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CIS football player cheated death, surviving plunge off waterfall
Most football players aspire to be a legend of the fall — as in the time of year when the gridiron game is played. Not an actual fall such as the 47½-metre plunge off a waterfall that University of Manitoba Bisons defensive back Tyler Fong survived this spring.
As Canadian Interuniversity Sport football teams beginning their two-a-day workouts this weekend, Fong has what's sure to be the best 'what I did on my summer vacation' story, although he paid a price for it. The U of M's two-year starter at safety, who was part of a team that came within one touchdown of going to the Vanier Cup in November, is coming back from the broken rib, punctured lung and dislocated big toe he suffered on May 17 when he slipped and fell off Little Niagara Falls on Vancouver Island. The Victoria, B.C., native easily could have died if not for split-second athletic instinct.
From Kirk Penton (@pentonkirk):
When [Fong and former Bisons linebacker Andrew Johnston] got to the top of the waterfall called Little Niagara Falls — it got that moniker because it's only 10 to 15 feet shorter than the original — Fong stepped on a wet rock a little too close to the edge.
“I remember the whole thing,” Fong said. “I remember slipping, and then I bounced off the side of it a couple times at the beginning. That's when I broke the rib, punctured my lung and got scrapes and what not. I ended up going head first for a little while.”
Now, it turns out there are pros and cons to falling 156 feet off a waterfall. The obvious drawback is the increased risk of death. The positive is if you start out head first you have the time and space to keep rotating.
“As I got closer, my eyes kind of cleared up and I saw there was this pool of water at the bottom,” Fong said. “So I figured I shouldn't go head first and break my neck. So I corrected myself and went feet first.”
The fall probably took just more than three seconds, but Fong said “it felt like forever.” Even though he was knocked unconscious when he hit the water, dislocating his left big toe in the process, what no doubt saved Fong's life was the depth of the pool. Thanks to the relentless pounding of the earth beneath the waterfall, the pool is extremely deep — if only about 10 feet. (Winnipeg Sun, Aug. 15)
Fong was hospitalized five days, including three spent in an intensive care unit, and told Penton that he resumed training for the football season about three weeks after his fall. He returned to the falls several times since and has also added a 5-17-15 tattoo, commemorating the date of his brush with mortality.
Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @naitSAYger.
