How Gillespie football rallied around this sophomore linebacker after scary collision
The Gillespie football team — and the entire community — came through for Hunter Hegel and his family.
Hegel, a sophomore linebacker, suffered a severe concussion in a Week 3 home game against Greenville on Friday, Sept. 8 while attempting a tackle.
The acute injury led the game to be called off at the start of the third quarter and Hegel was airlifted from midfield to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis.
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Any fears of something more serious were quashed by medical personnel and Hegel was checked out of the hospital early that Saturday morning.
The football team showed its full support the ensuing Sunday. The Miners presented Hegel a signed helmet and parents, Nick and Kristin, a signed football.
Hegel said their visit cheered him right up.
“They rallied around me and it wasn't only the football team,” Hegel said. “The whole town rallied around me. It really shows how much people around Gillespie love football.”
Eerie sight
Hegel was briefly knocked unconscious, but the more alarming concern was that he was struggling to regain feeling in his legs.
Nick said that was ultimately the result of a compressed, or stretched, spinal cord.
“We probably lost a few years of our lives worrying about it,” Nick said. “When they tell you your son can't feel his legs, it's a little bit unnerving.”
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A back injury previously kept Hegel from playing varsity as a freshman. This season, he recovered from a knee injury before appearing on the field against North Mac in Week 2.
Gillespie coach Dalton Barnes said his players prayed with Greenville prior to the landing.
“It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my 10 years of coaching — just the scene of clearing the field and that helicopter landing,” Barnes said.
If there was any levity in the moment, Barnes said Hegel kept asking how the team did on the play.
“He kept asking, ‘Did we get the tackle? Did we get the tackle?’ And he kept asking if Carson (Hailstone) was OK,” Barnes said, “because he saw a down block on Carson before he got knocked out and he saw Carson get destroyed, so he kept asking over and over, 'Did we get the tackle? Is my buddy OK?’”
Hegel said the injury hasn’t affected the way he looks at football.
“It's never going to change the way I look at football because it was just an accident,” Hegel said. “I got caught at the wrong spot at the wrong time in the game. They had the advantage on that play and I was just standing in the wrong spot.”
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Steady progress
Hegel slept through most of Saturday before the team arrived the next day.
The Miners were feted with pulled pork and dessert.
“They were such gracious hosts,” Barnes said of the Hegels. “Their kid just got airlifted and she (Kristin) made pulled pork and all the fixings and everything for us to come see Hunter, so we sat there and had football on TV. It was a real cool moment to kind of be able to rally around Hunter.”
Hegel said he was able to reconnect with his teammates for about 30 minutes or an hour before going back to bed.
“As Hunter said, the community around here really came through,” Nick said. “We had messages, people reaching out wanting to help and do whatever they could do for us. We're a tight-knit community. They do love football, they want to see this football team excel and we've struggled in the past, but we're looking to make a turn and excel.”
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Hegel still routinely welcomes friends and family almost every day.
“They're always around asking me how I am and hanging out with me and stuff like that,” Hegel said. “That's kind of how I've been coping with it.”
Hegel said the first week of recovery was especially rough with constant headaches and rest. He has since been easing back into the classroom and hopes to return to a regular schedule in two or three weeks.
“I've definitely made a lot of progress,” Hegel said. “I'm up and moving without losing my balance now. I don't have headaches as often, so I'm definitely doing a lot better.”
That includes possibly getting back to the sidelines by Week 9 — at the very least.
“I wish I could do it this week, but it just won't happen,” Hegel said on Wednesday. “I'm going to be really excited to get back on the sidelines with my team — maybe on the field in three weeks, you never know. We're just taking it one day at a time right now.”
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Family element
Hegel’s love for football can’t be underscored enough.
He plays with full-blown intensity alongside Hailstone, both sophomores with colorful nicknames: the former as the Hitman and the latter as the Storm.
Hegel also volunteers as a coach on the seventh-grade team in JFL with sophomore teammate Brody Shaw.
That pronounced sophomore class is cementing a springboard for the future.
The Miners, currently 0-6, have only made four playoff appearances over the last 30 years, the last coming in 2016.
“We're more than ready to change that,” Barnes said. “It's not going wins and losses the way we wanted it to this year, but attitude-wise and this family culture, it's going pay off in the long run.”
Gillespie has certainly displayed that brotherhood during Hegel’s time of hardship.
“We just focus on sticking together and getting better,” Hegel said. “We’ve learned a lot of things. Some of us playing varsity, we've learned a whole bunch and I would say that's only going to benefit us next year and senior year.”
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA football: Gillespie lifts up Hunter Hegel during recovery
