Ott's comeback boosts Prospect

Jimmy Ott wasn't sure if he was going to play football in his junior year at Prospect.

Then a swim in Lake Michigan in July 2009 made Ott unsure about much more significant matters.

Ott wound up with necrotizing fasciitis, better known as flesh-eating disease, in his left leg. He needed three surgical procedures and spent two weeks in the hospital and two more at home under a nurse's care.

A long and difficult rehabilitation followed. But Ott also realized what he missed when he couldn't play.

"I didn't know if it was for me," Ott said. "But I had a lot of support from friends to come back like Beau Zanca and Anthony Babicz.

"They got me back into it and I decided to come back this year."

Consider it one of the amazing comeback stories of any year as the Knights get ready to host Lake Zurich at 7 p.m. today in a Class 7A second-round playoff game.

Ott has kicked 43 extra points and also caught 12 passes for 169 yards for the Mid-Suburban East champions.

"He comes back his senior year and we figure, 'Well, Jimmy will probably just kick,' " said Prospect coach Brent Pearlman, who joked that the 5-foot-9, 148-pound Ott's "playoff beard" keeps him from being confused with one of the team's ball boys.

"He's a tough little kid and he's one of those kids who has that spirit. His presence is bigger than what his production looks like."

Ott was a wide receiver and kicker on the sophomore team before having doubts about continuing to play a sport he started with in the sixth grade.

Then came the day the decision was made for him. One day after his swim with friends in Lake Michigan, his left leg swelled up significantly, as did his temperature to 104 degrees.

Ott said none of his other friends had any problems, but a day later he was in the hospital and he said it took five days to determine he had necrotizing fasciitis. He thinks the bacteria may have entered through a couple of cuts on his knee, which is a common way of contracting the disease, according to the National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation.

In cases such as Ott's, the bacteria quickly reproduces and gives off toxins and enzymes that destroy soft tissue and fascia. His mom later told him there was a 40 percent mortality rate.

Ott had two surgeries to clean out the bacteria. During the second surgery, an artery was clipped and he lost a lot of blood, which required a third surgery and a blood transfusion.

"It was a long process," Ott said. "It was hard at first because it was so painful at the time."

He was able to return to school at the start of his junior year. He started his rehab that September but was unable to try out for basketball.

But Ott wasn't ready to just give up what he loved.

"It made me really want to get back to it," Ott said. "I was out of competition and I missed competing."

Particularly on the football field. Ott decided to give it another shot in early April during his first track season.

"A lof of my buddies in football were doing track," Ott said. "We would talk every day and I made up my mind. I talked to coach Pearl and he said he'd give me a shot. I knew I had to take full advantage of it."

Ott knew it wouldn't be easy. He had to learn how to deal with the pain, particularly when he was playing in shorts with less protection than a uniform, that shot through him if he dived or fell on the left knee.

"That's the only scar that gives me problems," Ott said of the knee on his plant leg when he kicks. "It will tighten up and is still really painful."

But it was never painful enough to keep him from playing. In the Knights' dramatic 42-41 win at Elk Grove in Week 8, Ott made a big drive-extending catch on a deflected pass in the second half and kicked what proved to be the decisive extra point in overtime.

Now the pain from Ott's potentially life-altering illness rarely enters his mind on the field. Off of it, he was just accepted to Michigan State with a 4.5 grade point average and a 31 on the ACT and he plans to study business.

But there is some big business ahead for Ott and the Knights tonight.

"I just had high expectations for myself," Ott said. "I don't know if anyone else thought I'd be in the position I am right now, but I knew I'd be contributing in some form to this team."

In ways that would have been difficult for Ott or anyone else to imagine less than 18 months ago.