Teamwork helps pair recover from Bluffton tragedy

Jimmy McMonagle had to identify Tim Berta in the hours that followed the accident in Atlanta. THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Coach Tom Walentowski confers with Tim Berta, his former player who now is a volunteer assistant football coach. Walentowski said it was tough to see Berta go through a grueling rehabilitation. THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY Enlarge | Photo Reprints

IDA, Mich. - Coach Tom Walentowski's heart sank and his mind raced on an early March morning in 2007 when he heard that two of his former Ida High School football players had been in a horrific bus crash.

Jimmy McMonagle escaped with bumps and bruises when the Bluffton University baseball team's charter bus plunged 30 feet off an I-75 overpass that morning. But his former Ida football teammate Tim Berta clung to life after suffering major head trauma and a ruptured spleen and fractured ribs, collarbone, and shoulder blade.

The accident near Atlanta on March 2, 2007, killed seven people, including five of the young men's teammates. Just a few years earlier, McMonagle and Berta had starred for Walentowski on the gridiron, but now the veteran coach could only pray from a distance.

"That morning Jimmy's stepdad called and told me Jimmy was in an accident, but he was OK," Walentowski recalled. "Then I was driving to work and I thought, 'What about Tim?' There was some question whether he was playing that season. So I called Jimmy's stepdad back. He said, 'Tim was on the bus, but they can't find him.' That's when I knew how bad it was and the emotions hit rock bottom."

Authorities asked McMonagle to identify Berta in the hours after the accident.

Berta was in a coma and nearly unrecognizable because of swelling. He first opened his eyes 28 days after the accident. Now he has nearly fully recovered after enduring two years of rehabilitation, essentially relearning how to walk and talk.

"It pulls on your heartstrings," Walentowski said. "It was terrible to see them go through that physically and mentally."

Today, just 30 months later, Walentowski's former students have joined him on the sidelines as assistant coaches. Berta is coaching the wide receivers - the position he played at Bluffton for four seasons. McMonagle is working with Ida's running backs and defensive line for the third straight season.

Berta, who underwent months of grueling rehab, speaks concisely and articulately, but carefully and at a measured pace because of the effects of the brain injury.

"If a player misses a block I don't become enraged or bully them, it's just another opportunity for them to make another play," Berta said. "It's not the end of the world. Worse things can happen. [The accident] has helped me keep things in perspective."

McMonagle said he and Berta grew up playing sports together. That continued through high school and college, where they played on the Bluffton baseball team.

"It's been great," McMonagle said. "We've always been on the same team. He brings a lot to our coaching staff."

McMonagle said he still is in awe of Berta's strength and resolve.

"He's an inspiration to everybody," McMonagle said. "It's great to see how far he has come and how far he will keep going. He has beaten all the odds. It's amazing."

Berta, who played baseball and football at Bluffton, said he phoned Walentowski this summer and asked if it would be possible to help the team out.

"After being away from it as long as I was, it was something I was missing," Berta said. "The things that bring back the memories are the smell of the grass and the smash of the shoulder pads. That makes me happy because I love the game."

McMonagle acknowledged that his players may not know the details of their coaches' accident and recovery.

"High school kids are high school kids," he said.

But he believes he is passing on to the young athletes all that he's learned through the tragedy.

"It's something I don't go a day without thinking about," he said. "There is still always something that happens that it comes up. It doesn't seem that long ago."

Berta said he has not spoken to his young players specifically about the accident and the effect it had on his life.

"It's kind of an ongoing thing. I have not spoken to them as a team," Berta said.

Walentowski said his players know Berta's story.

"They don't need him to stand there and talk about it," Walentowski said. "Tim is good for us with all the things he represents. It's about how you fight and never give up and take the cards that are dealt to you and do the best you can. Tim has actually lived that. He is an inspiration in that way."

Berta is enrolled in one class at Lourdes College. He hopes that one day he can fulfill his dream of becoming a nurse.

"I planned it all along," he said. "I had to applied [to Lourdes] before the wreck. The day after the wreck the letter of acceptance came in the mail."

His experiences in various hospitals for recovery and rehabilitation only strengthened his aspirations.

"Through this whole experience I have seen, firsthand, the reasons why I want to be a nurse," Berta said. "I know the good things … and the bad things. I have first-hand knowledge."

McMonagle, who is a substitute teacher, also runs a family apple farm called Kreps Apple Barn in LaSalle, Mich.

