Misery Finds Company : Teammates Each Suffer Rare Injury During Football Game

Even in a sport where injuries are common, one of the rarest occurred twice during a community college football game in Palm Desert on Saturday.

Two College of the Desert players, freshman fullback Dean Stanley and sophomore linebacker Joe Kuchta, suffered broken thighbones during a 30-6 victory over Rio Hondo.

Said Bill Durney of the Desert Orthopedic Center, who works with College of the Desert players: “I would be willing to guess it’s never happened--two in one football game.”

“It’s rare from any perspective,” said Robert Chandler of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic. “Among people who get femur fractures, probably less than 1% get it from playing football. People get femur fractures from baseball, skiing, bicycling, but most occur as result of vehicular trauma and higher velocity sports, like racing.”

Stanley was injured during the first quarter when he caught a screen pass and was hit from behind and the left side simultaneously. “I was in the waiting room and someone came in and said ‘Hey, do you know someone named Kuchta?’ I said, ‘Yeah, he’s a good friend,’ ” Stanley said. “They said, ‘Well, he’s got the same thing you have.’ ”

Kuchta suffered a broken right thighbone during the third quarter when he was blocked by a running back and hit on the leg by another blocker.

“I hate to say it, but I’m kind of glad I have somebody to go through this with,” Stanley said.

Both players were operated on late Saturday night by Greg West, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in trauma cases for the Desert Orthopedic Center at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.

Each player had a pin inserted along the thigh as a sort of “internal splint,” said Bill Durney, an orthopedic surgeon who works with West. The procedure should allow Stanley and Kuchta to be walking on crutches by today and both should recover by next season.