For The Record

Submit birth, marriage and obituary records online.

Personal Ads

Meet new friends today!

Advertising

Put your message in front of 33,000 readers.

PDF documents on this site require the free Adobe Reader:

Get Adobe Reader

2008-03-18 issue:

Year later, Bluffton remembers tragedy

Bluffton, Eastern Mennonite University play game missed after bus accident.

by Robin Bowlus

Print Article

One year ago, the Bluffton (Ohio) University baseball team experienced an accident that would forever change them. On March 2, the team, supported by a crowd of 250, played the baseball game in Sarasota, Fla., they never got a chance to play last March—against Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va.



The Bluffton (Ohio) University baseball team prays before the March 2 game in Sarasota, Fla., against Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va. Photo by Kelli Cardinal/The Lima News.

“These two teams of fine student-athletes and coaches share a common history,” said James Harder, Bluffton president, in his pregame comments.

“They were to play each other on this same field one year ago today. But the game never occurred due to the Bluffton team’s bus accident early that morning. Now, exactly one year later, this first game of Bluffton’s 2008 season is a game full of hope and new beginnings.”

On March 2, 2007, the Bluffton Beavers baseball team was traveling to Sarasota when its charter bus fell off an overpass in Atlanta, killing four student athletes, the bus driver and the bus driver’s wife, and injuring 28 others. A fifth student athlete died one week later.

The game between the Beavers and the Royals one year later ended in a 4-3 Royals victory.

“In so many ways, this game has deep meaning and significance,” said Harder. “It’s a game played in the presence of many … who have come to show their support. It’s also a game played in the memory of five from the Bluffton team—Zachary Arend, David Betts, Scott Harmon, Cody Holp and Tyler Williams—whom we will always hold close to our hearts.”

The Beavers spent the remainder of the week in Fort Myers, Fla. for the Gene Cusic Classic.

“We’re going to spend our week here doing what we came down here to do: play baseball,” said James Grandey, Bluffton’s head coach. “We knew coming down here that we’d have a lot of emotions with us, but that’s to be expected. The players are focused on doing what they can, and right now, that means playing baseball.”

On March 12, the Bluffton campus and community held a service of remembrance with a private memorial beforehand to dedicate the “Circle of Remembrance,” one of the components of the lasting campus memorial.

The “Circle of Remembrance” is composed of a circular walkway on a low rise adjacent to shallow right field, with a limestone-capped, brick semicircular wall, benches and landscaping that provides an area for gathering and reflection. It also features a centerpiece sculpture, “Touching Home,” by Gregg Luginbuhl, Bluffton faculty-artist, that connects symbolically and visually with home plate on the adjacent Memorial Field.

The two other components include naming the baseball diamond Bluffton University Memorial Field and enhancements to the field.

The total memorial project cost will be more than $350,000. Bluffton University received $208,000 in gifts designated for the memorial project. The construction and development companies contributed $90,000 in materials and services. Bluffton will cover the additional $52,000 costs.

Weather permitting, the Beavers will open on their home field on March 18 versus Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio.

By Robin Bowlus of Bluffton University

Reader Comments

Add Comments