Phillip Macri

It was the summer of 1987 and Phillip Macri was riding high. At 5'9" and 135 pounds, he was not a big guy. But at New Castle High School, he was Big Man On Campus. He was a popular, three sport athlete. He was starting second baseman on the baseball team and a member of the cross country team. Basketball, however, was where he excelled the most. He was a scrappy, tenacious point guard that helped lead New Castle to the playoffs the previous two years and had them poised to make a run at a district title in the 1987-88 season, which would be his senior season.

Born on December 13, 1969, all Phillip wanted to do growing up was play sports. His playing career came to an end on August 28, 1987. That is the day that his life was changed forever. He was in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he and a bunch of friends were participating in a softball tournament. It was a week before his senior year in high school was about to begin and he was having the time of his life. It was their last day in town, so they decided to go to the beach one last time before heading north to make the journey back to New Castle, Pennsylvania. They were just getting ready to leave the beach when Macri decided to take one last dip in the water. He took a running start from the shore and ran full steam into the ocean. He dove into a wave just like he had done dozens of times previously. But this time things were different. The wave flipped him upside down and he came crashing down on the bottom of the ocean head first. The impact snapped a vertebrae in his neck, paralyzing him instantly. If it was not for the actions of a heroic bystander, Macri would have lost his life that day. He was dragged from the water that day by a woman, who disappeared from the scene shortly afterwards.

After spending a few months in the hospital in Virginia, he was flown back to Pittsburgh to begin his rehab close to home. A few weeks later, he was able to return home and actually graduated from high school with his senior class in June of 1988.

After taking a few years off of school after high school, Macri attended Westminster College and received a degree in business. He has always wanted to be involved in sports. And since his playing days were cut short, he opened up his own sporting goods store, Macri's Sports, in 2001. He is still owner/operator of Macri's in New Castle, Pa.

His story doesn't end there, however. In 1993, his story was featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, as he wanted to find the woman who pulled him out of the water and saved his life. Remarkably, Linda Potts from Loraine, Ohio was watching the telecast and phoned the show saying that she was the one that pulled him to safety. The show set up a meeting between the two of them, and they remain good friends to this day.

I was 13 years old when he was injured and I remember the day that I found out about his injury. I was devastated. I was a huge high school sports fan, and this news was hard to take for me. After everything that he has been through, I greatly admire his strength and courage to make it through this situation and become successful in life.





 My camera was acting up and my photos and videos were lost. Not sure what happened. But here is my story and timeline.