March marked the five-year anniversary of the Bluffton bus crash. The driver, his wife, and five members of the Bluffton baseball team lost their lives that day.
Among the survivors, Tim Berta went on to graduate from Bluffton and is now an assistant baseball coach at Lourdes University.
Midwestern born and baseball bred, Berta fell in love with the game at an early age. He's now behind the plate, a stance he has only been in twice since March 2, 2007.
Fiver years later, the Bluffton graduate still can't remember that day, yet he can't seem to forget.
"I don't remember getting on the bus," he says. "I don't remember the trip down through Ohio, through Kentucky, through Tennessee. I don't remember any of that. I don't remember the accident. I don't remember being thrown around. I don't remember being thrown out of the bus 20 feet above the freeway. I don't remember Atlanta at all."
"I had no idea anybody died, and I asked them," Berta remembers. "I didn't know people died, and they told me and that kind of made me depressed."
"I felt deep, deep sorrow and regret for the families of the boys who died," he says. "As I learned later, by all science, by all textbooks, I should have died too."
For a few years following the accident, Berta says he was angry. The families of those killed quickly became his motivation to move forward.
"They'd love to have their sons back in a wheelchair permanently," he says. "They'd love to have them back not able to move anything. They'd love to have them back doing anything they can. So if I can do something, why don't I go after it."
After the accident, Berta's parents knew the road to recovery wasn't going to be easy. Weeks turned into months, months into years.
Even now, Berta says his parents' strength is staggering.
"I can't imagine knowing there's a 50% chance when you see your son being wheeled into surgery, he could die. The strength they have is unreal," he says.
Academically driven and a diehard competitor, Berta's abilities are now limited. Yet he took the diamond again this fall, not as a player, but as an assistant coach at Lourdes University.
"Lourdes has given me that second chance to be around the game I love and be around academics and pursue my academic goals, and I am eternally grateful for that," he says.
Even though the just-ended season wasn't as they hoped, Berta's presence kept the Gray Wolves inspired.
"I'm glad people see me that way, and, if they see me that way and it helps them get through their day, then I'm doing my job," he says.
Berta is hopeful that he will get the chance to speak to others about his life-changing accident, and, when he gets that chance, he won't have to think twice about what he would say.
"Don't worry about the odds of doing it. If 5,000 people before you have not done what you're trying to do, that does not mean you cannot do it yourself," he says. "I love the game of baseball, and love endured all things."
Doctors told Berta during his recovery that he wouldn't be able to walk or even talk again. He's now been accepted into graduate school at Lourdes University and is excited to get started.
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