AR 550Pla Shirley H. Platt Deaf Athletics Collection

AR 550Pla Shirley H. Platt Deaf Athletics Collection

1920-2015

1980-2012

Extent: 32.6 Linear feet; 74 document boxes, three archival binders, and one oversize flat box

Biographical/Historical note: Shirley Hortie Platt (born January 10, 1952) was a longtime advocate for Deaf sports and gender equity, and served in numerous positions in the American Athletic Association of the Deaf (AAAD), the United States of America Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF), the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), and the Utah Association of the Deaf (UAD). She was the first woman to be an elected officer in the history of the AAAD, the foremost Deaf athletics organization in the United States. Founded in 1945 in Akron, Ohio to promote athletics among clubs for the Deaf, AAAD hosted basketball tournaments and later incorporated softball, volleyball, and other sports events. The AAAD was split into two separate organizations in 1999, the United States of America Deaf Basketball (USADB) and the United States of America Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF), and both continue to promote amateur sports tournaments as well as cultivate elite athletes and teams to compete in international tournaments such as the Deaflympics. Shirley Platt began her path to leadership in Deaf sports in 1983, working with the Washington Association of the Deaf (MWAD), first as club secretary and then as athletic director. She was then elected secretary-treasurer in the Southeast Athletic Association of the Deaf (SEAAD) as the organization's first female officer. In 1988, she was the first woman to be elected secretary-treasurer of the AAAD, under President Martin Belsky, and also worked under the leadership of Dr. Lawrence Fleischer from 1989 to 1997. In 1991, Shirley Platt became the first and only executive director for AAAD and served in that role for eight years, a span during which she also established a home office for AAAD in Ogden, Utah. Her dedication to promoting the establishment of women's sports teams in the AAAD included publishing op-ed pieces in official AAAD publications that argued for equal treatment, and advocating for balanced gender representation in AAAD leadership positions. She also served as USA Deaf Basketball's public relations director from 1999 to 2000 and from 2002-2003, and then as president/commissioner of USA Deaf Basketball from 2009-2015. Ms. Platt also represented the AAAD along with other officers at international World Games for the Deaf and Deaflympics. Shirley Platt was elected to the National Advisory Board of the Women's Sports Foundation in 1996, to the USADSF Hall of Fame in 2012, and received the AAAD/USADSF Art Kruger Award in 2006. She was married to Dennis R. Platt (May 15, 1942 - September 28, 2015), another Deaf sports advocate active in leadership positions within AAAD, with USA Deaf Basketball (USADB), the Northwest Athletic Association of the Deaf (NWAAD), and Utah Association of the Deaf (UAD). Both Shirley and Dennis Platt were longtime members of the UAD, which was incorporated in 1909 and advocates for the unification of Deaf and hard of hearing people in Utah and the promotion of their interests. Shirley Platt lives in Ogden, Utah. Sources: Anderson, Andrea. "Northwest Association of Deaf Basketball (NWADB)." Utah Association of the Deaf website, accessed May 30, 2019. https://uad.org/multimedia-archive/may-2015-issue/ "Biography of Shirley H. Platt," Shirley H. Platt Deaf Athletics collection, box 77 folder 5. "Hall of Fame," USA Deaf Sports Federation website, accessed May 29, 2019. https://usdeafsports.org/about/hall-of-fame/leaders/ "History," USA Deaf Sports Federation website, accessed May 29, 2019. https://usdeafsports.org/about/history/ Kinner, Jodi. "Shirley H. Platt," USA Deaf History website, 2012. Accessed May 29, 2019.https://www.utahdeafhistory.com/uploads/5/4/2/6/5426987/shirley_platt.pdf Lerner, Ira. "The AAAD-USADB Story," USADB website, 1996. Accessed May 29, 2019. http://usadb.us/pressbox/history/ McIntyre, Catherine. Grant proposal to preserve Shirley H. Platt Deaf Athletics Collection, Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board, 2018. "Mission." Utah Association of the Deaf website. Accessed June 5, 2019. https://uad.org/about/mission/

Arrangement note: The collection is arranged with an imposed order that emphasizes topics of high research value and prioritizes chronology for ease of locating records. The original order was retained when related records were arranged in existing chronology, such as correspondence arranged in reverse chronological order.

Phystical Characteristics and Technical Requirements: This collection contains audiovisual and digital material that may be restricted pending reformatting.

Box 32, folder 5 contains four data CDs and one 3.5-inch disk. The disk and three of the CDs feature labeling connecting them to USA Deaf Basketball records from 2003, and one CD is labeled "Gallaudet University 2001 Alumni Listing."

