• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Tyson Gentry (Official Thread)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
The lack of any news about Tyson's condition is like a dark cloud over the buckeye-nation.
I understand and respect the parents and Tyson's right to privacy, but I really wish there some updates released on his condition...

Best of luck Tyson, we are all hoping for the best!
 
Upvote 0
DDN

4/19

Prognosis for OSU's Gentry still unknown

Tressel won't discuss severity of injury; says sophomore is getting best care possible.

By Doug Harris
Staff Writer
COLUMBUS | Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said stricken player Tyson Gentry had a successful second surgery Monday for a neck injury he suffered in practice.
<!--endtext-->

<!-- inset --> <!--begintext--> The sophomore walk-on from Sandusky was tackled on a pass pattern Friday. Linebacker Marcus Freeman told the Dayton Daily News on Friday that Gentry had no feeling from his shoulders down as he was taken to OSU Medical Center.
Tressel, meeting the media for the first time since the incident, wouldn't discuss the severity of Gentry's injuries.
"That would be totally inappropriate," he said. "Obviously, the severity of it is different than taking someone off in a cart with an ankle (injury). I think everyone knows that."
Tressel has made repeated visits to see Gentry, but players have been asked to stay away because he is at risk for infection.
"He and his family certainly appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers," Tressel said. "It's a day-by-day process, and he's in the best hands he could possibly be in at Ohio State Medical Center."
Tressel wouldn't speculate on a prognosis, saying, "You want to keep optimism, but you want to keep it in check."
"It's tough just seeing what happened," backup quarterback Todd Boeckman said. "You don't want to see a player go down like that. We're definitely feeling for him — our whole team is."
Tressel said fans can send cards and letters to Gentry at OSU Medical Center, 410 W. 10th Ave., Columbus, Ohio, 43210.
 
Upvote 0
Dispatch

4/19/06​

OSU FOOTBALL

Gentry’s prognosis unclear; practice resumes

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Tim May and Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Ohio State football player Tyson Gentry’s prognosis remained unclear yesterday as he underwent a second surgery on his injured spine in OSU Medical Center.

Two sources close to the situation said Gentry, a third-year receiver/punter, suffered a shattered cervical vertebra when he fell to the ground after being hit by defensive back Kurt Coleman during a scrimmage Friday in Ohio Stadium.

In such cases, the sources said, it is not uncommon to have an initial surgery to remove bone fragments from the spinal cord and a second surgery to stabilize the spine.

Gentry’s first surgery was Friday. His condition has not been released by the hospital, per the wishes of his family. The two sources said there is no definitive prognosis at this point.

"They’re going to keep his visitors to a minimum right now because they said it could take anywhere from seven days to seven weeks to kind of get that process to know what’s going to actually happen," sophomore quarterback Todd Boeckman said.

The Buckeyes returned to the practice field yesterday for the first time since Gentry’s injury. The 6-foot-2, 165-pound Gentry, a walk-on from Sandusky Perkins, was in their thoughts.

"If he doesn’t know by now, everybody out here, all 100-plus guys, are behind him," starting quarterback Troy Smith said. "We just want him to recover as well and as fast and as soon as possible.

"That was rough, though, watching that."

Assistant coach Joe Daniels agreed.

"And it wasn’t like an amazing hit, it wasn’t a cruncher, you know, how you’ve seen some of those," Daniels said. "I’m not sure that it wasn’t the ground (that caused the injury). ... It was awkward, the way he went down. ... They called it no catch, but the kid took two steps. It could be anybody, anywhere."

Tressel has visited several times with Gentry and his family, including his father, Bob Gentry, a scholarship football player at OSU for a couple of years in the mid-1970s before moving on. Tressel declined to comment on those visits.

Tyson Gentry’s plight, though, reinforced the given that any time players put on helmets and pads and go at each other, anything can happen.
"It’s an amazing reminder of that," Tressel said. "I think it does make you pause. But it’s a difficult situation."

It led Daniels to seek out his son, walk-on fullback Matt Daniels, soon after Gentry was taken off the field.

"That’s my kid; I want him close to me," Joe Daniels said. "It gets you. It’s tough."

OSU fullback Brandon Schnittker, originally from Perkins and a friend of Gentry, spent some time with the injured player and his family, including his father and his mother, Gloria, plus his two older sisters, Natalie, a former high jumper at Ohio State, and Ashley, who was a senior on Capital University’s best-ever women’s volleyball team this past fall.

"They’re working through it, they’re handling it, they’re doing what they can," Schnittker said. "I didn’t get a chance to talk to him too long, but I let him know I’m going to be here for him, anything that he needs."

Schnittker had no doubts why Tyson Gentry has pursued football, even as a walk-on.

