By Jemi Chew
FALMOUTH — Pendleton legend Jimmy Gregg is known to the community as more than just a school bus driver — he is a friend, local celebrity, comedian and an all-round great guy who is deeply loved by those who know him.
Who’s this hometown hero’s own hero?
“I’m not a hero, I was just happy to be there,” Steve Craig, the man who saved Gregg’s life, said.
Craig and Gregg met a couple of weeks ago for lunch at Howard’s Place to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the heroic act that saved Gregg’s life.
On July 4, 1974, Gregg was playing baseball when he was flipped in the air by a boy who collided into him, causing him to land on his back.
“People in the outfield said they could hear it pop,” Gregg said.
Craig, who was 26 and a newlywed, was teaching a class on head and neck injuries at the old Falmouth Middle School.
He knew immediately that they could not move Gregg, though many people had rushed over to him and some wanted to get him up.
Instead, Craig grabbed some ball gloves to support Gregg’s neck and straddled him with his knees to stabilize him.
“If they had moved me, it would’ve killed me or paralyzed me for life,” Gregg said.
He remembers wanting his mom and feeling scared as he tried to gasp for air. He was not breathing through his lungs and had a broken neck and back.
Gregg spent two weeks in intensive care, 40 days flat on his back with a neck brace and weights on his head to align his body, and 50 days total in the hospital.
His fifth and sixth vertebrae were broken, and a bone was taken from his hip and placed in his neck.
“You do have morphine though. You lie there in la-la land — you don’t even feel the pain,” Gregg said.
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