the University of Connecticut men's basketball team alongside the likes of Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie and Donyell Marshall. Playing sports had always been a core part of his identity. The next few days were a mix of despair and devastation. He was 25 years old, paralyzed and, in his words, had hit rock bottom.

But during his recovery he was brought to a rehabilitation pool, and the experience changed everything. Being active again, even in a limited capacity, reminded him of the joy he had once felt playing sports. He knew he needed to change his attitude and find things he could do.

While he was still in the hospital, members from a local wheelchair basketball team visited him in an attempt to recruit him. "I played for UConn; they were literally chasing the ambulance," Emt joked. So he tried that. There were stints with baseball, tennis, racing, even coaching high school basketball, but nothing truly filled the void.

Until, that is, a chance encounter on Cape Cod sparked what would become a life-altering passion. And now, 13 years later, Emt is competing in his third Paralympic Games in the mixed doubles curling event with his partner Laura Dwyer. The winner of 10 national championships, Emt, 56, is the most decorated Paralympic curler in U.S. history.

"When someone first mentioned to me [in the hospital] the Paralympics, I said, 'What's the Paralympics?'" Emt told ESPN in the fall. "I had no idea. ... But now the opportunity to be able to wear the red, white and blue and represent the greatest country in the world, on the grandest of stages is just something that I cherish and I'm blessed to be able to do."

EVEN BEFORE HIS ACCIDENT, Emt was no stranger to hardship. Originally playing basketball at West Point, Emt, then 19, left the school and returned to his home state of Connecticut after the sudden death of his father following a heart attack.

Emt later enrolled at UConn and tried out for the basketball team. On a roster filled with future pros, he made it -- and found a kindred spirit in head coach Jim Calhoun, despite his fiery public persona.

"He's an incredible human being, forget about the basketball," Emt said. "The first day I was on campus, he called me in, he said, 'Shut the door, sit down, Steve.' And this is, Jim Calhoun, remember, so I'm like, 'What's he going to do? Yell at me?' But he proceeded to tell me that he lost his father at a young age too and we have that in common. He said, 'I just want you to know I'm here for you, whatever you need.' It wasn't a word about basketball. He became a father figure to me."

Emt never scored a basket for UConn and played a total of 38.7 seconds during his two years on the team -- and there is video of Marshall successfully pleading with Calhoun to put Emt into a game in 1994 -- but his near-permanent seat on the bench didn't diminish his connection with his teammates or Calhoun, or the experience overall.

The college moment 3x Wheelchair Curling Paralympian Steve Emt would freeze in time?@UConnMBB's 1993-94 Big East Regular Season Championship. 🏀🏆#ParalympiansMadeHere x @MarchMadnessMBB pic.twitter.com/SckY9maQVv

During March Madness in 1995, Emt went out to a local bar with some friends to watch his former team play against Maryland in the Sweet 16. The Huskies won -- and Emt celebrated. He doesn't remember much from that fateful night other than putting the key in the ignition of his truck. The rest was pieced together. While speeding home a few hours after the victory, his truck went off the highway, flipped over five times and into a ditch. Police believe he remained there for about 30 minutes before his truck was discovered. With a limited window to save someone in such dire circumstances, Emt said he was just a few minutes from death before a LifeStar helicopter brought him to the hospital.

"Six minutes to live," Emt said in a virtual talk in 2020 and documented in the Connecticut Post, "Because of a stupid, stupid decision to get behind the wheel."

Several of his UConn teammates, as well as Calhoun, visited him in the hospital. Emt had lost his prized leather Big East tournament jacket in the accident and Calhoun brought him his as a replacement. Another teammate, Donny Marshall (no relation to Donyell), called Emt just hours after being selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1995 NBA draft just to say he was thinking of him.

Hearing he was paralyzed from the waist down was traumatic. Realizing it was a consequence solely of his actions, and the pain and fear he had put his family through, was equally devastating. But soon that all became part of his purpose.

He finished his bachelor's degree, became a teacher, and shared his story in a memoir, "You D.E.C.I.D.E." He has also become a motivational speaker. Speaking at about 100 schools a year, Emt has thrived in getting to share what he has learned from his mistakes and his triumphs.

