Team USA wheelchair curler Steve Emt

Forgiveness, redemption, and leadership: Those three principles define Team USA wheelchair curler Steve Emt.

Here’s how Emt describes growing up in Hebron, Connecticut: "All American childhood, most popular kid in my high school, great student."

Standing 6-foot-5, Emt was a great prep athlete who earned an appointment to the United States Military Academy and then transferred to play basketball for the powerful University of Connecticut Huskies.

But life changed in 1995.

"I was a drunk driver; fortunately, I’m lucky to be sitting here with you, great people, today. I was left for dead on the side of the road, and when I woke up from a coma two weeks later, I was told I’d never walk again, at 25 years old," said Emt.

He passed out behind the wheel, flipping his pickup truck, and was ej