Betts, David (1987-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Mar 12 p. 1, 11

Birth date: 1987

text of obituary:

Six die in Bluffton University team bus crash

Four students killed in accident during baseball squad's spring break trip

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

BLUFFTON, Ohio — In the chaos of the moments after the predawn crash, members of the Bluffton University baseball team tried to do the impossible: Lift their toppled bus from the shattered bodies of their teammates.

"We had guys stuck under the bus — legs, arms — and we had guys trying to pick the bus up," shortstop Ryan Baightel, 21 told the Toledo Blade newspaper.

The crash occurred around 5:30 a.m. March 2, when a chartered bus carrying the Bluffton Beavers men's baseball team plunged 30 feet from an overpass onto Interstate 75 near downtown Atlanta. The team was on its way to play Eastern Mennonite University at Sarasota, Fla., before playing several more games in a spring break tournament at Gainesville, Fla.

Killed were bus driver Jerome Niemeyer, 65, of Columbus Grove and his wife, Jean, 61; and Bluffton players Tyler Williams, 19, of Lima; Cody Holp, 19, of Arcanum; David Betts, 20, of Bryan, a member of Zion Mennonite Church in Archbold; and Scott Harmon, 19, of Lima.

Nearly a dozen of the 35 people on the bus were seriously injured in the crash, including Bluffton coach James Grandey, 29, who underwent facial surgery at Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital.

The bus had left Bluffton the previous night. Authorities said the charter, operated by Executive Coach Luxury Travel in Ottawa, plunged from the overpass after the driver apparently mistook an exit ramp for a regular lane.

In the predawn darkness, the bus, traveling at 60 mph, collided with a three-foot-high concrete barrier and tore through a fence before hitting the interstate 30 feet below.

The bus came to rest on the driver's side, spilling diesel fuel and scattering luggage and sports equipment in the road.

Four Bluffton players reportedly were thrown from the bus while it was still on the overpass.

"Guys were actually off the bus but came back," injured Bluffton player A. J. Ramthun told the Blade of the scene after the crash. "With three inches of diesel fuel running off onto the highway that we had to crawl through and walk through to get to safety, and guys were still running back in trying to help. . . . They were trying to get back to them, trying to lift the bus the bus off of them."

As news of the crash spread and the injured were taken to several Atlanta medical center — including Grady Memorial Hospital, the city's trauma cent — members of the Atlanta Mennonite community began to respond.

At Grady hospital, chaplain Susan Gascho, a former pastor at Atlanta Mennonite Fellowship, worked intensively with the crash survivors and their families.

On March 4, some of the Bluffton players and families of the crash victims returned to Ohio, where a tearful welcome awaited them, aboard a free Air-Tran flight to Toledo's Express Airport. AirTran offered free plane tickets between Ohio and Atlanta for those affected by the tragedy.

Also on the plane March 4 were caskets carrying the bodies of Betts and Williams, as well as several members of Betts' family.

"We're coming home, and he's coming home," Betts' sister, Sarah, 23, told the Toledo newspaper.

Bluffton President James Harder also was on the flight. On March 2, Harder spoke during a nationally televised news conference in Founders Hall before leaving for Atlanta.

At the airport March 4, Harder said of the Bluffton players: "I think they came together as a team in ways we couldn't have imagined going down there. They became better individuals because of that."

In Atlanta, Bluffton campus pastor Stephen "Tig" Intagliata spent the night of March 4 in a hospital where he was keeping watch with families of some of the crash victims.

Intagliata said six who were on the bus were still hospitalized with varying degrees of injury.

"We've been back and forth to the different hospitals, just being there for the families," Intagliata said March 5. "They're being surrounded by offers of help, food, gifts, clothing."

Intagliata said he had been working with Atlanta churches and other groups to keep a steady source of counseling, assistance, lodging and other resources available to the families of the injured in the weeks to come.

A fund has been established at Bluffton's Citizens National Bank to help the baseball players involved in the crash and their families.

Contributions can be made by check payable to Bluffton University and mailed to Citizens National Bank, 102 S. Main Street, Bluffton, OH 45817. Donors should write "Baseball Team" on the check's memo line. Credit card contributions can be made by calling 419-358-3324.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Mar 12 p. 1, 11

text of obituary:

'Complete life' ended too soon

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

BRYAN, OHIO — To his father, David Betts still resides somewhere in life's fragile present tense.

It would almost seem the 20-year-old Bluffton University baseball player, one of six people killed in the March 2 crash of the team's bus in Atlanta, was still helping his father find some good to snatch from all the tragedy.

"We feel his presence every moment of every day," John Betts said March 6, the same day the family planned David's funeral. Betts is a mental health administrator in Toledo and believes his son would have made a good counselor someday, or perhaps a pastor.

"My issue is that David was so good that something good will come frm this," Betts said. "David is not on this Earth, but I am, and I can work through God to make something good come."

David Betts, who played second base for Bluffton, umpired a youth league during the summer and was an accomplished trombonist in Bluffton's jazz band, lived what his pastor, Ron Guengerich of Zion Mennonite Church in Archbold, called a "complete life."

