A6 The BulleTin • Sunday, april 18, 2021
Emerson
Continued from A1
Emerson coped by drinking
alcohol, which led to an arrest
that got him dismissed from
the Oregon football team mid-
way through the 2019 season.
With the help of family (he
has three siblings), friends and
professional therapy, Emerson
is now dealing with depression
in a healthy way. And he wants
to be a role model for other
young people who are living
with mental health issues. He
went on to earn his degree
from Oregon in economics
and is a sales associate at Par-
scription Golf in Bend — and
he will soon be playing foot-
ball again as the kicker for the
new pro indoor football team
in Redmond, the High Desert
Storm.
“I’m really excited to con-
tinue my football career, es-
pecially as a professional, and
represent Central Oregon,”
Emerson said with confidence
outside his workplace at Par-
scription.
Soccer and concussions
As a high school soccer
player, Emerson suffered so
many severe concussions that
he was told by a doctor that
if he got one or two more, he
would be done with sports, he
recalled.
A number of colleges re-
cruited Emerson for soccer,
but he believed it was safer for
him to be a kicker on a football
team, so he decided to become
a walk-on player at Oregon af-
ter graduating from Mountain
View, he said.
Concussions in soccer are
common. Players head the ball,
collide with each other while
trying to head the ball and oc-
casionally strike the ground
with their heads in a fall.
“He had a combination of
a couple bad ones from both
heading the ball, and colliding
heads,” said Zach’s father, Don-
nie Emerson, a longtime soccer
coach at Mountain View. “He
struggled and struggled recov-
ering from those concussions.
I think that was when the de-
pression started. I don’t think
his brain ever healed the way it
needed to heal.”
A 2014 study in the Journal
of Adolescent Health found
that children ages 12 to 17 with
a history of concussions were
more than three times as likely
to suffer from depression than
those who have never had a
concussion.
“It’s so hard when it’s kind of
this invisible enemy,” Donnie
Emerson said. “I fully believe
that all his demons and bat-
tles that he’s had were from his
concussions. As a parent you
go, ‘If I had to do this all over
again, is this the path that I
would choose for him?’”
Understanding the long-
term impact of these injuries is
critical.
“It’s so important for these
kids who get concussions, that
not only do they sit out and
heal properly, but that they get
other help, whether it’s talk
therapy or some other form of
help,” he said.
Zach Emerson, 23, was a multisport star at Bend’s Mountain View High
School who went on to be a walk-on kicker for the University of Oregon
football team. “I’m really excited to continue my football career, espe-
cially as a professional, and represent Central Oregon,” Emerson said
outside his workplace at Parscription.
Kicking at Oregon
Zach Emerson got his
chance to shine in his redshirt
sophomore year in 2018, mak-
ing 21 of 22 extra-point at-
tempts for the Ducks and han-
dling kickoff duties.
But “life events,” which he
declined to specify, intervened
and his depression and anxiety
deepened.
Going into the 2019 sea-
son, just a few months after his
thwarted suicide plan, Emer-
son believed he had won the
kickoff job based on his per-
formance in training camp.
But Ducks head coach Mario
Cristobal and his staff instead
awarded the job to freshman
Camden Lewis, who was on a
scholarship.
“That was kind of the tip-
ping point for me,” Emerson
said of his depression. “I really
fell after that. I worked as hard
as I could, I won the job, it was
my job, and the coaching staff
decided to go with the new
freshman.”
Emerson recalled being told
of the decision just hours be-
fore the team left Eugene for
the season opener in Arling-
ton, Texas, against Auburn.
Oregon lost the game 27-21.
The night after the team re-
turned from Auburn, Emerson
went out drinking with some
buddies. He recalled being ex-
tremely depressed, at a low
point — even suicidal again.
“Instead of self-harming
or doing anything like that, I
chose to drink a lot,” he said.
Afterward, he stumbled to
a friend’s apartment complex.
But instead of going into apart-
ment No. 6, he went into No. 7.
He fell asleep in the apartment
and the resident called the po-
lice.
“I reacted poorly,” Emer-
son said. “I overdrank. I never
meant to do anything wrong
other than cope with my pain,
and I chose to drink.”
Emerson was arrested that
morning and charged with
criminal mischief and criminal
trespass.
He went on to complete a
yearlong diversion program
and perform 100 hours of
community service, which al-
lowed authorities to drop all
criminal charges.
