Jim Kyte

Jim Kyte
Born	March 21, 1964 (1964-03-21) Ottawa, ON, CAN
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Left
Played for	Winnipeg Jets Pittsburgh Penguins Calgary Flames Ottawa Senators San Jose Sharks
NHL Draft	12th overall, 1982 Winnipeg Jets
Playing career	1983–1997

James G. Kyte (born March 21, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Kyte made history by being the first (and to date, only) legally deaf National Hockey League (NHL) player, playing 598 games in the NHL.

Playing career

Considered an inspiration to deaf and hearing-impaired hockey players during and after his professional hockey career, Kyte was the only player of his time to wear hearing aids during games. According to NHL records, Kyte was the first legally deaf player to play major pro hockey. To protect his hearing aids, Kyte wore a specially-designed helmet that had flaps covering the center of his ears. Although Kyte had full hearing at birth, by the time he was three-years-old, he was legally deaf. Doctors discovered he had been born with a hereditary hearing ailment that caused degeneration of the audio nerve. Throughout his career Kyte was very active in charitable causes involving hearing impairment. Kyte learned sign language even though it wasn't necessary for him to communicate and during off-seasons in his early NHL career, he worked with deaf and hearing-impaired children at a hockey school sponsored by Stan Mikita in Chicago. While a player, he worked at a hockey school for the deaf and hearing-impaired in Toronto and not long after, started the Jim Kyte Hockey School for the Hearing Impaired in Ottawa. It was a business he ran long after his retirement, a retirement caused by a concussion suffered in an auto accident, in 1997.

Kyte was renowned for his strong, reliable defensive play and complete lack of scoring prowess. Kyte recorded a mere 66 points in 598 career National Hockey League games for the Winnipeg Jets, Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks. In his most productive season, 1988–89, he scored three goals and added nine assists for twelve points in seventy-four games. He retired in 1997.

Kyte is the son of former Canadian college track star John Kyte, St. Francis Xavier University's athlete of the half century. Jim is also the brother of former Canadian track team member Aynslee Kyte.

External links

• Jim Kyte's biography at Legends of Hockey

Preceded by Dale Hawerchuk

Winnipeg Jets first round draft pick 1982

Succeeded by Andrew McBain