WKBN Sports Reporter Joe Aulisio Suffers Broken Vertebrae While Covering High School Football

By Merrill Knox 

Joe Aulisio, a sports reporter at CBS-affiliate WKBN in Youngstown, is recovering from a concussion and two broken vertebrae sustained in a collision at a football practice he was covering Wednesday.

Aulisio was reporting on a feature piece on coach Jeff Whitaker‘s last practice with the Liberty Leopards, a high school football team. According to his wife, WKBN anchor Teresa Weakley, Auliso was shooting video and looking away when four football players collided with him.

“He is lucky,” Weakley told the Tribune Chronicle. “There’s no spinal cord damage.”

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“Joe regularly produces the best television sports features in the market, one reason being that he takes viewers close to the action,” WKBN news director Gary Coursen said in a statement. “That style of shooting comes with risks, and yesterday while Joe was doing what he normally does, he got caught up in the play. All of us have Joe in our thoughts and prayers. We look forward to his full recovery and having him back in the newsroom.”

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