Photo: GoBonnies
BY JONNY WALKER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
On the final night of last season’s Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, St. Bonaventure diver Davis Hutchinson competed for the 3-meter-dive title as his coaches and teammates cheered from below.
But Hutchinson’s path to competing in those A-10 Championships stretched much further than his brief climbs up the 3-meter platform that night.
“Every nurse that I’ve talked to said that I should be dead,” said Hutchinson, now a junior. “It was a 10% chance I lived, 5% chance I walked again. I got beyond lucky.”
While practicing a routine dive on a trampoline just over a year prior to the A-10’s 3-meter final, Hutchinson fractured two spinal vertebrae — C5 and C6 — along with tearing tendons and crushing cartilage in his neck. Hutchinson estimated he had successfully performed the trick, a front double, or two front flips before landing, over 1,000 times.
“I landed on my face and my body folded over, but I had no idea that I broke my neck,” said Hutchinson. “I stood up and walked around with a broken neck until a trainer came up and was like, ‘We have to lay you down just in case.’”
An ambulance rushed Hutchinson to Olean General Hospital, where doctors quickly transferred him to a better-equipped hospital in Buffalo. Hutchinson recalled spending the rest of that day in a neck brace, staring up at a hospital ceiling and feeling unsure about his future quality of life.
“The doctor said … if I were 10 pounds heavier, I would have either been dead or in surgery,” said Hutchinson. “So, solely due to the fact that I’ve been diving my entire life — I’m alive.”
Following his injury, Hutchinson spent the next five months — including almost the entirety of the second semester of his freshman year — in a neck brace.
“They told me that it would be at least a year before I was allowed to do physical activity again — and I went to rehab in six months,” said Hutchinson. “So I did a month and a half of rehab. I got back in the water that month as well.”
Hutchinson credited his friends, teammates and coaches for supporting him through his recovery.
“I always uplifted him, because I knew he’d do the same for me,” said Zachary Titus, a teammate and friend of Hutchinson at Bonaventure. “Through the school year, since he was no longer competing, it was difficult for him to find a rhythm when it came to a schedule. I always made sure he was on top of his work and attending classes.”
During the summer between Hutchinson’s freshman and sophomore years, Bonaventure hired a new head diving coach, John Sirmo. Sirmo had coached Hutchinson at the club level during Hutchinson’s middle and high school years.
“He [Sirmo] was the sole reason that I kept going,” said Hutchinson. “And then I, luckily, got to have him last year when I came back from the neck injury to coach me.”
Sirmo said he texted with Hutchinson before the pair reunited on campus ahead of the fall 2022 semester.
“After getting in touch with him and his family — that he was going to make a return to diving … I was just thrilled,” said Sirmo. “And from that point, I said, ‘Man, you know, you’re healthy. Let’s give it a shot.’”
That season, Hutchinson established himself as one of Bonaventure’s top-three divers. He scored in most meets, including a second-place finish in the 1-meter dive at the Cleveland State Tri-Meet.
And, of course, Hutchinson qualified for the A-10’s 3-meter final.
“In diving, that’s a big deal — when you get to make finals and you get to dive twice in a day,” said Sirmo. “I was so proud to see Davis come back and compete at that level.”
Despite making a nearly full recovery from his injury, Hutchinson still suffers from tightened nerve endings in his fingers — something he said made completing his coursework as a visual arts major difficult.
“My pressure sensors are off, so I can’t tell how hard or how far I’m drawing,” said Hutchinson. “So, being a visual arts major — that was really tough. This year, I actually had to switch my major because I can’t draw or sculpt or paint anymore.”
Hutchinson, now a sports studies major, worked as a youth dive coach over the summer. He said the experience inspired him to embrace a new career path.
“I enjoyed coaching more than anything else I was doing at the time,” said Hutchinson. “There’s always those times in life where you could just tell that something is right. And that was one of those times.”
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