Box 48, folder 2 contains two 3.5-inch disks originally housed in a binder with material for a 2007 Salt Lake City Deaflympics volunteer training workshop hosted by Shirley H. Platt and Geraldine Francini, which suggests disks may contain presentation material.

Box 41, folder 5 contains one videotape cassette labeled "ATT Public Relations, 'Breaking the Barriers'" on a printed case label. ATT was an occasional corporate sponsor of the World Games for the Deaf/Deaflympics.

Box 42, folder 5 contains one videotape cassette with a printed label that reads, "JEET Video Productions, XII World Winter Games for the Deaf." Banff, Alberta, Canada hosted the XII World Winter Games for the Deaf in 1991.

Box 44, folder 2 contains two videotape cassettes, both in cases with printed labels that read, "Deaf Mosaic, 1995 Winter World Games for the Deaf, #1101." Deaf Mosaic was a production of Gallaudet University.

Box 71, folder 5 contains one videotape cassette with a handwritten label that reads, "Miss Deaf Utah Pageant, 1985."

Related Archival Materials note: Related collections include AR 550Ath Utah Valley University Deaf Studies Department collection of Deaf Athletic Associations' materials; AR 500Sim Reid O. Simonsen collection of Deaf history materials; AR 550Uni United States of America Deaf Basketball Association collection; AR 550Uad Utah Association of the Deaf records; and the AR 550Fru Brian Fruits collection of Deaf softball tournament materials.

Scope and Contents note: The Shirley H. Platt Deaf Athletics collection comprises administrative documents, official and unofficial correspondence, financial records, audiovisual material, and publications of the American Athletic Association of the Deaf (AAAD), USA Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF), USA Deaf Basketball, Inc. (USADB), and National Softball Association of the Deaf (NSAD) created and compiled by longtime AAAD leader Shirley H. Platt (born 1952). Records of her husband, Dennis R. Platt (1942-2015), another prominent leader in Deaf athletics, are also in the collection. Materials include documents and correspondence created while planning organizing national and regional sports tournaments in the United States, as well as international sports tournaments. International events include the World Games for the Deaf and Deaflympics in partnership with the US Olympic Committee and International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD, also known as Comite International des Sports des Sourds or CISS). The collection holds extensive documentation and correspondence related to the administration of AAAD and efforts to restructure the organization in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as minutes and reports from committee meetings, House of Delegates meetings, board of directors meetings, and meetings of regional and international AAAD/USADF affiliate organizations. There are also team and athlete statistics compiled by Dennis R. Platt and other members of the AAAD Records Commission, as well as documents, photographs, and ephemera from the AAAD/USADSF Hall of Fame and USADB Hall of Fame. Copies of AAAD publications include AAAD Bulletin and Deaf Sports Review among other sport-related titles, and tournament publication holdings for AAAD basketball, softball, and other sports under the AAAD umbrella are substantial. The collection features Utah-related Deaf culture materials, including copies of The Utahan (or sometimes, The Utahn), the yearbook published by the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. The overall breadth and depth of the collection holdings contribute significantly to the study of Deaf culture and the history of the AAAD/USADSF.

Gift of Shirley H. Platt, 2015.

Shirley H. Platt

George Sutherland Archives at Utah Valley University; Jade M Finlinson, Project Archivist

19 June 2019

Access to the collection is open with assistance from the archivist or staff. </p><p> Restricted materials:</p><p> Box 4, Folders 1 and 2; Box 7, Folder 2; Box 12, Folders 1 and 5; Box 20, Folder 5; Box 21, Folder 1; Box 22, Folders 2 and 3; Box 25, Folder 4; Box 29, Folders 1,3,4, and 5; Box 30, Folder 1; Box 31, Folders 2, 6, and 9; Box 37, Folder 5; Box 38, Folders 1 and 2; Box 75, Folders 1, 2, and 3; Box 76, Folders 1 and 2.

Copyright for official University records is held by Utah Valley University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

AR 550Pla

AAAD Basketball Tournament; American Athletic Association of the Deaf; Basketball; Correspondence; Deaf students; Deaf women; National Association of the Deaf; Softball; United States Olympic Committee; Utah--Deaf education; World Games for the Deaf; Central Athletic Association of the Deaf; Deaf--Athletics; Deaf--History; Deaf--Sports; Deaf; Eastern Athletic Association of the Deaf; Farwest Athletic Association of the Deaf; Meetings--Agendas; Meetings--Minutes; Midwest Athletic Association of the Deaf; New England Athletic Association of the Deaf; Northeast Athletic Association of the Deaf; Northwest Athletic Association of the Deaf; Southeast Basketball Association of the Deaf; Southwest Basketball Association of the Deaf