There are many of us around the globe who have experienced in the past few months some form of isolation. Yet there are many who suffer a different form of isolation, that is not a matter of choice, and Fred Mahan, was one at a time when there was no modern technology to help him.
Fred was born in Brackettville, Texas in the year 1906; although there is no record of his exact date of birth. He was actually born under the name Federico Mesa, and it was said that he was of Mexican heritage. It was when his father died and his mother remarried that he too took her new husband and his step-father’s surname.
When he was eight months old he is said to have fallen out of his high chair. The shock of the fall was given as the reason for him later being found to be deaf. As he was unable to hear he was then unable to develop his voice, and spent his life as a deaf mute. A world of isolation that does not bear imagining.
In these unpolitically correct times many athletes who had hearing or speech defects were given the nickname “Dummy.” (Inspirational Athletes -3). In the sport that Fred took up, which was boxing, they were also given the name “Silent.” Although he was given the first of the two.
He started boxing in bootleg carnival booths around Los Angeles, but eventually turned professional as a 17 year old in 1923, fighting as a welterweight. Most of his fights took place in his home state of Texas. As to how many he had during his career no one is absolutely sure. Box Rec which is one of the most reliable sites advises that he had 56 bouts and recorded 37 wins 15 losses 4 draws. Other sources claim that he had over 100 bouts and won by knock out 54 times.
In 1929 he fought Mushy Callahan in Los Angeles for the National Boxing Association World Super Light Title, but he was knocked out in round three.
He would no doubt have been inspired leading into that World Title fight by the exploits of another deaf boxer, Italian Carlo Orlandi, who in 1928 in Amsterdam became the first deaf athlete to win an Olympic Gold medal. Orlandi, who was also a deaf mute turned professional in 1929, and would go on to claim both the Italian and European lightweight titles. He would also claim the Italian Welterweight title.
Clearly Fred was frustrated by the loss of two of his senses as it was reported that he had taken part in a number of parachute jumps, and had found that after each jump that his hearing had returned for several hours.
On 24th February 1930 aged 23 Fred boarded a plane at Mills Field near San Francisco. The plane was piloted by Colonel Harry Abbott, inventor of the so-called “fool proof” parachute.
When he jumped the parachute failed to open. He plummeted from the sky into some mudflats, and was killed. The New York Times is said to have reported that only his pilot parachute had opened. There were also claims that Mahan had failed to heed Abbott’s specific instruction to count to six before pulling the ripcord, and that his chute had struck the stabilizer of the plane and was shredded. We will never know the true facts.
With limited options available to him as a young man, sport had enabled him to earn a living, but clearly he wanted to better himself. He wanted to be able to hear, and who knows then learn to speak.
What is so tragic and sad is how he lost his life trying to gain a few hours in which he could hear the sounds that many of us take for granted. Our isolation in most cases would seem incredibly easy compared to the life of silence that Fred and many others have had to endure.
