Cam Gardner was a starter for Bonny Eagle’s Class AA South basketball championship team last winter. This fall, he made the game-ending sack in the Scots’ victory over Thornton Academy in the Class A football title game. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer Buy this Photo
STANDISH — Cam Gardner suffered a serious head injury as a fifth-grader. While he was able to quickly return to playing basketball, the injury left him with a three-inch scar on his right temple and for many years eliminated football as an option. Now a senior at Bonny Eagle High, Gardner just finished his second season as a starting defensive end/outside linebacker by making the game-ending sack in the Scots’ Class A title win against Thornton Academy. This winter, the 18-year-old from Steep Falls is a returning starter for the defending Class AA South boys’ basketball champions.
Q: The Bonny Eagle football team had been building all season for the championship game. What was it like for you to be out there on the field?
A: We got there with basketball (last season) but we really didn’t get that feeling of really winning the Gold Ball. I know a lot of the basketball players (on the football team) were thinking, we have to bring this one home. Ultimately it was just amazing. No better feeling than that.
Q: You had the play that put the final stamp on it, right?
A: They’d just scored and they got that onside kick and I knew I just wanted to end it. … We’re not going to let them come back. I was going as hard as I could. We always talked about all season just to empty the tank.
Q: There was a point where you didn’t know if you were going to get to play sports, right?
A: So, I was in fifth grade and I was at my friend’s house. I was just wrestling around. He went to close the door (and) I just went to go tackle him and the kid’s knee caught me right on the temple. It cracked the skull and severed an artery, inside my head, so it started bleeding in the brain. (Cam was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where a CAT-scan revealed the need for emergency surgery.)
After surgery they said I would never play football again. I was OK with it, because of all the things that could have happened, that wasn’t the worse.
Q: What was the recovery like?
A: To fix the skull they put a titanium plate in there with titanium screws. And, it was going to be OK. I could get hit, it would be fine, as long as it wasn’t right there and a hard hit. So coming back to basketball like three to four months later I had to wear this thing like soccer players would wear, padding around their head, for that whole season.
Q: So you hadn’t played football since fifth grade?
A: I hadn’t played at all. To me, it really wasn’t worth risking it. But I was going out to the games and just watching everyone play drew me in. I figured I would go to some doctors and see … if there was even a chance I could play. I went to a few and they said I really shouldn’t push it. Then I went to another one and … after he did research he came back to us and said, he thinks I would be OK. I found out before the season ended my sophomore year.
Q: Why did you want to play?
A: I mean it was one of my favorite sports growing up. That and basketball. … It was sad not having football. So (my parents and I) had to talk. We talked about it for a while and my mom finally agreed to try it out. I came into practice junior year.
Q: Were you able to make an impact that first year?
A: I would say I made an impact. I started on defense (at outside linebacker).
Q: Were you tentative?
A: Not really. It was more of, once I was out there it was like I’d never left, really.
Q: I’m guessing one reason that was the case was you had been able to play basketball?
A: I never stopped playing basketball, so I never shied away from taking hits. I’ll take charges during basketball. It doesn’t faze me. So getting tackles, and not letting up 10 extra yards on the field, that’s what I needed to do.
Q: Do you think having something taken away from you and then getting it back, do you appreciate what you have now more?
A: For sure. You really get a sense of how crazy it was, and how I could have never played again, everything could have gone away. It was definitely a great feeling being able to play again.
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