(WHAS11) - A Bullitt East football player who nearly died on the field last year is alive today -- in part because of one of his coaches. Now, Jesse Bratcher is back in school and giving his coach a very big thank you.
"Alot of people don't know [about the injury]," says Jesse Bratcher, a junior at Bullitt East High School. "The only way you can tell is the scar... it's the only thing."
Jesse suffered not one, but two devastating blows on the football field last year within days of each other. He says he doesn't remember much about when it happened. But his coach who watched it all from the sidelines says he will never forget.
"It was different. He was standing. And before he left here, he couldn't stand," says Darrell Vincent, assistant coach of the Bullitt East football team. "I just remember driving to the hospital. I got a call that he was being diverted to university hospital. Right then, I knew it was serious."
It was serious. Jesse was soon in a coma with a potentially life-threatening brain injury.
Now, nearly a year later, Jesse is back in school with a normal class load. He says it was the man he calls "Coach V" who worked tirelessly on his own time to get him back on track in class.
"He didn't have to do anything if he didn't want to. It was all his choice," says Bratcher. "He did so much for me... and I just wanted to do something for him."
And so Jesse and his family spearheaded an effort for April 13th to be officially "Coach Vincent Day" in Bullitt County. The Bullitt County Judge Executive made it official in a surprise ceremony in the school library today.
The entire football team attended and cheered for the coach, who had sacrificed countless hours of tutoring and planning periods to help Jesse get up to speed after he had missed so much school.
"It's kind of a shock," says Vincent. "I was just doing what I felt I needed to do during that whole situation. But really it's Jesse who has been an inspiration to us."
Coach Vincent was allowed to take the rest of the day off in honor of "Coach Vincent Day." The students, of course, had to stay in class.
Jesse continues to get chemistry tutoring from Coach Vincent, but he's on track to begin his senior year next year right on time. He hopes to attend Lindsay Wilson college to study to be a game warden.