But after the incident, Em-
erson was suspended from
the team indefinitely, and six
weeks later Cristobal called to
tell him he was off the team.
“They made it out to seem
like I just had to work through
stuff, and then I could come
back and join the team,” Em-
erson recalled. “He essentially,
said, ‘Look, there’s been a lot
Mental health resources
Deschutes County Crisis Line: 541-322-7500, ext. 9
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255
Central Oregon Suicide Prevention Alliance’s
Resource page: www.preventsuicideco.org
If you are 55 or older and feeling isolated or just want to have a
friendly conversation, call the Senior Loneliness Line at 503-200-1633.
If you are 21 or younger and want support for any problem, big or
small, text teen2teen to 839863 or call YouthLine at 877-968-8491.
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
of past stuff, and it’s not a good
image for the team if we bring
you back.’”
Donnie Emerson said he
did not agree with Oregon’s
dismissal of his son from the
team, but he did say the pro-
gram offered resources to
help him deal with his depres-
sion.
“We were in close contact
with the staff there,” Donnie
Emerson said. “They were
monitoring it. While I dis-
agreed with how they handled
things when it came to a head,
I will say that they were help-
ing us in a lot of ways to deal
with the mental health piece of
it. We had people there that we
could call and talk to the whole
time. They were pretty good to
us through that.”
New football opportunity
Emerson stayed at Oregon
and graduated early. He came
home and started working,
and with college eligibility re-
maining, he got recruited as a
kicker by Sacramento State of
the Big Sky Conference. The
conference planned to play a
spring season this year amid
the pandemic, but the season
was eventually canceled.
So Emerson signed on with
the High Desert Storm, which
will start its season May 8 in
the American West Football
Conference, playing home
games at the First Interstate
Bank Center in Redmond.
“I’m extremely grateful
for the opportunity, playing
close to home,” Emerson said.
“(Storm) coach (Keith) Evans
was super supportive of me.
I think we’ll be competitive. I
think the fan base here will be
very supportive, and we’ll al-
ways have a good home crowd.
I’m just really excited to play
back in my hometown.”
Evans said he is excited to
have a “local kid” and an accu-
rate kicker on the team. Goal
posts in the indoor league are
only 9 feet apart, less than half
the 18.5-feet in the NCAA and
NFL.
“You need to have confi-
dence in your kicker,” Evans
said. “It takes a lot more accu-
racy. A strong leg always helps,
but accuracy is a big thing,
too.”
Brian Crum, Emerson’s foot-
ball coach at Mountain View,
said he is thrilled Emerson gets
another opportunity to extend
his football career.
“The ball just explodes
off his leg,” Crum said of the
6-foot-3, 235-pound Emerson.
“He’s so athletic and so power-
ful. And who knows where this
leads to? There’s lots of possi-
bilities.”
Crum said he never doubted
that Emerson would work
through his depression and
become a role model for other
young athletes who could be
dealing with similar mental
health issues — particularly in
light of the isolation challenges
presented over the past year by
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He’s a resilient kid, and I
think sports help foster that
resiliency,” Crum said. “No-
body does this alone. I think a
lot of kids hide it, and I think a
lot of kids ignore it. That’s one
of the hard things of the last
13 months. Kids have had so
many things taken away from
them.”
Emerson’s willingness to
publicly share his problems
has the potential to send a loud
message, Crum said.
“I think anytime you can
have a teenage boy see a person
as a role model and understand
there’s no shame involved with
(depression), they know they
can talk about it, too,” Crum
said.
Ongoing battle
Depression and addiction
are not struggles that simply
end or go away by themselves.
Emerson continues to fight his
demons with the aid of friends,
family and a combination of
different therapies. He said
he has remained sober “for a
while now.”
“Life is full of challenges,
and it’s how you respond to
those challenges,” Donnie Em-
erson said. “It’s going to be a
long ride for him and it’s not
going to be easy. He’s battling
depression and he’s battling ad-
diction. It’s what he makes of it
from here.”
Zach Emerson said he put so
many expectations on himself
and took pride in being strong.
But things turned around for
him because he sought help
— he is still here because he
sought help.
“At the end of the day, you
need to seek help,” he said. “Be-
cause it’s a battle that you can’t
deal with on your own. For
anyone who is struggling with
depression, reach out to some-
one that you trust and seek
help, and let them help.”
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0318,
mmorical@bendbulletin.com
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