"He is the kind of kid who loves to compete, and is very athletic, and has always tried to be the best at what he does; he was a great high school athlete," Schnittker said. "He’s a kid who wants to be out there, who understands what Ohio State is all about, understands what playing football means at Ohio State. He was just out there playing the game he loves, and he doesn’t deserve it."

It’s the freaky part of the sport, of which all are aware.

"It does make you think about it, but I’m guessing for every player, just like myself, the sheer love for the sport, for the game, keeps you going and keeps you playing," Smith said. "You work hard in the off-season to try to prevent things like that, but sometimes it’s just a fluke thing that happens."

[email protected]



[email protected]
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
Dispatch

4/19

Tressel learned long ago how to cope with tragedy
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
<!--PHOTOS--> <table class="phototableright" align="right" border="0"> <!-- begin large ad code --> <tbody><tr><td> <table align="center"></table> </td></tr> </tbody> </table>
Last Friday was the second time in his career that Ohio State coach Jim Tressel watched one of his players crumple to the ground and lay motionless.
Seeing the way his former boss handled that first tragedy, more than 30 years ago, has helped Tressel lead his somber Buckeyes through the difficult experience that began when punter/receiver Tyson Gentry suffered a serious neck injury in practice.
Gentry, a third-year player from Sandusky, remains in OSU Medical Center, recovering from two surgeries on his spine. He is said to be in good spirits, but his prognosis is uncertain.
On Sept. 6, 1975, Tressel was a graduate assistant at the University of Akron, coaching in his first game, against Marshall. Zips tight end Chris Angeloff had just trotted off the field on a change of possession when he collapsed. Doctors worked on Angeloff but could not revive him. It was determined that he suffered a massive heart attack.
On Monday, Tressel recalled that experience as "excruciating and a very difficult moment. This (Gentry injury) was a little different, but it really is a tough thing."
Beyond the immediate shock, the death of an apparently healthy 20-year-old Angeloff made the 22-year-old Tressel question whether he wanted to be a coach.
"I remember wondering if this football thing was any good," Tressel told The Dispatch in 2003. "There was no contact on the play. Chris had the world ahead of him. He was a (3.2) student.
"Then I saw the way (Akron coach) Jim Dennison handled everything. I saw that we were in a wonderful profession."
After Angeloff’s death, Akron’s athletics department received calls to cancel the football season. Instead, the Zips didn’t miss a game.
Dennison made sure his players had time to grieve but stressed that life had to go on.
"The most important thing we did is chartered buses and went as a family to calling hours and we filed past the casket as a family," Dennison, now the football coach and athletics director at Walsh University, said yesterday. "The next day, we went to the funeral and then the gravesite, and then we bused back, got in blue and gold (uniforms) and practiced.
"I think that was very necessary to do, although the practice was not very intense."
What a young Tressel saw as strength coming from Dennison really was coming from the Akron players, Dennison said.
"Our seniors really rallied," Dennison said. "They brought the staff out of it, because young people do bounce back pretty well. They looked for the good in things. They wanted to be an example to the entire community that they could bounce back from the very worst adversity.
"We played that Saturday. The kids said, ‘We can’t sit around and feel sorry for ourselves.’ "
Akron went to Western Michigan and won 27-21. The university retired Angeloff’s No. 89 and set up a scholarship fund in his name.
Although Ohio State’s situation is less dire, there are parallels in how Tressel has handled it, mixing concern with the need to keep working.
He canceled the rest of practice Friday and accompanied Gentry to the hospital. The Buckeyes returned to practice Monday, and Tressel talked about the team "helping a family member" and the necessity of "lining up, or drawing up an X and an O."
Those are lessons Tressel learned 31 years ago and did not have to use until now.
"I would say to a young coach that those things are accidents," Dennison said. "They devastate people, but you have to find a seed, some benefit from it. Maybe you can be an example, that you can bounce back and help (the players) as much as they help you."
[email protected]
 
Upvote 0
I know this may sound a bit selfish, but I was really hoping to hear some good news about this before the Spring Game. I think my level of enjoyment would be higher. But, the "speculation" of shattered bones in the spine does not sound good.

Ugh. This seriously sucks. It sits in my stomach like a brick. It would be great to see Tyson pull through this and walk onto the field before a game before he leaves OSU.
 
Upvote 0
Well Wishes For Tyson Gentry

Guys, this has been posted on JJhuddle by myself as well. I want a post to go as long as possible or until i leave for Columbus tomorrow night. I will at that time print out all the pages, and insert them into a giant card we are getting for Tyson. Anyone at the tailgate this weekend is more than welcome to sign it themselves, as well as passersby. I want Tyson to know how much the Buckeye nation really is behind him. Keep this at the top guys.




-Joe
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top