Gavin Johnson learned well before taking one of his favorite classes, human anatomy and physiology, the definition of the distal phalanx of the third digit of the right hand.
The Centennial junior athlete didn't know the medical term for what he had — the tip of his right middle finger — until it was gone, a casualty of a Fourth of July fireworks experiment in 2024.
Johnson and some friends and family were having a "firecracker war" during a neigborhood gathering just before dusk that day, trying to figure out ways to make the explosives "go faster, straight up in the sky and blow up."
"We ended up cutting one of the wicks too short," said Johnson, extending his right hand for closer inspection while sitting on a bench after a recent football practice. "And it ended up being the one in my hand."
