1991 Accident - Smotherman of Burien, WA

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`It's Just A Real Miracle' -- Smotherman Making Remarkable Recovery After Vaulting Accident
By Sandy Ringer
-- SEATTLE

Cindy Smotherman held her son's hands and prayed.

She had been a constant bedside companion for nearly three days, since 16-year-old Gary had plummeted 12 feet and landed on the side of his head. The pole-vaulting accident May 10 at Highline Stadium in Burien left her son comatose at Harborview Medical Center for 2 1/2 days.

Suddenly, Gary opened his eyes, and turned to his mother.

"Mom, don't hold both my hands," he said. "At least let go of one."

Cindy Smotherman's spirits soared and she let go of her worst fear - that Gary was gone.

"My heart went, `Oh my God, he knows I'm here.' I was elated," she said. "There'd always been a fear that filled my body."

That five-second awakening came seven days ago. Every day since has been a triumph for Gary and his family. He has progressed quickly from trying to communicate with his doctors and nurses through sign language (his 15-year-old brother, David, is deaf).

The Hazen High School junior had his best day yesterday on the road back to recovery. He even beat his dad in three games of chess.

"I feel better today," Gary said. "I can actually remember things from two days ago."

He was scheduled to be transferred today from Harborview to Children's Hospital and Medical Center, where he will continue his therapy.

"I'm eager to get back to school and get back to everything," Gary said yesterday.

The prognosis is for a complete recovery, physically and mentally.

"It's just a real miracle," said Cindy, who limps with a badly sprained ankle she suffered bounding out of the stands to reach Gary. "I think it's been the prayers and hopes of the entire community."

Gary doesn't remember the fall and doesn't seem to comprehend the seriousness of it.

"I want to go home," he said last week, sitting in a chair in a tank top, sweat pants and baseball cap, complaining of a headache.

"When you're a little better," his mother answered.

"How much better do I have to get?" asked Gary, adding that the first thing he would do when he gets out of the hospital is "go back to track."

Early last week, one doctor was so pessimistic that Cindy called her husband in tears.

"I thought, `They're looking at vegetable time,' " Cindy said. "Then Gary woke up and started saying things to us the doctor told us he wouldn't be able to say. It's been a real emotional roller coaster."

Gary looks remarkably well. Scrapes and bruises are mostly hidden. Only a small lump below his shoulder gives away his broken left collarbone.

Those who saw the accident were horrified. Both his mother and his coach, Bo Kurle, were in the stands and had looked away when Gary, who had vaulted 13 feet the week before, cleared the bar at 11 feet, 6 inches.

"Then I heard the thud," said Kurle, who rushed to Gary's side. "I just wanted to make sure nobody moved him. One minute I was making notes, and the next thing I knew I was there."

Gary had veered to the right on the vault and missed the padded landing area. "I saw him there and I just knew he was dead," Cindy said. "I was so scared. He didn't move for so long."

Cindy's father, who had flown in earlier from out of town to watch the meet, had to hold her back so she wouldn't try to gather Gary into her arms. A meet judge called 911, and an ambulance arrived within minutes. A doctor at the meet was able to attend to Gary immediately.

Mark Vetter, a Liberty pole vaulter, also rushed to Gary's side.

"I saw him bleeding from his nose and ear and he was unconscious," Vetter said. "All I worried about was just keeping him with us. I didn't want him to go into cardiac arrest."

After seeing her son crumpled between the padded landing area and a cyclone fence six feet away, his mother realized the accident could have been much worse, especially if had landed on the fence.

"He had an angel on his shoulder," she said.

Gary loves to fly through the air. He was an accomplished gymnast as a youngster and is an exceptional diver, placing third at the Class AA state meet last fall.

The pole vault was a natural progression. "Before too long, I should be able to get up to 16 feet," he said.

Not if his mother has anything to say about it - which she isn't sure she will.

The day of the accident, Cindy was uneasy about her son vaulting. Gary seemed to be, too.

