Club Foot - Famous People

Famous People

Many notable people have been born with one or both feet in "clubbed" condition, including Roman emperor Claudius, statesman Prince Talleyrand, Civil War politician Thaddeus Stevens, comedian Damon Wayans, actor Gary Burghoff, and Eric The Midget from The Howard Stern Show, football players Steven Gerrard and Miguel Riffo, sledge hockey player Matt Lloyd, a Paralympian, mathematician Ben Greenberg, and filmmaker Jennifer Lynch.

The British Romantic poet George Gordon, Lord Byron had a clubfoot, which caused him much humiliation.

Comedian, musician, and actor Dudley Moore was born with a club foot. This was mostly unknown to the public as he wore one shoe with a slightly bigger sole to compensate when walking. NFL Cornerback Charles Woodson was born with severely clubbed feet and went on to win the Heisman Award at the University of Michigan, played in Super Bowl XXXVII with the Oakland Raiders and won Super Bowl XLV with the Green Bay Packers. The figure-skater Kristi Yamaguchi was born with a clubfoot, and went on to win gold medals at both the 1992 Winter Olympics and World Championships. The soccer star Mia Hamm was born with the condition and won Gold twice with team USA in the 1996 Olympics and in the 2004 Olympics. Baseball pitcher Larry Sherry, the 1959 World Series MVP, was born with club feet, as was pitcher Jim Mecir, and both enjoyed long and successful careers. In fact, it was suggested in the book Moneyball that Mecir's club foot contributed to his success on the mound; it caused him to adopt a strange delivery that "put an especially violent spin" on his screwball, his specialty pitch. The San Francisco Giants held the record as the team with the all-time highest number of players with clubbed feet as of July 2010, and Freddy Sanchez, one of its infielders, cites his ability to overcome the defect as a reason for his success. Tom Dempsey of the New Orleans Saints, born with a right club foot and no toes (this was his kicking foot), kicked an NFL record 63-yard (58 m) field goal. This kick became famous as the longest NFL field goal in history. Former NFL quarterback Troy Aikman beat being born with a clubfoot to enjoy a productive Hall of Fame career with 3 Super Bowl Rings in Super Bowl XXVII, Super Bowl XXVIII, and Super Bowl XXX. Despite a club foot, Michael Houser, goaltender for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, won the Red Tilson Trophy as the most oustanding player in the OHL in 2011-2012. He was signed by the National Hockey League's Florida Panthers in July, 2012.

The Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels had a deformity caused by a botched operation for the bacterial infection osteomyelitis, which some mistook for clubfoot.

De Witt Clinton Fort, who served in the Confederate Army as a captain, was born with a clubfoot, and he was known during the American Civil War as Captain "Clubfoot" Fort, C.S.A.

Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun had a club foot and a cleft palate, and it is likely that he needed a cane to walk.