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Tom Osust
Former gym champ Tom Osust dies
FRANKLIN - Former state high bar champ and Franklin High School star
gymnast Tom Osust, who was paralyzed after breaking his neck as a freshman
in college, died Sunday. He was 32.
After leading a Franklin squad that took home the state and national championship
his senior year of high school, Osust went on to attend Slippery Rock
State University in Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1986, he was
practicing for the NCAA Division II National Tournament when he fell during
a workout. Osust had qualified as a vaulter but was working on the
high bar when the accident took place. During the dismount, Osust
landed on his head and the back of his neck. The injury left him
paralyzed from the neck down.
Osust had also broken his neck when he was 13. He snapped the third
and fourth vertebrate in a diving accident. At that time, doctors
were able to take bones from his ribs and wire them together for stability
in the injured area.
Osust was ranked number one in the state and number three in the nation
at the high bar in 1985.
Survivors include his parents, Thomas and JAcqueline Osust of Franklin
and three sisters, Paula (Robert) Karl of Columbus, Jacqueline Wiot of
Cincinnati and Kathryn (Stephen) Wilkins of Columbia, SC.
Arrangement are being handled by the Wilson-Schramm-Spaulding Funeral
Home.
Source: The Middletown (Ohio) Journal,
Tuesday, July 6, 1999 |
by
Vivian
Combs Moon
12 October 2008 |