"David was a fairly quiet but intense person," Guengerich said march 6. "I would say David lived a good balance of Body, mind and spirit. . . . He was a very compassionate, well-liked kid."

He also was extremely competitive, going several extra miles when it came to athletic training.

"You never outworked David," his father recalled.

His spot on Bluffton's varsity squad was hard-won. In the team's season opener against Eastern Mennonite University, which would have been played in Sarasota, Fla., Betts would have made his first start — a surprise he had planned to spring on his family when they came to see him play.

"He was going to surprise his dad and granddad when they came down," John Betts said.

Instead, John Betts sand his father were on their way from OHio to Florida when they heard the news of the bus crash in the Charlotte, N. C. airport.

David Betts comes from a family with long ties to the Bluffton community.

His maternal great-grandfather, Lloyd Ramseyer, nicknames in college as "Tank" for his football prowess, was Bluffton University's president from 1938 to 1959. His mother Joy's parents, Robert and Alice Ruth Ramseyer, members of First Mennonite Church in Bluffton, were General Conference Mennonite Church missionaries in Japan. Betts' parents also are Bluffton grads, and his older sister, Sarah, still holds several Bluffton softball records.

John Betts believes a law requiring seat belts on tour buses like the one Bluffton chartered could have saved his son's life and those of the other players who died.

When the crash occurred, Betts said, David was asleep in a passenger-side aisle seat near the other player who died. He believes if seat belts had been required, David would have been wearing one and would be alive.

Changing this law, Betts said, is at least part of the good he hopes to bring from his son's death.

This definitely needs to be publicized," Betts said.

For now, though, Betts and his family know they have a time of hard grief ahead of the,. David's funeral was scheduled for March 9 at Bryan High School, where a big crowd was expected.

"What's helped is . . . the faith we have in god," Betts said. "We know where David is, because he was such a good boy."

Later, Betts said, he wants to explore getting the seat-belt law amended, if only so someone else doesn't have to experience the same kind of loss his family has.

"I cannot begin to tell you how much we're going to miss him," he said.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Mar 19 p. 1, 6

text of obituary:

5th player dies in Atlanta; funeral services held for 7

By Mennonite Weekly Review staff

BLUFFTON, Ohio — The final funeral service for a victim of the March 2 bus crash that claimed the lives of five Bluffton University baseball players and two others was held March 16. The seven died after a chartered bus carrying the Bluffton team to Sarasota, Fla., ran off an overpass onto Interstate 75 near downtown Atlanta.

Funeral services for Bluffton pitcher Zachary Arend, 18, who died from his injuries March 9 in an Atlanta hospital, were held at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Paulding.

Funerals were also held:

■ March 9 for Bluffton second baseman David Betts, 20, at Bryan High School.

■ March 8 for Bluffton player Tyler Williams, 19, at Philippian Missionary Baptist Church in Lima.

■ March 8 for Bluffton player Cody Holp, 19, at Lewisburg United Methodist Church.

■ March 7 for Bluffton third baseman Scott Harmon, 19, at the Elida High School Fieldhouse.

■ March 7 for bus driver Jerry Niemeyer and his wife, Jean, at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Columbus Grove.

Some injured players who initially were hospitalized have gone home.

Bluffton player Kyle King, 20, of Dover, returned home with his parents after being released from Atlanta Medical Center on March 12. King, a center fielder, earlier underwent surgery on his right hand.

"Kyle is in good spirits and is feeling well," a statement from King's family read. "Thank you, Atlanta community, for all your prayers, support and visits. We felt your love. You embraced us as your own family."

Another Bluffton player, William Grandlinard of Berne, Ind., was released from Grady Memorial Hospital on March 11.

Bluffton student-coach Tim Berta of Ida, Mich, remained in critical condition March 12 at Grady Hospital, though a family member said he was making a "miraculous recovery" and might be sent home soon.

In news conferences and interviews, Bluffton President James M. Harder and other university officials repeatedly thanked people from around the world who are praying for the university community and offering assistance after the tragedy.

Harder praised Atlanta officials and offered thanks to Atlanta Mennonite who reached out immediately after the crash and continued to provide ongoing help. Bluffton is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA, which has two congregations with about 200 members in Atlanta.

"The members of the Mennonite congregations in Atlanta responded quickly and compassionately to help the families of those hospitalized," Bluffton campus pastor Stephen "Tig" Intagliata said. "The families [of the crash victims] have commented on how touched they are by the way that Christina faith is being lived out through acts of concrete love and service to them."

Bluffton University contributed to this report.

---

Note: Other articles about the bus crash or memorial services which do not give biographical information about the victims:

Mennonite Weekly Review 2007 Mar 12 p. 11: "President: a 'resilient community'" by Fred Steiner [memorial service scheduled for March 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Founders Hall at Bluffton Univerity]

Mennonite Weekly Review 2007 Mar 12 p. 11: "Mourning, support from near and far" by Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review 2007 Mar 19 p. 1, 6: "Bluffton University honors lives lost in crash" by Heidi Martin

Mennonite Weekly Review 2007 Mar 19 p. 6: "Students share sorrow, support online" by Robert Stutzman

Mennonite Weekly Review 2007 May 7 p. 1, 7: "Teammates remembered" by Jill A. Duling