Story behind Grayson Pope's recovery from accident, Tennessee student film
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ATHENS − The title sequence had barely passed when a voice emerged from the back of the theater, cutting through a brief moment of stillness.
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“I’m already crying!”
These were just the opening moments of the 28-minute film "42 Days: The Grayson Pope Story," which was shown to an audience dressed in orange at the Athens Movie Palace on June 18. The film, produced by Tennessee students Alexie Cowan and Luke Attal, details Grayson Pope’s recovery from an accident that nearly cost him his life and upended his plans to play for Tennessee baseball.
Pope, a native Tennessean who grew up just outside of Birmingham, Alabama, committed to play for the Vols as an outfielder in the class of 2025 just weeks before the accident.
On June 6, 2023, Pope was playing golf with friends when pop-up storm blew down an oak tree that landed on Pope’s golf cart. He suffered life-threatening brain trauma that caused brain bleeds, swelling and damage to his brain stem.
There were moments when doctors weren’t sure he was going to make it. He spent 42 days at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, initially in a coma unable to breathe on his own.
But Pope fought and became more alert and responsive. Doctors used familiar stimuli to engage his senses during his recovery, like running his fingers over the seams of a baseball and having him smell pine tar.
He eventually was discharged from UAB and transferred to the Shepherd Center rehabilitation center in Atlanta, where he relearned how to walk, talk and eat. As Pope started to regain his independence, he eyed a return to the game he loved.
Pope returned to the baseball diamond for his senior night in high school and was able to walk to first base after being intentionally walked. Then it came time for college.
Pope wouldn’t be able to play for Tennessee, but coaches Tony Vitello and Josh Elander had stayed in contact with him throughout his recovery and were committed to honoring his scholarship. He spent his freshman year in 2026 with the team.
“We don’t take an offer or recruiting anybody lightly,” Elander said in the film. “If we’re going to invite you into the family, we wanted it to be a match.”
The documentary, which is available to watch on YouTube, first premiered on May 6 with a screening on UT’s campus.
“That was their only day off (that week) and I would say almost the whole baseball team was there,” said Cowan, who graduated from UT in May. “Just hearing them rave in the interviews about him and how awesome a fit he was to the team was really inspiring to see.”
Pope couldn’t make this showing because he had doctor’s appointments, but before the film he appeared on the screen wearing a Tennessee baseball shirt in a prerecorded video thanking the audience for coming.
The film was particularly moving for some in the audience, like Marsha Masengil of nearby Englewood. Her son Jeremy was in a car accident about two decades ago that required a similar recovery to Pope and also included time at the Shepherd Center. She could see him in Pope, especially in scenes when tubes and monitors surrounded him in the hospital.
She also saw another link – their positive spirit and determination to recover.
“They have their stories. Everybody has their story,” Masengil said. “Nobody’s story is perfect, but that’s just the way it is. Things sometimes happen to the best.”
Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; X: @EmmettSiegel_
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Grayson Pope's journey in Tennessee student film about accident, recovery