Star-struck

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This article was published 06/03/2021 (1853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He’s forged a career out of overcoming adversity, but even Tiger Woods may find this latest mountain too steep to climb.

The sports world held its breath on Feb. 23 when the world’s most famous golfer was rushed to hospital after the SUV he was driving hit a median and crossed over into oncoming traffic, rolling several times.

The 45-year-old, frequently injured golf legend was believed to have been travelling at a high rate of speed before the crash near Los Angeles, authorities said. There were no skid marks or other indications of braking, according to the sheriff.

Woods sustained injuries to his right leg that required a rod, screws, pins and a surgical release of the muscle covering — which surgeons believed would save his leg from amputation.

The single-car crash is believed to have been an accident, but authorities will pull the black-box event recorder from the vehicle to make that determination.

Fans and fellow players are rooting for his return to golf glory, but even after emergency surgery his path to recovery is long and uncertain. He’s not the first to trod that path, as we see from today’s inspiring list of Five Famous Athletes Injured in Horrific Vehicular Crashes:

5) The injured athlete: Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger

The terrifying crash: On June 12, 2006, Big Ben was left unrecognizable after the young quarterback sustained serious injuries in a motorcycle crash in which he was not wearing a helmet.

The crash occurred just months after Roethlisberger, at the age of 23, in only his second professional season, became the youngest quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl championship, a 21–10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Helmetless, he was thrown from the motorcycle onto a car’s windshield before hitting the ground head-first. Roethlisberger went through seven hours of surgery to repair multiple facial fractures, a broken jaw and a 22-centimetre-long laceration to the back of his head. He was between radio interviews on his 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa — a large, racing-style bike — and heading toward an intersection on the edge of downtown.

A Chrysler New Yorker travelling in the opposite direction took a left turn and collided with the motorcycle, and Roethlisberger was thrown, police said at the time. “He wasn’t moving and I was afraid that he had died…. He wasn’t really speaking. He seemed dazed but he was resisting the effort to make him stay down,” witness Sandra Ford recalled. Many were shocked by his reason for not wearing a helmet. “You know, it’s one of those things that sometimes I did wear a helmet and sometimes I didn’t,” Roethlisberger said.

“Actually, that morning I was on my way to work out, and I had just gotten my bike all custom done. It was painted up, and it was really nice. And I was supposed to take my helmet that day with me to take it to get it painted to match the bike so I could wear it all the time when I rode that bike. And I totally forgot it that day,” he said. Amazingly, he has led his team to two more Super Bowls, winning one.

 

4) The injured athlete: Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Kendrick Norton Jr.

The terrifying crash: At 22, Kendrick Norton was living the good life, but that all changed in the blink of an eye in the early morning of July 4, 2019. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Norton was on a northbound expressway when he made a sudden turn in an effort to get into a lane that was heading toward a southbound ramp.

As he made the turn, Norton’s Ford F-250 pickup hit a Maserati, which caused his truck to hit a concrete barrier before flipping over. According to ESPN.com, Norton yelled, “Hold on,” to girlfriend Kira Williams, who remembers the truck spinning around multiple times before making contact with the barrier and flipping on its roof.

Norton’s left arm was completely severed in the accident. Although the driver of the Maserati escaped unharmed, paramedics had to amputate Norton’s left arm at the scene before taking him to hospital. Norton estimates he lost almost half of the blood in his body on the day his NFL career ended. As Norton was raced to hospital, Williams remained at the scene waiting for a tow truck to lift up their flipped truck so she could secure Norton’s severed left arm that lay underneath with the hope it could be reattached.

Ultimately, the arm was crushed and nerves were damaged beyond repair. “When we were in the car and I was laying… And I tried to do a push-up to, you know, lift myself off the ground. I fell over on the side that I was missing my arm. And that’s when I realized that it wasn’t there. I glanced down at it. I was like, ‘Oh, snap, this is for real.’ Then I kicked out the window. And we crawled out of the car,” he told ESPN.com. Refusing to waste time in self-pity, he has a new mission — to inspire and help others, particularly kids, who find themselves starting over as amputees. “I just wanna show them don’t be scared to let people see any of your amputated body parts.… Don’t let how other people view you determine how you see yourself, ‘cause when you look in a mirror, be happy with whatever you see. That’s you. And you have to live your life,” he said.

 

3) The injured athlete: Austrian ski racer Hermann Maier

The terrifying crash: For sports fans around the world, Austria’s Hermann Maier was arguably the greatest Alpine ski racer of his generation. But after a 2001 motorcycle crash in which he nearly lost a leg, Maier became so much more than that. He became famous around the world after winning gold medals in the slalom and supergiant slalom events at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan.

