As the haunting aroma of Halloween permeates through the air, students and faculty tend to reflect on those strange and gory moments that have frightened them in years past.
The essence of what scares an individual varies from person to person. Some hate the sight of blood. Others simply fear the creatures of the night, the spiders or the wanderers.
Of all people involved in N.C. State athletics, few have witnessed as much gore and frightening moments as Charlie Rozanski, the Associate Director of Athletics-Sports Medicine.
Rozanski, who has worked for the Wolfpack for 14 years, oversees the seven athletic trainers on staff as well as the nine graduate students, who tend to the medical needs and injuries of the athletes.
For Rozanski, the scariest moments in his line of work are when injuries appear life-threatening.
“We’ve certainly had a few that have been life-threatening in terms of when someone has an airway issue,” Rozanski said.
“That’s always a life-threatening condition so you are always concerned with a level of consciousness issue. There have been quite a few over the years that have been scary in that regard.”
As far as bloody incidents and gory sights, Rozanski said athletic training is not for those with a weak stomach. Trainers are accustomed to the sight of blood, and every now and then the sight of bones breaking through the skin and the pain associated with such a break is disturbing.
“From time to time we’ve had a couple of open fractures where you could see the bone,” Rozanski said.
According to Rozanski, his staff confronted one particularly strange incident involving a student-athlete who was attacked by a spider in the medical training facility.
“Probably the most unusual situation that we had was [when] an athlete was on a stepper and got bit by a spider,” Rozanski said. “They had an allergic reaction to it and had an airway issue, so that’s not something you would expect. That was very unusual.”
Rozanski said the situation was frightening because the athlete’s life was at apparent risk but it was unknown until medical treatment why the student was having this reaction.
Despite the unusual and often grisly nature of many athletic injuries, Rozanski assured everything he has seen is just all a part of the job.