Tim Berta, survivor of the Bluffton University baseball bus accident in 2007, recently landed a job as assistant baseball coach of Lourdes College, Sylvania, Ohio. The college is launching a baseball team for the first time and will play its inaugural season in 2012. This story is about Berta's joining the school as a coach.
Head coach Andy Ham has been busy this winter recruiting for the inaugural Lourdes College, Sylvania, Ohio, Gray Wolves' baseball team. To date, he has secured 11 team members and three assistant coaches.
"Everything is coming together and the excitement is building," said Coach Ham. "My goal is to have 30 players signed by this fall and to have the 2012 inaugural season schedule solidified."
"Over the next several months, I will continue to share the enthusiasm of Lourdes baseball with prospective student athletes and their parents. In March, we will be traveling to Puerto Rico to meet with individuals who have the desire and drive to play ball in the States. Our players and assistant coaches are energized and ready to kick-off our first season of play," he said.
Bluffton University graduate Tim Berta was named one of the assistant coaches of the baseball program. Tim is the team's bench coach and will help with the lineup and defense, assist with conditioning and discipline conditioning. "My role will be similar to an Assistant Director of Operations like Don Zimmer," said Berta.
A pre-nursing major, he obtained a bachelor's degree in biology in 2007 from Bluffton University. While attending Bluffton, he was a two-sport athlete, playing football and baseball. He played in 15 games for the football team where he compiled a total of eight catches for 76 yards and one touchdown.
He was a catcher on the baseball team his first two years, but decided to focus on football and his studies his final two years. Berta stayed on with the baseball team as an assistant coach.
He was one of the survivors of the Bluffton University bus crash on March 2, 2007, while the team was on their way to spring training in Florida. After a lengthy recovery, Berta returned to Bluffton, completed his degree and has since decided to pursue nursing.
James Grandey, the Bluffton University head baseball coach, refers to Berta as, "One of the strongest and toughest people I have ever met. His positive personality is infectious and the Lourdes baseball program will certainly benefit. I am extremely proud of Tim and the efforts he has made to recover from the injuries he sustained. He is an inspiration to those of us who have known him and everyone he comes in contact with and many people in this region and around the nation."
It was during a conversation with Roseanne Gill-Jacobson, Vice President for Student Life and Athletic Director at Lourdes College, that Berta was introduced to Coach Ham. He says the two were "instant friends and are now BFFs on Facebook."
In his spare time, Berta helps coach his alma mater's baseball team, the Ida High School (Michigan) Blue Streaks, where he graduated eighth in his class and played three sports - baseball, basketball and football.
He learned first-hand about Lourdes from his sister, Trisha, who graduated in 2010 with her bachelor's degree in nursing. Not only does nursing run in the family, so does the family's love of sports. Berta's sister, Tonya, plays centerfield for Siena Heights' softball team.
When it's time for the team to travel to Florida for spring training, Coach Ham has assured Berta that he will travel by airplane, not by bus. As Coach Ham said, it was Tim's only caveat to joining the team and "we are thrilled to have him on board."
