(8-25-26) For more than 40 years, Jim Abbott has officiated high school football.

While officiating a football scrimmage at Cincinnati Withrow High School, Abbott was caught up in a tackle and sustained a life-changing injury that led to his leg needing to be amputated above the knee.

Cincinnati Public Schools :

Cincinnati Public Schools extends our heartfelt concern and support to Jim Abbott, who was injured while officiating a football scrimmage at Withrow High School. We are grateful for Jim’s decades of dedicated service to student-athletes throughout Greater Cincinnati. Our thoughts are with Jim, his family and the entire officiating community as he continues his recovery.

From his GoFund Me page—

Jim Abbott

For those that are not aware, Jim suffered a life altering accident on August 14, 2026. Just as he has for over 30 years, he was officiating a high school football scrimmage in Cincinnati, only this time he was brought down during a play with what appeared to be a severely dislocated knee. He was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Clifton where imaging showed extensive damage to his right knee that included the artificial hardware he had placed years ago, and the severing of the main artery that supplies blood to the lower leg. They immediately took him to surgery in attempt to stabilize the knee and control bleeding. Jim began to have complications intra-operatively, including significant blood loss, that forced the surgeons to make a decision to halt surgery until he was more stable. He was placed in the Surgical ICU until later Saturday morning. Due to the combination of lack of blood flow to the muscles, and the inability to repair the veins in his leg, both surgical teams deemed it in Jim’s best interest to return to the O.R. for an above-the-knee amputation. They took Jim to surgery late Saturday morning where they successfully performed the operation. Following his stay in the hospital, he will need to complete weeks of inpatient physical therapy before returning home. The goal is for Jim to eventually be fitted for a prosthetic, followed by another round of rehabilitation.