Warm the Cockles of Your Icy Heart with this Story about a Blind Chiefs Fan

In Kansas City there is a man named Cameron Black, who loves the Kansas City Chiefs even though he has never seen them play.

He’s never seen anybody play, having been born with congenital glaucoma. But, as the Kansas City Star showed in this terrific story by Sam McDowell, Black is as big a Chiefs fan as any — and probably the world’s biggest fan of radio play-by-play man Mitch Holthus.

"“I love Mitch Holthus,” Black said. “He’s made something that I thought was totally lost on me — he made it come alive.”"

Black didn’t grow up with football. His father is a big Oklahoma fan, but, being blind and all, the younger Black spent most of his Saturdays and Sundays in his room, reading books in braille.

But a couple years ago, he moved to Kansas City, noticed how passionate people seemed to be about the Chiefs, and took up an interest in them as a way of making friends. With the help of his father, who explains the game to him via e-mail, he’s gotten to the point he can talk about even the most minute details of the team.

"In the opening week of the 2016 college football season, Todd Black, who now lives in Alaska, visited his son in Kansas City. Cameron has since done the math — they spent 30 hours watching (or listening to) football that weekend. A crash course. “That was the first time we had ever sat down and watched football together, and that was really neat for me,” Todd Black said. “I don’t want to come across as saying we weren’t close until he started getting into football, because that’s not even close to accurate, but it has probably strengthened our bond. This has been a lot of fun.”"

There is a good deal more to this story, and you’d do well to read it.