"When I graduated, Coach [Walentowski] said he had a coaching position for me whenever if I wanted it," McMonagle said. "I went to college for health and physical education because I enjoy being around sports. I love to coach. I hope to move up in the coaching ranks."

McMonagle, who played linebacker and guard for Walentowski, was an all-league performer in high school. But after graduating in 2004 he decided to focus on baseball in college.

Berta, a 2003 Ida grad, played wide receiver and defensive back for Walentowski. His senior year, Berta led Ida in receptions and interceptions and earned first-team all-league honors. He also punted for the Bluestreaks. Berta also started on the basketball and baseball teams.

"Tim was more on the quiet side. He was the type of leader that did it by example," Walentowski said.

The coach said his young pupil also was competitive and paid attention to detail.

"Tim was one of those kids when you went over a team's tendencies, he always paid closer attention," Walentowski said. "He was physically and mentally prepared. He turned into a coach on the field."

Walentowski said Berta has picked up on the offense. He said it helps Berta's rehab as well because it gives him a physical workout and routine.

"He takes care of equipment and helps with the water jugs," Walentowski said. "It keeps him active and it's something he loves to do."

Berta said he has thought about asking to help out the baseball team this spring.

"Maybe I will. As long as I don't have to take a bus to Florida," he said.

Berta cited his Christian faith as the key to his recovery. He quoted the Bible verse Philippians 4:13.

"It says, 'I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.' It doesn't say I can do most things, or I can do things that aren't too hard," Berta said with conviction. "It says I can do all things."

He said the greatest gift was discovering the unconditional kindness that surrounded him.

"What I've seen a lot from this is the true goodness of my friends and family and just the goodness of people," he said.

Berta, who was a Bluffton senior and a student assistant coach at the time of the accident, graduated in 2009. He officially completed his rehab in November of 2009.

"They said that there was really nothing else that will make me any better," he said. "I met all the goals they set for me. But I'm still improving. I'm still doing stuff at home and staying active."

He said his main physical impediment is lifting objects with his left arm. But he is quick to point out that he now can drive on his own. Berta said people who have not seen him for a while are astonished at his progress.

"I get that a lot from people," he said. "They're always surprised how far I've come."

As for McMonagle, he said the support system among his teammates and fellow crash survivors enabled him to come to grips with the aftereffects.

"I was lucky to be a junior," he said. "It was good for us to have an extra year of school there. We really got to spend time together as a team and we worked through it together. If anyone had problems we were there for each other."

McMonagle said it was "an eye-opening experience."

"God puts everyone on earth for a reason," he said. "Those five guys and the bus driver and his wife did not make it through it, but obviously there is a reason why we survived."

During his recovery, Berta was a parade marshal at the Monroe County Fair, has thrown out the first pitch at a Mud Hens game, and starred in a TV commercial. He also received a courage award and was named an honorary board member of the National Football Foundation. He also gives motivational speeches.

"I enjoy doing it because I just think that people need to hear that when things aren't going your way, you can take a horrible situation and make the best of it," he said.

Two seasons ago, Ida posted a 6-3 record and made the playoffs in McMonagle's first year as a coach. The Bluestreaks finished 4-5 last year.

In this year's season opener on Aug. 27, the team pulled out a dramatic 29-28 victory in overtime against Flat Rock. The team went for two points instead of settling for a tie in the first overtime.

"The coaches decided to win or lose it on that play and went for two," McMonagle said. "That sure was exciting. But we don't like to have them that close."

Berta said the win did him "a lot of good."

"But I was happy for the players and I was proud because they won it," he said.

Berta said he still is not totally familiar with the offense Ida runs.

"But I'm coming along," he said. "I think that God has given me a gift and that gift is looking at the whole picture and putting things in perspective."

Walentowski and his former players could play a key role in leading Ida to its first Lenawee County Athletic Association title in more than a decade.

"There are a lot of good things going on for both of those young men," Walentowski said.

Contact Mark Monroe at:

mmonroe@theblade.com

or 419-724-6354.

41.91019 -83.57353

Tim Berta watches practice at Ida High School, his alma mater. In 2007, he barely survived the crash of a bus carrying the Bluffton baseball team. THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Coach Tom Walentowski's heart sank and his mind raced on an early March morning in 2007 when he heard that two of his former Ida High School football players had been in a horrific bus crash.