Montville - When James Quinn was at his lowest, after he broke his neck playing high school football in 1991 and after the death of his older brother Kevin in 1994, he would always think of the words of his grandmother, Dorothy Long, whom he affectionately called "Bam."

"For years she would say to me, 'Why don't you go back to school,'" Quinn said. "One day I started thinking about it."

Quinn, a 1992 graduate of Montville High School, suffered a teardrop fracture of his C5 vertebrae in the fall of his senior year. It was Saturday, Sept. 21, 2001, the day a Morgan of Clinton running back came across the middle and Quinn, a linebacker, put his head down and tried to make a tackle.

The injury ended Quinn's football career.

It was a miracle, Jamie Quinn - as he was known then by his friends - was told, that he was still able to walk after that. It was a miracle that in getting up off the field and walking to the sideline and later hitting the party circuit with his friends that night he didn't cause more severe harm.

He didn't go to the hospital until Monday, when, accompanied by his grandmother, Quinn had an X-ray taken at Flanders Health Center in East Lyme, revealing the fracture.

Those were the most frightening moments, Quinn said, when doctors came rushing into the room, holding his head in place, and when he was transported to Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London to await surgery.

Still, it took Quinn time to be grateful for the fact he had his health and to forget he was supposed to be on the football field with the friends he played alongside since moving to the area when he was 10. He was recruited to play football in college and thought he had four more seasons after leaving Montville to come up with a life plan.

The only thing he could think of was, "Now what?"

"I'm much more appreciative now of the fact I came out of the whole thing walking," Quinn said. "I had a lot of self-pity because of (the injury). It's tough to process when you're 18-19 years old. It's tough to know, 'That's not a black cloud following me around. That's life.'

"It's how you deal with it. You have to look at it honestly."

Quinn, a Norwich resident, is now 36 years old, clad in a green plaid shirt and jeans at lunch recently on a break from his job as the archeological field supervisor for the Mohegan Tribe. He graduated from UConn with a degree in anthropology in December, 2006, and began work for the tribe in January, 2007.

His grandparents, "Bam" and Jim, with whom he lived in Oakdale while in high school, both died before he graduated from college, but they did know of his decision to go back to school.

"Every time I was close to the edge, I remember what they did for me," Quinn said. "I was letting them down completely, wasting my life. Now I'm really trying to make them proud."

Things didn't change all that much for Quinn after his injury. He was immediately fitted with a halo, a screw inserted on each side of his head to hold the contraption in place. He underwent surgery to replace the broken vertebrae with a bone taken from his hip, then wore a soft neck brace for about two months afterward.

And Quinn had support in the form of his friends and family, with gatherings of 20-30 people each night at the hospital.

His best friend on the team, A.J. Dart, wore Quinn's No. 7 as a show of support on the night of his surgery. Meanwhile, Montville coach Mike Emery, then a math teacher at the school, came to Quinn's home to tutor him until he could return to school and letters of kindness poured in from across the Eastern Connecticut Conference (attempts to reach Emery were unsuccessful).

"Mr. Buoncore was sending me letters," he said of Jim Buonocore Sr., then the New London coach.

It's just that when it was time for college, everyone else at Montville seemed to be beginning the next phase of their lives. Quinn didn't know what to do. Following a friend, he enrolled at Eastern Connecticut State University and promptly flunked out by the third semester.

He began bartending, waiting tables, living what he calls "fast."

"I was living like any other normal 20-year-old, but now I know it was a little bit more than that," Quinn said. "It was kind of a downward spiral."

It was then that Quinn's brother Kevin, his protector as a young boy, was killed in a car accident at the age of 25. Any progress Quinn made in overcoming his injury was lost.

Quinn said that lifestyle began to grow tiresome, though, and there was always his grandmother to remind him to give school another try. Quinn is a member of the Mohegan Tribe on his mother Susan's side of the family and after the tribe gained federal recognition in 1994 it began providing scholarships to its members who wished to pursue higher education.

First, Quinn enrolled at UConn's Avery Point campus in Groton. Then he enrolled in the Mohegan Archaeological Field School, a six-week summer course designed for students to introduce themselves to archeology through the investigation of present and former tribal lands.

"I fell in love with it," said Quinn, who finally had his major.

His job is to review tribal land before any major construction projects and Quinn is more than grateful to the Mohegan Tribe for his education and employment.

"I like being able to put the education back in the tribe," he said. "It's done so much for me. There's a reason I was able to turn things around."

For the record, Quinn has no regrets.

He appears at peace now, spending time with brothers Troy, Eddie and Patrick, a minor league pitcher in the Cincinnati Reds' organization whom the other three paid a visit at spring training in Arizona recently with their father, Kevin.

He reads books, historical and philosophical, with occasional "garbage crime novels" thrown in. He runs a little and does sit-ups and pushups every day to stay in shape, adding only about 15 pounds to his 6-foot-2 frame since high school.

"It's all part of who I am," Quinn said, reflecting on his past. "It's a different part of my life. … I still have my bumps in the road like anyone, but I'm headed in the right direction. I feel good about myself. I feel like I'm doing something positive.

"It's been kind of a rollercoaster, but the last few years I've kind of grown into myself."

v.fulkerson@theday.com