As we once again come together from all over the country to engage in intense, often emotional competitions in front of passionate fans, we reaffirm our commitment to the intrinsic value of Deaf Education and schools for the Deaf. The U.S. deaf school model was born out of a fateful decision made by Laurent Clerc, who embarked on a legendary, years-long journey over 200 years ago. Because of his monumental decision, many generations of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in America have benefited in many wonderful and amazing ways. This Clerc Classic basketball and cheerleading tournament pays homage to the incredible courage and conviction of a Deaf Frenchman who brought Deaf Education to the United States. But who is this man named Laurent Clerc, and why is the tournament named after him?
Laurent Clerc, born in France in 1785, did not attend school until he was twelve. He did not write, read, or sign until he went to school two hours away in Paris. Once he finally reached school, Clerc seized opportunities to learn and thrive. By the time an American father of a deaf child came to Paris, desperate for something, anything, that could help his daughter grow as a deaf person, Laurent Clerc was working as a teacher. His remarkable journey from a preteen with no language to a charismatic teacher fluent in LSF (French Sign Language) and written French was a testament to his courage and determination. When he said yes to the American father’s request to help found a school for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, Clerc boarded a boat, sailed for 52 days, and then went on to co-found the American School for the Deaf with the American father, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. During Clerc’s American teaching career, his students established thirty schools for the Deaf all over the United States.
Six out of eight participating 2026 Clerc Classic schools were founded during Clerc’s lifetime. Michael Weinstock, former Athletic Director of Model Secondary School for the Deaf, founded the Clerc Classic tournament in 2000 and chose the tournament name to celebrate the deaf education and deaf students-athletes as gusty and determined as Laurent Clerc. As you go out to cheer or play your hearts out or to root for a team, remember that this Clerc Classic tournament is a part of a proud centuries-long tradition of friendship and competition among the schools for the Deaf. You are not just spectators, but active participants in continuing the legacy of Laurent Clerc. Let’s make the Clerc Classic XXIV edition a worthy addition to the deaf school sports annals!
Laurent Clerc (born Louis Laurent Marie Clerc) was born on December 26, 1785 in La Balme les Grottes, France, a village on the northeastern edge of Lyon. Clerc has been called “The Apostle of the Deaf in America” and “The Father of the Deaf” by generations of American deaf people. With Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, he co-founded the first school for the deaf in North America, the Hartford Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb on April 15, 1817 in the old Bennet’s City Hotel, Hartford, Connecticut. The school was subsequently re-named The American School for the Deaf and in 1821 moved to its present site. The school remains the oldest existing school for the deaf in the United States. Clerc was the rst great proponent of sign language instruction over oral instruction in this country, an advocate for fundamental rights for the deaf people, such as the right to marry, and the inspiration for the spread of deaf education throughout the United States. Clerc’s knowledge of deaf people’s natural inclination to use sign language formed the basis of his view of deafness as a minority culture and not unlike language-minority groups that exist in the midst of majority cultures throughout the world. He held this minority culture view of deaf people, deafness and sign language more than a hundred years before the first comprehensive studies of the sign language of the deaf revealed it to be a natural language equivalent to English and all other spoken languages. After moving to the United States, Clerc returned to visit France three more times. He assisted in 1864 with the opening of what would later be named Gallaudet University. Clerc died in 1869 and is buried in Hartford.