Norway’s Alex Ortman (4) fights his way through the defensive efforts of Iron Mountain’s Joey Colavecchi (12) and Zeke Runsat (34) in a boys varsity basketball game on Dec. 16 at Iron Mountain High School. The 6-foot-2 junior guard led the Knights during the 2022-23 season by averaging 18.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and five assists per game. Norway finished with a 15-7 record. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News file photo)

NORWAY — Six years ago, Norway junior Connor Ortman was awarded the Gil Heard Courageous Athlete Award by the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

Watching Ortman win his award for achieving excellence in athletics despite his being completely deaf was his 11-year-old brother, Alex.

Now, in 2023, Alex has followed in his brother’s footsteps after he was named this year’s recipient, along with fellow Knight Hannah Burklund, for his performance on the court while facing hardship.

For Alex was also born deaf and lives and plays hoops with a Cochlear implant just like his role model Connor.

“I strive to be just like him, if not better,” Alex said recently of his brother who went on to play college basketball at Lakeland University in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. “It was very inspirational to watch him.

“I think a lot of (my accomplishments) come from him because he’s already been through high school and college.”

The Gil Heard Courageous Athlete Award honors high school student-athletes who have overcome hardship to excel in athletics.

The award is named in honor of the late Gil Heard, who was the sports information director at Northern Michigan University for 23 years and is a member of the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame.

Alex’s excellence on the court this year was obvious to anyone who saw him play. The 6-foot-2 junior guard led the Knights by averaging 18.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and five assists per game. He was the focal point of the Norway attack all season long as he developed from a talented but still raw sophomore to a refined standout this season.

While doing this, Ortman was playing with a magnet inside his head that was implanted through surgery when he was an infant. The electronic device connects to a sound processor that fits behind his ear.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the processor captures sound signals and sends them to the receiver implanted under the skin behind the ear. The receiver sends the signals to electrodes implanted in the snail-shaped inner ear (cochlea).

The signals stimulate the auditory nerve, which then directs the signals to the brain. The brain interprets those signals as sounds, though the sounds won’t be exactly like natural hearing.

But for Ortman, those sounds give him the opportunity to enjoy life like those who hear naturally.

“I think the only reason (my deafness) affects me is not being able to hear as good as everyone else,” said Ortman, whose parents Amy and Steve are not hearing impaired. “But the device helps me and makes me feel like I’m completely normal.”

Ortman said he wears the device throughout the day but takes it off when he showers and when he sleeps.

And when he takes it off?

“It’s completely silent,” he said.

While Ortman participates in football and baseball, basketball is his true love. He spends hours in the gym working to improve, like this past summer with his father Steve and former Carney-Nadeau coach and player Jake Polfus.

The two helped improve Ortman’s outside shot, which aided him in achieving balance to his offensive game which previously had been primarily based on his ability to drive and finish close to the rim.

Ortman also plays AAU ball with Great Lakes Elite out of Gladstone.

All of this has helped Ortman become the undisputed Knights leader on the court.

“I think the improvements came from (the fact that) a lot of my teammates knew how I could play, how I could facilitate,” he said. “And I think that coach (Jeff Gallino) kind of knew that I was going to be a big scorer this year because I have been playing basketball year-round.

“So he knows that I train, and he knows that I can have a big impact on the team.”

Ortman says all this without a trace of arrogance. He repeatedly talks about his gratitude to his teammates and coaches and his desire to help everyone and the team as a whole to succeed.

To be able to play a sport like basketball, which often involves loud noise and the need to constantly communicate, Ortman has developed a way of communicating with Gallino in which coach and player can stay on the same page.

“A lot of it is hand signals,” Ortman said. “A lot of it is him saying things to me and I just read his lips.

“It gets a little loud in the gym, so I just have to focus on him. And my teammates help me with that, too, so it’s all good.”

Ortman said that he’s not really affected by the crowd noise, that he just has to focus and perform naturally.

All told, Ortman said he’s come to accept his situation in life, though he admits there was one point when his deafness got him down.

“It was at the start of high school,” he recalls. “Middle school was easy; it wasn’t as hard. But then high school came and it was harder. I wished that I wasn’t deaf, but it happens, and you’ve got to deal with it.

“I still wouldn’t change it for anything. It’s who I am, and it defines me.”