After going blind and then deaf while still in grade school, Marvin Pearson learned how to get around his Pottstown neighborhood, even walking alone six blocks to a Walmart. Regaining some hearing after getting an implant in his left ear, he excelled at wrestling and track at Overbook School for the Blind, figured out how to defeat his two sisters on PlayStation games, and occasionally alarmed them and his mother by roller-blading around the house.