"He seemed real uncomfortable with it," she said. "I feel if I would have gone up to him and said, `Let's just go home and forget about it,' that one time it would have been OK with Gary.

"It was really windy. I had a good feeling about Gary doing well in the competition, but I didn't have a good feeling about the conditions."

Today, Cindy has a good feeling about Gary's future.

"He's getting better every day," she said, "but we've still got a long row to hoe in front of us."

Copyright (c) 1991 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.

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Hazen Vaulter Still Hospitalized, Showing Marked Improvement
Times Staff
Gary Smotherman, the Hazen High School junior who was seriously injured in a pole vault accident last Friday, is in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center.

Cynthia Smotherman said her son has shown marked improvement daily. He regained consciousness Tuesday and has been moved out of the intensive care unit.

Smotherman suffered a concussion, a broken left clavical and an injured left ear that required stitches after missing the padded pole vault pit and landing directly on the track in Friday's mishap during the Seamount League championship meet.

Copyright (c) 1991 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.

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Saturday, May 11, 1991 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Hazen Vaulter Hospitalized
By Sandy Ringer
BURIEN - Gary Smotherman, a Hazen High School junior, was listed in serious condition last night at Harborview Medical Center after suffering head injuries in a pole vault accident at the Seamount League championship track meet at Highline Stadium.

Smotherman, the top seed in the event after clearing 13 feet last week, was injured on his third jump yesterday, his second attempt at 11-6. He cleared the bar, but veared badly to the right and missed the padded pit area, landing on his head directly on the track.

Smotherman was unconscious and bleeding from his head when taken from the stadium by ambulance, but he was moving his arms and legs. Hazen Coach Bo Kurle said Smotherman apparently suffered a severe concussion.

Eric Faull of Renton won the pole vault at 12-0. Smotherman actually finished fifth, which qualified him for next Friday's Class AA Sea-King District meet.

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Tuesday, February 11, 1992 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

From Nightmare To Dream -- Hazen's Smotherman Almost 100 Percent Again
By Sandy Ringer
-- RENTON

Cindy Smotherman vividly remembers the picture.

Gary Smotherman doesn't remember a thing. He wishes somebody had taken pictures.

Both realize Gary is lucky to be alive and functioning like a normal 17-year-old after landing on his head in a pole vaulting accident last May. What started like a nightmare has ended like a dream.

Gary not only is nearly back to 100 percent in all ways, but expects to challenge for the Class AA state diving title in less than two weeks. He was third in last year's meet. And, yes, he plans to pole vault again this spring - much to his mother's chagrin.

Cindy still relives the terror of watching her son clear 11 feet, 6 inches in the Seamount League meet, but veer to the right and miss the landing pit. He landed on his shoulder and head. He spent 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital, followed by two months of therapy.

"When I think about the accident, I still have teary nights," Cindy said. "I've been on such an emotional scale, I can't even explain how it feels to watch that accident. I know it sounds morbid, but I just knew he was dead. I just knew he was gone. Then in the hospital, I knew he might never be the same.

"Thank God he proved me wrong."

Gary heard the doctors' warnings about potential problems he might face.

"I just kind of shook it off and laughed at it," he said.

He was back at Hazen High School in June, primarily for social purposes. He was diving again in August, although he doesn't remember it. He raised his grade point average from 3.1 to 3.4, although he admits that's partly because of an easier class load.

The only lasting effect has been a problem with Gary's short-term memory, but that continues to improve. Cindy said her son actually has come through the adventure ahead.

"He's even a better person than he was," she said. "He's much more caring, more conscious of others and more sure of himself. He's more controlled. He doesn't take so many risks. Well, he does take risks, but he has an air of confidence about him."

Gary said he is more quick-tempered now. He also is more of a perfectionist. He basically had to re-learn how to dive, but he and his coach agree he is a better overall diver than he was a year ago.

