http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=7&screen=news&news_id=33548
Accident changes Rutledge�s life By Michael Williams, [EMAIL PROTECTED] June 03, 2004 It�s safe to say Montgomery Bell Academy athletics director Jeff Rutledge caught a bad case of the heebie-jeebies as he drove past the Bartlett exit on Interstate 40 last week while attending Spring Fling in Memphis. Like thousands of other cars last week heading to the annual high school sports state championships, Rutledge uneventfully cruised through the area. Last May 22, he wasn�t so fortunate. That was the day Rutledge�s Toyota Camry was reduced to a wadded up sphere of mangled tinfoil thanks to a collision with the back end of a semi. Somewhere in the middle of it all was Rutledge, who was in his first official day as MBA�s athletics director. �I don�t remember a thing about it,� said Rutledge, who after a year shows hardly any physical effects of the accident other than a few barely visible scars on his face. �When I woke up that morning, I had no idea that I�d be fighting for my life later on that afternoon.� MBA headmaster Brad Gioia was waiting to merge onto the interstate and at the time stuck in traffic caused by the accident. Unbeknownst to him, Gioia witnessed Rutledge being cut from the mangled vehicle before his colleague was airlifted to Memphis Medical. �I had no idea it was Jeff who was being cut out of the wreck and airlifted away,� Gioia said. �At 10 or 11 that night, I learned it was him.� In the interim, Rutledge�s wife Laura, who had been waiting for her husband�s return to Nashville, called Gioia to ask if he knew where Rutledge might be. �I told her that he had probably been caught in traffic coming back because of the bad accident coming out of Memphis,� Gioia recalled. �The emotion of that day was paralyzing.� Thanks to tight Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) laws, inquiries to Rutledge�s condition remained a mystery to his family and friends for several hours following the accident. But through the process of elimination, it was finally understood that it was indeed Rutledge who was involved in the accident. He had broken every bone in his face and lost his upper row of teeth from the impact of the crash. His ear had to be reattached and in the hours that followed, it wasn�t clear how good Rutledge�s chances of survival might be. Finally, after a week of treatments at Memphis Medical Center, Rutledge was moved to Vanderbilt Hospital where he would spend another week before beginning therapy. It was there Rutledge began to realize that in spite of the accident, he was fortunate. �Being [at Vanderbilt], I realized how fortunate I was after seeing some of the people there,� Rutledge said. A year later, Rutledge still counts his blessings. �There�s not a day that goes by I don�t think about it,� he said. �After seeing my car, I can�t believe I made it through that. It was a miracle and nobody can tell me anything but. I had never experienced anything like that before, and I hope I never have to go through anything like that again.� This year, to be safe, Rutledge�s daughter Christen rode with her dad through Memphis on the way to Spring Fling and a faculty member accompanied him on the trip back. Rutledge, who today likes to remove his teeth to scare unsuspecting people, said he sees life from a different vantage point now and tries to relay the message to his players. �After the accident, I told the kids to go home and hug their moms and dads and tell them how much you love them and care about them,� Rutledge said. �I think about my wife, my own kids, the kids I coach and about everything I almost lost, and I�m thankful for having another day. It was like God said, �Jeff, I�m not through with you yet.� ______________________________________________________ RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net
