Worst medical experiences

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Over the years I have seen my share of injuries – compound fractures, dislocated fingers, neck injuries… But two stand out and they both occurred on opening kick-offs.

We had decided to film all the state championship games to hopefully use for training. Had three camera angles – press box, end zone and we used one to isolate on an individual official. This game, we were isolating on the LJ. Opening kick went the LJ side to about the 15, the U picked up the runner who was tackled about the 30. U came in and got the spot. LJ had started moving toward the U to release him of the spot. Just as he got close to the action, there was a very late block and the blocked player was knocked into the LJ. Of course the players arms were flailing around and his elbow caught the LJ right in the face. The LJ never saw it coming and was knocked into the bench area out cold, nose bleeding and broken cheek bone. That was the only playfor the LJ in the championship game. You think that clip hasn’t been shown a time or two! No flag on the play either!!

The other was even worse. The two teams were big rivals six miles apart. I was the referee. Kick came down the middle and the runner veered toward my left as I trailed the play. There was a block (nothing hard) near the middle of the field about the 20. The runner was tackled about the 35 just outside the numbers with a huge pile that looked like a rugby scrum. L had the spot and I came in from the backside to separate them. Just as we were getting them up and going back to their huddles the L said “you’ve one down behind you”.

I see the kid that had been blocked in the middle of the field lying flat on his back about 10 yards behind the end of the run. I went to him and as usual began to ask if he was ok. As soon as I saw his eyes, I knew the question was not necessary. His eyes were rolled back in his head, gasping for breath. I didn’t stop the clock, I didn’t call for an official time-out, I just started calling for the medical staff which was on the side line. They were there in seconds. They took his face mask off and began mouth to mouth. An ambulance was on site, so we didn’t have wait. It was apparent from the beginning that this was not a good situation.

As the ambulance drove off the field, I got with the coach (visitors) of the injured player who was very emotional and we just walked toward the middle of the field. We did not talk very much, he just needed some time to gather his thoughts. We were both pretty sure the kid was dead before he left the field. Remember this was the opening kick-off. After some time, he decided he wanted to continue the game – which we did after allowing both teams to gather themselves a bite. The score was very one sided 30-0 at the half. During the break, word came from the hospital the kid was DOA. At that point the visiting coach wanted to end the contest – which of course everyone agreed to.

It turned out that the kid had a brain aneurism that could have occurred any time - any where. What I thought was a block, was him actually stumbling and falling before contact. He got up from there and tried to get back to the bench and collapsed before he could make it. I’m convinced he was all but dead before I got to him. But I had a few sleepless nights after that one. I’ll never forget his eyes.