Never out of the game: Overcoming Tourette syndrome

In 1985, I was a little league phenom, award-winning student and all-American boy in Sugar Land, Texas. My dad, Bruce, an attorney in Houston, would joke about how my athletic prowess would take care of his retirement. But in the summer of 1986, I began exhibiting violent head twitches and facial grimaces that led to a diagnosis that would lengthen my path to professional sports. 

I was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, an involuntary movement disorder that at the time was known to only affect 1 in 8,000 males. These movements and vocalizations are known as "tics." My community and schools did their best to help, but the social damage was too much for me to handle. 

RanDeBord Photography Sean Wolfson makes his professional umpiring debut in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.

I was asked to sit in the back of classrooms, put in rooms by myself all day to do my school work, teased and made fun of. In high school, the counselor actually assigned me to a classroom for English that was attached to the library. The librarians were furious and made my life miserable. At times my arms would flare out, hitting other people. I even wore a neck brace to diminish some of the pain from the violent head-jerking. 

I was one of the first Tourette's patients to have Botox injections — in my eyelids — to slow down the rapid eye twitching. The medications I was put on made me gain 80 pounds in three years and made my legs feel like lead weights. I disappeared from social activities until about age 17, when I started coaching and officiating youth sports in an effort to "be somebody." 

In 1997, at age 21, Houston Astros outfielder Kevin Bass suggested I take my passion for the game to MLB umpire school, which I did. I attended Brinkman Froemming Professional Umpires School. After graduating, I began to umpire high school baseball in the Houston area, and I also picked up officiating basketball that same year. Struggling with learning how to function in society, I had social issues with coaches and others that hindered my career as an official. 

A few years ago, I caught up socially and started really excelling as an official. I also started Photo Booth Rentals of Houston, which took the edge off financially and allowed me to focus on enjoying the game versus doing it for an income. That change led to an amazing comeback that has pitted me as officiating coordinator for the first professional basketball organization in Sugar Land history, the Sugar Land Legends of the American Basketball League. 

Last year, I also met Marty Bauer, the umpire coordinator of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Marty invited me to a tryout this March in Florida. I worked hard and impressed Marty enough to earn my first professional baseball assignment as a fill-in on June 3 in Sugar Land. It was a dream come true as many family and friends came out to support me as they have all these years. 20 years from my first umpiring job, I finally made it all the way back to where I belonged. 

"How strong of a guy Sean has to be to put himself in one of the most stressful jobs in the world in front of thousands of people," my business partner and best friend Dominguez Dykeman said. "I mean, you just have to root for the guy. He's a winner." 

I continue to umpire youth ball because I never want to get bigger than the game. I don't care what level I call, what position I am or what color shirt we wear. Just don't sit me on the bench. Put me on the field. 

There is no known cure for Tourette's and many other chronic illnesses. However, a lot of people succeed partly because of a high level of belief in themselves. I hope people see me as an inspiration to others who are going through hard times in life. I hope they say, "If he can do something like this, then I can make it through what I'm going through also.

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