Williams, Tyler (1988-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Mar 12 p. 1

Birth date: 1988

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.