4. Regular members and star athletes

The club only had a few members upon its establishment. The number increased gradually, to 25 members during the first ten years. By 1924, there were already 54 members, of whom 37 were men and 17 were women. In the 1930s, the number of members increased to over 60, and in the 1970s, to well over a hundred. In the 1990s, the club had over two hundred members.

Oskar Lumme, Eino Karilas, Oskar Wetzell, Sulo Wuokko, Antti Jokelainen, Hjalmar Sandblom, Väinö Sihvola, Vilho Salovaara, Rurik Pitkänen and Arvo Helenius have chaired the club since its establishment in the 1950s. Among them there were many athletes and association activists.

Notable actors in the club have included Jussi Luomajoki, who also served as SKUL's secretary and the editorial coordinator of SKUL’s newsletter ‘Hiljainen Urheilija’, as well as Börje Ahlbäck. Honorary members of the club have included Eino Karilas, Fridolf Schoultz, Hjalmar Lovén, Oskar Wetzell, John Sundberg, Antti Jokelainen, Hjalmar Sandblom, Jussi Luomajoki and Arvo Helenius.

The most famous star athletes of the early days included Antti Jokelainen, also known as the “Finnish Bear”, and Oskar Wetzell. In the 1910s, Jokelainen finished the 100-metre race with a club record of 11.2 seconds. Wetzell, on the other hand, excelled as a Finnish champion-level swimmer and represented Finland twice at the Olympics. Antti Jokelainen's success in the Nordic Deaflympics meant the same for deaf sports in Finland as Hannes Kolehmainen's achievements on the hearing side. Eino Karilas' contribution was best seen in his deaf sports related writings.

Among the best athletes in the 1920s were Hjalmar Sandblom, Valdemar Holmberg and Jussi Luomajoki, followed by Herman Vikberg, Börje Ahlbäck and Veikko Lehtonen. The latter two achieved more than 50 championships for the club in the 1930s. In later times, Gustav Lillhannus, Erik Tella and Toivo Tarvonen were the most promising young athletes. The most promising female athletes have included Rakel Nordström, Aura Ahlbäck and Terttu Laukkanen (later Martola).

After 1950, Olli Lehti was one of the club's most renowned athletes. He was involved in international competitions, finishing in top positions. In sprinting, he broke the national records in deaf athletics in Finland. In the 1990s, the most important athlete of the club was Robert Torssonen, who won Finnish and Nordic championship medals for the club.

It is worth mentioning that in 1989, at the Summer Deaflympics in New Zealand, Veikko Parikka, a member of the club, won a bronze medal in cycling. A distinguished athlete in beach volleyball was Jussi Ahola. Snowboarder Cecilia Hanhikoski, on the other hand, brought home several medals from the Winter Deaflympics. The hockey team Deaf Lions, which included HERO athletes, has also won medals for Finland.

HERO currently has more than 350 members and aims to continue to serve people of all ages by providing exercise and sports opportunities.