Living Proof

If Dana Hills is able to earn its first football playoff berth in six years, there will be plenty of heroes, from powerful running back Julio Peraza to celebrated defensive back Larry Page.

But none of the stories of Dolphin players is more remarkable than that of junior defensive tackle Scott Phillips.

The youngest of four children to Barbara and Michael Phillips, Scott, 16, was not expected to live to celebrate his first birthday.

On Feb. 12, 1981, when Scott was four weeks old, Barbara had laid him in his crib for a nap. When she checked on him a short while later, she saw he was turning blue. When she touched him, his body was cold.

“I thought, ‘My God, he looks like he’s dead,”’ she said.

Michael and Barbara rushed Scott from their home in San Gabriel to the emergency room at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. Barbara, holding her baby, sprinted through the hospital’s ambulance entrance.

“The nurse there looked at me disapprovingly,” Barbara said. “I held Scott up and whispered, ‘My baby . . .’ The nurse grabbed him and took him back to the doctors.”

Barbara and Michael were later told Scott had no heartbeat, no respiration, had suffered an extreme loss of oxygen and blood sugar to the brain (he had not been breathing for an estimated 15 minutes), had hypothermia and was developing pneumonia.

The doctors got Scott’s heart started and put him on life support, but he was not expected to live through the night. Barbara said she and her husband were told if Scott did survive, he would probably remain in a coma for weeks, even months. And if he came out of the coma, he would suffer from brain damage.

“We called our parish priest, who rushed to the hospital and baptized Scotty,” Barbara said. “He said he didn’t need to give Scott last rites because he had committed no sins.”

But somehow Scott did survive the night. He came out of the coma 30 hours later, on Feb. 13. “A date none of us will forget,” Barbara said.

She was told at the time the doctors wouldn’t be able to determine the extent of brain damage until Scott turned 2.

After his second birthday, Scott was examined by Charles Imbus, a child neurologist in Arcadia. Imbus had worked with doctors at Huntington Memorial to save Scott’s life.

“After 20 minutes, he asked why I brought Scott to see him,” Barbara said. “I told him that he had told me to do so two years before. He said it was a waste of time because there was absolutely nothing wrong with Scott; he was completely normal.”

Imbus said newborns have a better chance of tolerating low amounts of oxygen because “their capillaries are closer together. The oxygen doesn’t have to diffuse as far as it does with adults. So when they do recover, most often it is a complete recovery.”

But that doesn’t lessen the miracle of Scott’s recovery, Imbus said. “Fifteen minutes without oxygen is a very long time. I would say his full recovery is extraordinary.”

Robert Deputy, who was Scott’s pediatrician, agreed with Imbus.

“I’m not a neurologist, but I could not ascertain any lingering effects,” he said. “. . . . Whoever touched that child deserves some credit for where he is today.”

Phillips says he didn’t know about his near-death experience until he was older.

“I don’t think it had an effect,” he said, “but, in a sense, I have always felt I was unique. I’ve never been afraid to do anything. Well, I did have a fear of heights, but I got over it.”

Scott is the Phillips’ third son to play high school football. Mike, 29, played center for La Canada St. Francis. Charlie, 19, played wide receiver for and graduated from Dana Hills last June. Daughter Katie, 30, played volleyball for Alhambra Ramona Convent.

Dana Hills Coach Scott Orloff has been impressed with Scott’s efforts.

“If you had told me at the beginning of the year he would have started for me defensively, I’d have said no way,” Orloff said. “He’s such a nice kid, I didn’t think he had that defensive mentality. But he kept coming along, beginning on the JV and working his way to varsity.”

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DANA HILLS VS. TRABUCO HILLS

Featured Game

When: 7:30 tonight

Where: Trabuco Hills High

Records: Dana Hills (6-2-1, 2-1-1); Trabuco Hills (4-5, 1-3).

Rankings: Dana Hill is ranked No. 9 in the Orange County sportswriters’ poll; Trabuco Hills is unranked.

Noteworthy: Trabuco Hills can’t make the playoffs, but it can spoil Dana Hills’ postseason plans--or at least put a serious crimp in them. If Dana Hills wins, it can finish second in the South Coast League if top-ranked Mater Dei beats San Clemente. If the Dolphins lose, they will need either a loss by San Clemente or Mission Viejo to qualify for an automatic berth.