Gary started pole vaulting as a sophomore.

"I like doing daring things," he said. "I like being in the air where you don't know exactly what's happening, kind of taking risks. It's kind of fun."

He has heard accounts of the accident, but has no memory of the day of the meet or the first two weeks in the hospital.

"It's kind of scary when you forget about two weeks out of your life and you don't understand why you forget it," Gary said.

He wishes his parents had remembered their video camera that day."I would like to see what I did wrong so I can correct it this year," he said.

His only memento of the accident - the track jersey he was wearing that day - is attached to his bedroom wall along with ribbons and awards he's gathered over the years. The uniform, stained with blood, was cut off him after the fall.

"That's the only thing I have from it (the accident)," he said. "I might as well have something, if I don't have the memory."

Gary and his mother believe sheer determination had a lot to do with his recovery.

"When he stays with challenges, for some reason, he always seems to come out on top," Cindy said. "He has a way of making it work."

Gary said, "I won't let anything keep me down for very long. I don't think anyone can stop me unless I choose to let it slow me down."

He has received letters of interest from several colleges for both diving and track. He plans to attend a pole vaulting clinic next month. He admits he won't know exactly how he'll feel about vaulting again until the moment comes.

"I'll have to see when I get there and look at the (landing) mat and am ready to go," Gary said.

His mother believes it has to be his decision.

"I'm scared to death," she said. "I don't know if I can watch him, but I don't know if I can't. I am leaving it up to him. I would love to say, `Gary, you can't do it.' But it's his senior year and I don't want to give him a cause to do it because I told him he couldn't."

Gary gave some folks another scare in diving practice recently when he hit the board doing an inward 2 1/2 somersault. But he hit it with his ankle, only banging his head on his shin.

"I was quite upset," Gary said. "It didn't hurt at first. I was just really mad. Then I was really scared."

Patti McEuen, his diving coach, calls Gary's recovery "miraculous." She said his cat-like sense of knowing where he is in the air at all times is slowly returning.

"He's a cat with nine lives," she added. "Maybe 15."

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Vaulter Says Officials Should Have Stopped Meet
By Sandy Ringer
Mark Vetter couldn't believe his ears.

"I had just wiped the blood off my hands, and they were saying, `Come on, let's vault,' " he said.

Vetter, a volunteer fireman and senior pole vaulter at Liberty High School, is upset about the way the Seamount League track and field meet was run Friday, May 10, after the accident involving Hazen's Gary Smotherman.

Smotherman was unconscious and bleeding when taken by ambulance to Harborview Medical Center after landing on his head beside the padded pit area. He now is in satisfactory condition.

Vetter had immediately rushed to Smotherman's side after the accident "to try to keep him with us" and remained there until Smotherman was moved to the ambulance. Vetter was amazed, and angered, that the event continued. Vetter was the next vaulter.

"It made me mad they made me vault right after I helped him," he said. "I thought they should have canceled the meet. They could have postponed it until Saturday."

Vetter, who had cleared 12 feet the week before, missed badly at 11-6 on his third and final attempt. He said his mind was elsewhere.

"I wasn't shaking, but I was totally thinking about that (the accident)," he said. "I wasn't thinking about vaulting . . . I didn't fear for what I would do, but I think I only went about 5 feet off the ground. I wasn't into it."

Don Norling, the meet director, responded to Vetter's comment by saying, "That's baloney. We delayed the meet for 10 minutes after they (the ambulance) left. We asked the coaches about it (continuing) and they said to go ahead."

The remaining pole vaulters appeared hesitant and only two of them cleared the next height.

"One guy said, `It won't bother me,' but I'm sure it did," said Vicki Crawford, who judged the event. "Obviously, it did, because he only cleared one more height."

Cindy Smotherman, Gary's mother, said the show should have gone on as it did.

"They have an obligation to the other athletes," she said. "I do respect the kids who could continue. I know it's what Gary would have wanted as well."