"When I leave the stage, I am on top of the world," Emt said. "I don't know if I got to everybody or nobody, but I know I gave my best. I did this, and I love it. I 100% feel like that's where I'm meant to be."

EMT WAS ON VACATION in 2013, minding his "own business" on a street in Cape Cod, when a man approached him and asked if he was from the area. Emt said no but noticed the man couldn't stop smiling. It was, well, unsettling.

"In that moment, I think like the Cape Cod mafia has gotten me. I'm dead," Emt remembered. "I'm about to roll off the pier into the ocean to get away from this clown. I said, 'Why did you ask me that?'"

The man, as Emt soon found out, was Tony Colacchio, a coach for the U.S. Paralympic curling team. Colacchio told Emt he had watched him push himself up a hill and was impressed with what he saw. He added a caveat that Emt simply couldn't resist.

"He said, 'With your build, I can make you into an Olympian within a year.'

Emt didn't hear much besides the word 'Olympian.' He then needed to figure out exactly what curling was. Still, he said he was interested and would come back -- and googled the sport in the meantime. And as soon as he threw his first stone at the Cape Cod Curling Club he knew he had finally found the sport he had been searching for.

"I had never in my life [of] being a jock felt that feeling before," Emt explained. "Not even playing basketball. It's like golf, you can't beat it, you can't get 18 holes-in-one, it's physically impossible. It's like a carrot always dangling over my head, and that's what I needed."

Wheelchair curling, which made its Paralympic debut in 2006, is similar to traditional curling, but there is no sweeping, putting the emphasis on throwing precision. Instead, a delivery stick is used.

Team USA's Laura Dwyer and Steve Emt defeat Latvia 11-6 in their opening round robin match! pic.twitter.com/ukSMiVmXP7

Emt was hooked. Within just a few months, he was traveling from his home in Manchester, Connecticut to Cape Cod every weekend. He would leave his classroom at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoons to be at practice that night. He would play all day Saturday and all day Sunday, until about 10 o'clock when he would make the return trip and would be back in the classroom on Monday morning. It was exhausting. He loved every second of it.

He made the national team by 2014. He was a Paralympian by 2018 and had quit his full-time teaching job to devote even more of his time to the sport. Colacchio died of cancer months after his Paralympic debut, but Emt still credits him for their chance meeting, and for everything he has achieved in the sport.

"I don't know what the word is, but why was I there that day [on the Cape]? Why was he there that day? I'm here now completely because of this gentleman who stalked me into the sport," Emt said.

The American team finished in last place in 2018 and Emt, motivated by the challenge, was determined to do better in 2022. The only returning member of the four-person squad in 2022, the team came in fifth in Beijing.

"When things don't always go your way, it takes more than the average person to overcome it," Calhoun said in an interview with the Associated Press. "Steve's always done that. So, I think he can help his teammates, who have all been through similar things, realize, maybe when the times get tougher, 'Hey, we can do this.' You know how people ask, 'Who would you want in your foxhole?' I would like to have Steve Emt in my foxhole."

Though wheelchair curling is always mixed gender, Emt is playing in the brand-new two-person event in these Games with Dwyer. While still adjusting to playing as a duo and not a foursome, the idea of winning a medal in the event's debut is further fuel for both.

"It's definitely different just having two," Dwyer said in an interview with Olympics.com. "I like it. It's weight on both of our shoulders. We carry each other through a lot of trust, a lot of respect, a lot of just lifting each other and making things happen."

Emt and Dwyer had a strong start in Cortina. They defeated Latvia's Polina Rozkova and Agris Lasmans, the 2023 world champions, to open their 2026 Paralympic campaign on Wednesday. Since then, they have had mixed results and are currently 2-3 through Saturday's action with two matches in round-robin play remaining. The semifinals begin on Tuesday with Emt and Dwyer currently tied for fourth place.

In late October during the Team USA Media Summit in New York, Emt was all smiles during his on-stage panel, as well as when mingling with other athletes. He relished getting the chance to tell his story and be around other elite-level Olympic and Paralympic athletes, across many sports.

As he encountered Alysa Liu, who went on to win two figure skating gold medals in Milan last month, Emt couldn't help but remark to her how much he liked her energy. With her signature bright smile, she said the same to him.

"Don't ever change, OK?" Emt said as the two parted ways. "Enjoy every moment."