A Little Help From His Friends : Brea-Olinda Teammates Aid McPhee After Accident

The water in the stream was only 3 or 4 inches deep as Craig McPhee walked across it and maybe that’s why he fell.

He had his shoes off and that didn’t help his footing as he traversed the mossy rocks. On his back, he carried a heavy knapsack, filled with clothes and supplies for a long August stay in the rugged back country of Yosemite National Park.

He was crouched down, trying as best he could to maintain his balance. It didn’t work for long, though and McPhee fell face first, splashing as he tumbled.

When he fell, his friends--teammates on the Brea-Olinda High School basketball team--laughed.

Even Rick Jones, Brea coach, thought it was funny. “Until I saw the glazed look on his face,” Jones said.

McPhee remembers blacking out for an instant. By the time the others could reach him and help him to the river bank, the bump on his forehead was the size of a baseball and growing.

Later, doctors determined that he had suffered a concussion. A few weeks following his return to Brea, after the swelling had gone down completely, McPhee discovered a hairline skull fracture just above his right eye.

Four months after the accident, McPhee, a 6-foot 5-inch senior, is healthy again and will be the Wildcats’ starting forward when they open the season against Paramount at 7 tonight at Brea.

But back on that August day, the hikers’ concern was how to get McPhee to medical help. Or how to get medical help to McPhee. He was a 2-hour hike over rough terrain away from the group’s car and 2 1/2 hours from the nearest ranger station.

Jones and the players had McPhee rest on a granite slab as they poured water on his forehead in an effort to reduce the swelling.

Jones had taken the varsity basketball team on trips into the wilds of Yosemite every summer for the past 10 years or so. They’d leave from a spot called Glacier Point, and spend a week backpacking. Sometimes the group wouldn’t see another person for 3 or 4 days. The trips would “bring the team together,” Jones said.

On this trip though, construction crews had closed the Glacier Point area and the team had to start from another area, one Jones was unfamiliar with.

The team split into two groups, with Jones taking the one with McPhee. The hike was uneventful, until late in the afternoon when the players reached the small stream.

In the moments after McPhee fell, Jones decided that two players would go back to the car to get help. They didn’t have much time. It was 3 p.m. and even though it was summer, it would be dark soon.

Matt Chamberlain and Rob Wilson, two of McPhee’s best friends, were sent back for help. It was hoped they could reach a ranger and a helicopter could be flown in to take McPhee to a hospital.

In the meantime, those who remained tried to make McPhee as comfortable as possible. It wasn’t easy for him, lying on a rock just above the water’s edge. Jones built a fire, in part to keep the group warm but also to attract the helicopter as it grew darker.

“I almost slid into the water a couple of times,” McPhee said. “They wouldn’t let me go to sleep. One guy who was sitting with me trying to make sure I didn’t fall asleep went to sleep himself.”

Chamberlain and Wilson reached the ranger station, but had trouble explaining where the team was holed up. The players were shown aerial photographs of the surrounding area and after a time recognized the stream.

Four hours after Chamberlain and Wilson left, a rescue helicopter with two paramedics aboard reached McPhee only to be confronted with another setback. The terrain was so rugged that there was no place close by to land.

The rescuers located a spot about a quarter-mile away and the paramedics, carrying 50-pound packs, had to hike back to reach McPhee. They gave him a quick neurological examination to make sure he had no internal bleeding, McPhee said. The paramedics decided he was OK but more tests needed to be made at the hospital in Yosemite Valley.

“I was hoping they would take the rest of us, too,” Jones said.

As it turned out, only McPhee and one of the paramedics returned in the helicopter. The other paramedic stayed with the team because there wasn’t enough room in the helicopter.

At the hospital, it was determined that McPhee had a concussion.

“I was kind of in shock,” said McPhee, who spent the night in the hospital for observation. “It didn’t hurt too bad. I was lightheaded for about a week.”

While McPhee was safe and sound, Jones, the paramedic and the remaining players camped out with no idea what his condition was. The next day, the group reunited and McPhee’s parents drove from Brea to meet him.

The adventure has brought the team closer together, according to Jones.

And while the wounds have healed, the memories live on for McPhee.

“It’s a good story to tell my friends,” he said.