Jackson runner Scout Pettit survives, thrives following accident

Lucas Presson, assistant publisher of the Southeast Missourian, left and former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher and event keynote speaker Rick Horton presents Jackson High School athlete Scout Pettit with the 2019 Comeback Player of the Year award, sponsored by the St. Louis Cardinals, at Saturday's Semoball Awards at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus.

Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian

On January 30 of this year, Semoball.com published an interview with then-Jackson High School senior runner Scout Pettit, who had been named to the 2018 All-Southeast Missourian Boys Cross Country Team.

Pettit expressed that his greatest disappointment was “getting injured and sick all of the time and never reaching my full potential.”

The next day, Pettit was nearly killed by a truck that hit him head on going 40 m.p.h. down Jackson Boulevard while he was on “an easy Friday run” with four of his Indian teammates.

The fact that Pettit is alive today is miraculous and the fact that he actually ran a personal best time in the 3,200 meters nearly four months after the accident is – well, you need to ask a higher being just how that happened.

Because Pettit not only survived the incident but found a way to thrive afterward, he was selected as the 2019 Comeback Athlete of the Year sponsored by the St. Louis Cardinals at Saturday’s Semoball Awards presented by Southeast Health and title sponsors: The Bank of Missouri (Official Bank Sponsor), SEMO ESPN Radio, St. Louis Cardinals and rustmedia.

“It made me understand that no matter what trial that a human being has,” Pettit said after receiving the award, “there is some good that can come out of it.”

Pettit suffered a concussion, a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder and LCL in his knee, a broken shoulder, and a deep bone bruise in his knee after flying through the air 15 feet before landing.

Amazingly, he spent just one night in the hospital, but the impact (no pun intended) of the event will last a lifetime for the 18-year-old.

“It definitely has made me cherish the smaller moments and things in life,” Pettit said. “Prior to this incident, I wouldn’t have. I am very grateful to be alive.”

The journey in returning to competition began almost immediately for Pettit, who initially rode a bike before getting back onto the track and running about six weeks following the incident.

When he ran a 10:52 in the 3,200 meters in late March that performance “kind of surprised” him, and it gave him hope that he may be able to actually contribute in his senior season, which he didn’t envision in February.

“Honestly,” Pettit said, “I was just kind of hoping to be there for my team. As a team leader and a senior, I was hoping to be there and support them and just try my best to milk out what I could in my last season, even if it meant not competing necessarily.”

The physicians didn’t do surgery on Pettit’s injured right knee and allowed him to rehabilitate it instead. He pushed himself to get back his legs and conditioning, but the pain of the bone bruise lingered through much of the season.

“The pain of the bone bruise was so bad,” Pettit said.

Not bad enough to keep him from improving, however.

He got stronger each week and by the end of May, he ran a personal best of 10:02.

Pettit is now taking his love of fishing and interest in business to the University of Wyoming this fall and he’ll pack more than just his phone charger, a load of Monster Energy drink and several hoodies to head west. He is also going to bring his “embrace life” philosophy and pursue every day with zest.

“I’m going to make the most of every day,” Pettit said, “and see where life takes me.”