Alleghany star wrestler suffers severe spinal cord injury

Stunned Alleghany County residents are rallying around their star wrestler, Luke Hampton, who suffered a severe spinal cord injury on Saturday while wrestling in a tournament at Hibriten High School in Lenoir.

Hampton, 17, one of the state's top-ranked wrestlers and a senior at Alleghany High School, has been at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center since Saturday, after breaking his C5 and C6 vertebrae, according to Derrick Calloway, Alleghany's wrestling coach.

"The way they broke, it severely damaged his spinal cord," Calloway said.

According to retrorankings.com, a website about wrestling, Hampton was the state's No. 1-ranked wrestler in Class 1-A at 182 pounds.

Calloway said Hampton charged his opponent early in the match on Saturday morning but lost his grip and went head-first into a padded wall.

"When I saw it, I thought maybe a concussion or he just hit his head," Calloway said. "Right when I got to him, I knew immediately it wasn't good."

Calloway said Hampton was taken to Caldwell County Memorial Hospital in Lenoir, and after X-rays revealed the extent of the injury, Hampton was flown to Baptist Medical Center.

Calloway said tentative plans are for Hampton to be transported to the Shepherd Center, a spinal cord injury rehabilitation center in Atlanta, on Thursday.

Principal Chris Barnes of Alleghany said students are holding prayer vigils for Hampton at the school each morning, and wearing ribbons with the school colors — green and gold — as a tribute.

"The school has come together to support one of its own," Barnes said, adding that a group of students raised $500 and delivered it to the Hampton family on Monday.

"We are selling T-shirts, accepting donations and we're planning things for Friday's basketball games (at home against Wilkes Central) to support the family," Barnes said, adding that numerous student clubs are collecting donations and arranging fundraisers.

Barnes said the State Employees' Credit Union has set up a fund in Luke Hampton's name to help defray Hampton's medical expenses, and added that donations sent to Barnes at the school would be deposited into that fund.

Coaches and school administrators describe Hampton as someone who loves to work.

"What always struck me about Luke is his great work ethic and what a strong and determined young man he is," Barnes said. "He was already working and earning his own money when he was in the eighth grade. He's just responsible and the kind of kid who is about getting business done."

In addition to wrestling, Hampton also played football. Frank Sessoms, Alleghany's football coach, said Hampton was his leading rusher and played nearly every snap on offense, defense and special teams down the stretch of the season.

"He is a worker, a physical worker," Sessoms said. "He likes getting his hands dirty. I couldn't keep him off the field."

When the team played at Murphy last month in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs, and drove all the way back, he was talking about having to get up at 7 a.m. to go to work, Sessoms said.

"And we got back at 5 (a.m.)," he said.

Athletics Director Paul Crouse, Alleghany's former wrestling coach and principal, said he had never heard of such an injury during wrestling.

"He's definitely the leader of the wrestling team, a leader on the football team," Crouse said. "And beyond that, he's a workaholic. This guy has a small business going on the side — farming, cutting wood, hauling trees."

Chuck Cannon, the athletics director at Hibriten, said all proceeds from Saturday's tournament will be donated to the Hampton family. The tournament, the Jamie Tuttle Invitational, was named for a former Hibriten wrestler who was paralyzed in a swimming accident in the 1980s.

"Because of how devastating this is, it's a small thing to do for the family because what they are going through right now, I can't imagine," Cannon said.

Wrestling coach Calloway said he doesn't buy into rumors that Hampton — whose younger brother Jake is a freshman wrestler — won't walk again.

"You don't tell that to anybody in Alleghany or around here because we all know he's going to walk again," Calloway said. "Just because they told him he can't do it, he'll do it.

"There's not a harder-working kid. I put them through hell (at wrestling practice) for two and a half hours, and twice a week, he showers and comes back in and works with the little kids on our club team for two hours.

"Can't ask for a better kid."