The full inside story of newsgal’s terror trip as ANN CURRY is lucky the Boy Scouts live up to their motto, “Be prepared.”
The 57-year-old NBC newswoman was hiking with her husband, Brian Ross, and their 19-year-old son, Walker, on Harriman State Park’s Bear Mountain, 50 miles north of New York City, last month when she fell on a jagged rock and broke her ankle. That’s when the Boy Scouts swooped in and saved the day!
While her frantic family went to summon help, Scout Troop 368 from Berkeley Heights, N.J., found the injured star on the side of a trail and asked if she was OK. When Ann replied “no,” the scouts immediately sprang into action.
Gathering sticks they found in the woods, they “splinted up her leg perfectly,” said Scout Master Rick Jurgens.
He added that his troop then fashioned a makeshift stretcher out of two long logs and a piece of tarp to navigate the tricky descent down the mountain, where Brian and Walker were waiting in the family’s SUV.
To say Ann was impressed is an understatement.
“Ann is a global journalist who has traveled to battlefields and hotspots all around the world in her career,” said a friend. “She couldn’t believe this group of teenage boys found her, and in minutes, rescued her and gave her all the medical attention she needed at the time.
“It was as impressive as anything she has ever seen as a reporter…they are her heroes.”
Ann, who’s still recovering, later called Jurgens to say she was “mesmerized that a bunch of 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds came together and got her down the mountain,” he said. The former “Today” show co-host also wrote thank you letters to each one of her young rescuers.
Incredibly, the teens had no idea they were helping someone famous.
One of the scouts said: “We were just doing what Boy Scouts do.”
