Sometimes knowledge can make a bloody entrance. When a discus crashed into the skull of one father attending his first local track meet, it brought an immediate and painful understanding of dangers that lurk in the sidelines of athletic events.

Steve Gall, 47, had just finished taking pictures of his daughter's boyfriend throwing the discus for North Medford High School at Saturday's Medford Rotary Relays. Gall was reviewing the images in his digital camera when the next athlete began his throws. Gall never saw the heavy metal plate that came winging down the foul line toward his head until impact, he said.

"I went down and forward," Gall said. "I was on my hands and knees. There was blood everywhere. My daughter, she saw my skull."

The impact created a deep bloody gash that runs at a 45-degree angle from the right side of Gall's hairline to below his right eye socket. The force pushed his shattered skull into his brain.

Gall's wife, Susan, was standing about 3 feet away when the accident occurred. Her husband never lost consciousness and initially thought he was fine. But she and her fellow bystanders knew better, she said.

Advertisement

"He kept saying, 'I'm fine. I'm fine,' " she said. "But two nurses who happened to be there got him flat on his back. They used the 'mom' voice. And a half a dozen people, including me, called 9-1-1."

The incident occurred shortly after 2 p.m., said Susan Gall.

Dr. Don Ross, a neurosurgeon, was operating on her husband at Rogue Valley Medical Center by 6 p.m., she said.

"They said his skull is shattered, it's pressing on his brain and we have to get the bone fragments out and the metal plates in place," she said.

The doctors told Gall they expect a full recovery. He was lucky the metal disc hit his skull in an area that did not affect brain function. They also said his ignorance of the pending impact may have saved his life, he said.

"If I'd looked up, I would have lost my eye. If I'd have turned my head, I'd be dead," said Steve Gall. "If I'd been a child I'd be dead."

Susan and Steve Gall want to see safety measures increased to keep others from the threat of major injuries from a wayward throw.

Medford School District officials are reviewing Saturday's incident and will comment once their investigation is complete, said Superintendent Phil Long.

The Galls admit to their ignorance of track and field events.

"We don't have children in track and field, and we had no idea we weren't in an area that was perfectly safe," said Susan Gall.

Steven Gall said he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time." But they thought standing 130 feet out in the field and next to the foul line would protect them from injury.

"There were kids and other parents standing all over that area," said Susan Gall. "The policy needs to be changed. The policy is obviously not safe."

North Medford parent Terral Adams agrees with the Galls about the need for better safety controls. She said she witnessed a dozen more discs land in the out-of-bounds area after Gall was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

"Kids release too soon and discs fly up and over into the crowd area," Adams said. "I believe we need to make the foul lines a bit bigger or the spectators area behind the thrower."

It was Adam's son that Gall had been photographing. She was standing just behind Gall. The disc was heading straight toward her chest before it lost altitude and hit Gall's head, she said.

"It was a really nice, wonderful day until this," said Adams. "It was really a horrible thing that happened to him. The sound replays in my head over and over again."

Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 776-4497 or e-mail sspecht@mailtribune.com.