Originally published January 19, 2007
It’s 30-years later, but Mark Scott, another wrestler touched by tragedy, still remembers the event that left him without his legs. It occurred to him when he heard about a similar accident that affected two young wrestlers in Berthoud.
Scott, 46, was wondering how he could help.
From his perch at the USA Wrestling complex in Colorado Springs, Scott’s sympathies and an e-mail were sent this week offering his assistance in the recovery of Berthoud High School students Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros.
Scott, Carron and Landeros”all wrestlers”could have a lot to talk about, since they have so much in common.
Both the local teens have lost their legs in an automobile accident that occurred on Monday, January 15, when a car, driven by a 17-year-old female student also from Berthoud High School, slammed into Carron and Landeros as they prepared to change a flat tire. Both Carron and Landeros remain in critical condition at Denver Health Medical Center.
Scott knows what it is like. It took him over three months to even get back to his high school in Laramie, Wyo. But back to a regular life took even longer”his friends helping him along the way.
It was August 28, 1976. A 16-year-old lifetime wrestler competing on the national level”where he won a number of championships in state Freestyle and Greco-Roman competitions”Mark Scott was working on a broken radiator hose on his Dodge Dart, west of Laramie. He had hitchhiked back into Laramie to get a replacement hose, and his girl friend had driven him back out to his car.
She stayed in her car, parked in front of Scott’s broken Dodge Dart, and left the headlights on to give Scott light, so that he could replace the hose. The two were parked across the road from Sodergreen Lake, about 17 miles east of Woods Landing. Between the cars Scott stood.
Scott is still unclear on some of the details, but an older man, driving about 60 mph as police speculated later, rammed into the back of the Dodge Dart, forcing the two parked cars together and crushing Scott’s legs below the knees.
Even though doctors tried to save his legs, within a week both were gone”one amputated a few inches below the knee, the other above the knee. Given the mildly different circumstances of the two accidents, Scott may have had it a little easier.
He’s not really sure why, but his girlfriend’s vehicle bounced away during the accident, making his injuries, at least initially, less severe. (His high school girlfriend, who he still keeps in contact with, became a quadriplegic from the accident.)
“It was a quick boom,” he said describing the accident 30-years ago. He referred to the one parked car bouncing away as a “ricochet that didn’t allow a grinding type activity” as may have occurred in Berthoud.
He described his legs after the accident as “flattened like pancakes.” Doctors tried to save both legs, by getting circulation back to them. But it didn’t work
After the right leg was taken off, the doctors focused on the left. Gradually, “little by little” they began to remove it. A toe. The foot. “They kept going,” he said.
Fearing a spread of infections, the leg was severed above the knee.
“The whole time and your body is fighting,” he said. Over the years, Scott has continued to fight, and wining most of the time, except for that one Sunday night many years ago.
“Wrestling was the deal,” Scott said about his youth and his favorite sport.
Things really haven’t changed that much for Scott. He’s still in wrestling.
Since 1989, Scott has worked at USA Wrestling, which promotes, develops and sets the standards for wrestling in the United States and is an arm of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Scott is the director of state services for USA Wrestling.
“It’s really the grass roots part of the sport,” he said. Scott coordinates all the youth programs across the country totaling about 142,000 wrestlers.
Following his accident, the married, father-of-four eventually worked as a referee in wrestling and that allowed him to travel to international events in places like Cuba.
Talking about his injury, Scott said, “It never really held me back from anything.”
In 1984, he received the Wyoming Governor’s award for his contributions to wrestling and, in 1988 he was named the USA Wrestling Chairperson of the Year. He served as Tournament Director for the 2003 World Championships of freestyle wrestling in Madison Square Garden, and in 2004, he was presented with the Wrestling Medal of Courage and was inducted into the Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla.
He also has a degree in geography and environmental studies from the University of Colorado. He plays golf. “I get them on the short game,” he said about competing with his friends. And it was his friends back in high school that got him “back on his feet” following the accident.
He said they treated him the same and went out of their way to keep me involved.
“My friends worked to make a point of getting me back into circulation, as soon as they could.” Nothing was off limits.
“One time, friends hid my artificial legs to make a joke,” Scott said. “You can’t feel sorry for yourself.”
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