By Cesar D.

This edition of Inside Cosmos Country is dedicated to Ellen Weintraub, mother of Cosmos supporter Roy Weintraub. Since Pelé announced that the Cosmos were returning back in 2010, Roy has been dedicated to supporting the modern club.

Flash forward to 2015: the 43-year-old Roy continues to support and follow the Cosmos on a daily basis. While many of us are able to see and hear the cheers and groans during a match, Roy cannot. He is blind and deaf, but that hasn’t deterred him from attending several matches.

One of the reasons he’s been able to consistently follow the Cosmos is his mother, Ellen. Rather than allow Roy’s disabilities to hinder him from being a supporter, she’s gone above and beyond in making sure that he’s kept up to date.

Cesar D.: How did Roy become a Cosmos fan?

Ellen Weintraub: In our family, we always had sports. For us, it was mostly baseball. I wasn’t too interested in football but my father, brother and Roy have always loved it. As far as Roy becoming a Cosmos fan, I really don’t know.

What I do know is that he’s always been a sports fan. He actively participated in several sports, such as tennis. At one time wanted to be a sportswriter. When the Cosmos’ return was announced, Roy immediately became a fan.

Ellen Weintraub with her son, Roy.

My first memories of Roy were when he attended Pelé’s birthday celebration at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square and the Paul Scholes Testimonial viewing party at the Football Factory at Legends in 2010. Was it around that time when Roy started to lose his vision?

I would say that his vision started to slowly decline six years ago. When you first met Roy, he was still able to see. His vision started to really get bad about three years ago.

During that time and after several meetings with organizations that service the blind, he went to the Helen Keller National Center for six months where they interviewed him and tested his abilities. They prepared him with the necessary life skills to help him deal with blindness, and also helped him accept what was happening.

Psychologically, how did that affect Roy?

It really affected him. Roy’s now at the point of his life where he’s beginning to accept the loss of his vision. There are days when he’s down, but his time at the Helen Keller National Center has helped him with this transition.

For the time being, Roy can only see light and its movements. He’s able to hear when he wears his hearing implant, but he doesn’t always wear it because it hurts him when he wears a hat, which he likes to do often.

It’s one thing to be born deaf or blind but to be deaf and blind has to be difficult. To his credit, Roy has adjusted to this better than me. I do worry about the future but I’ll never doubt his abilities.

Roy has always been and will always be independent. He’s aware of what’s going on in the news and his memory is astronomical. He remembers streets and exact locations of places we travel. Some things require my assistance, but with the new skills he’s learning he’s adapting well. We still take our long walks and we’re able to communicate well.

What’s it been like for you helping him support the Cosmos?

Roy wants play-by-play when the Cosmos are playing a game, and the best I can do is give him the scores. Because we live in Brooklyn, the commute to the games can be a bit of a challenge. So when the Cosmos played here at MCU Park [in May], I was ecstatic about it because it was nearby.

From time to time he’ll go to the games with his friend, Lester. I think what we need to remember is that Roy’s a human being. If you’re able to get past his deafness and blindness, then you’ll see that Roy is a just fan rooting for the same team you support. While his way is different, the support is still the same.

Read the previous edition of "Inside Cosmos Country" - featuring club historian Dr. David Kilpatrick - here.