Athletic trainer recognized at football game for saving Sky View High School student’s life

SMITHFIELD, Cache County — An athletic trainer and two students were honored Friday before Sky View High School’s rivalry matchup with Logan after they helped save the life of a 16-year-old football player late last year.

Dean Phillips wasn’t sure he would ever see the field again after collapsing and going into cardiac arrest last December in the middle of offseason training.

“I look over at Dean, and he’s lying on the ground,” said friend Porter McClellan.

Another friend, Hazen Smith, said the two initially weren’t sure what was happening, but his feelings worsened when he saw Porter’s face.

“I knew something was wrong and my stomach kind of dropped,” Smith said.

The two said they helped to move Phillips away from the squat rack as another teen ran to grab Curtis Cazier, an athletic trainer from Intermountain Health contracted to work at Sky View.

“I checked his pulse and didn’t feel anything,” Cazier said. “Lips were pretty blue, and so I started CPR.”

Cazier also helped to deliver a shock from an AED with first responders on the way. The measures proved vital in saving Phillips’ life.

“The fact that they were able to get on it quick and know what to do was really monumental in me getting back to where I am today,” Phillips said.

Phillips said he was grateful to be back playing football after a lengthy recovery from a condition he previously never knew he had.

“This one is just genetic,” he said. “It came from my parents, and it just has to do with adrenalin. So when I get my adrenalin up working out—even emotions, you know—it can trigger it.”

On Friday evening, Signage at the game drew attention to Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome. Intermountain Health had a CPR dummy and an AED present to help educate those in attendance about the importance of knowing life-saving techniques during emergencies.

Before kickoff, Cazier landed at midfield in an Intermountain Life Flight helicopter to deliver the game ball. He immediately embraced Phillips.

“I don’t know if I feel like a hero or anything like that because any athletic trainer would have done the same thing,” Cazier said. “(It was) really gratifying to know that he is able to be here on the football field playing.”