“On August 24, 2001, cruising home from training on his custom-made Easy Rider motorcycle, he was hit by a car. Austrian television broke into regularly scheduled programming to break the news, and the skiing world held its breath,” The Guardian newspaper reported in 2003. “On impact, his right leg had almost been severed and, for a time, doctors feared they would have to amputate below the knee. After they had picked paint chips from his wound, the surgeons eventually spent seven hours rebuilding the leg with titanium pins. The hope was he would walk again.”

But those doctors didn’t count on Maier’s iron-willed determination and an indestructible nature that earned him his legendary nickname — “The Herminator.” Before the accident, “I was physically perfect,” he recalled in 2003. “Now I just have a little bit of a handicap. Sometimes it’s hard to feel properly with my leg. The gliding sections are now particularly difficult.” After massive reconstructive surgery, he sat out the 2002 season, missing the Salt Lake City Olympics.

He returned to international competition in January 2003 in Switzerland. Just two weeks later, he shocked the skiing world with an amazing super-G victory in Austria. In 2004, his first full season back, he reclaimed both the super-G and overall titles, a feat seen as one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. In 2004, Maier received the Laureus World Sports Award for the “Comeback of the Year.” He said the crash made him more “human,” though many observers would put the word super in front of that.

 

2) The injured athlete: NHL All-Star Dany Heatley

The terrifying crash: A split-second decision can lead to a life of regret. No one likely understands that better than former NHL superstar Dany Heatley, a former Calder Trophy winner as NHL rookie of the year who led Canada to gold medals at the world hockey championship and World Cup of Hockey in 2004.

The MVP of the 2003 NHL All-Star Game was driving his Ferrari in September of that year when he lost control on a curve and crashed. The then-22-year-old Atlanta Thrashers’ winger was hurt, but his teammate and best friend in the passenger seat, Dan Snyder, suffered severe injuries and lapsed into a coma, then died several days later.

The crash occurred after Heatley drove approximately 130 km/h down a narrow, two-lane Atlanta road then spun out of control and smashed into a brick and wrought-iron fence. Snyder was ejected from the vehicle and suffered a fractured skull. He underwent two hours of emergency brain surgery but never emerged from his coma. Snyder, 25, died Oct. 5, 2003, from massive head trauma sustained in the high-speed accident. Heatley suffered a broken jaw, a minor concussion, a bruised lung and kidney. He also had surgery to repair torn medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments as well as the lateral meniscus in his right knee.

In 2005, he pleaded guilty to four of six charges in the vehicular homicide case against him and was sentenced to three years probation. He was spared jail after Snyder’s parents famously pleaded for leniency for their son’s friend. “As a parent, it’s hard to explain how you feel about losing your son. My pride in Dan was immeasurable,” father Graham Snyder said, adding he wanted Heatley to continue his NHL career. “We will all miss him.… So how do we move on from here? Forgiveness in our hearts has helped us move on. We forgive because Dany has shown remorse to his family.” Under the plea deal, the only felony charge — first-degree vehicular homicide — was dropped along with a charge of reckless driving.

 

1) The injured athlete: Golf legend Ben “The Hawk” Hogan

The terrifying crash: In 2018, when Tiger returned to the Masters after a two-year absence, he was asked whether a victory by him would qualify as the greatest sporting comeback of all time. Tiger refused to bite. “I think that one of the greatest comebacks in all of sport is the gentleman who won here, Mr. Hogan,” Woods said. “I mean, he got hit by a bus and came back and won major championships. The pain he had to endure, the things he had to do just to play, the wrapping of the legs, all the hot tubs and just… how hard it was for him to walk, period… That’s one of the greatest comebacks there is, and it happens to be in our sport.”

Tiger was right and, hopefully, he is taking inspiration from Hogan’s journey. In the early morning hours of Feb. 2, 1949, on a fog-shrouded, ice-covered road near Van Horn, Texas, a Greyhound bus collided head-on with a recently purchased black Cadillac sedan carrying Hogan and his wife, Valerie. The bus was attempting to pass another vehicle on a narrow bridge, which left no place to avoid the crash. “Hogan jerked the car as far to the right as he could and then dove across the body of his wife as the bus barrelled down on them … That gesture of gallantry turned out to be a life-saving move for both of them,” Golf Digest recalled. “Valerie, who was protected by her husband from being ejected through the front windshield, sustained minor injuries.

But Ben, the reigning U.S. Open and PGA champion, was hurt severely. He suffered a broken left ankle, contusions to his left leg, a broken collarbone, a cracked rib, a double fracture of the pelvis, a head abrasion and internal injuries. Even so, he escaped certain death, as the engine of his car had pushed into the steering column, which in turn was propelled through the driver’s seat.” There were also near-fatal blood clots. His doctors feared he might never walk again, let alone play golf. In May, he was back on the course as a spectator.

He returned to the PGA for the start of the 1950 season. In 1953, he had a season for the ages, winning five of the six tournaments he entered, including three major championships, a feat known as the Triple Crown of Golf. Before the accident, he was considered somewhat aloof. When his gallant act was revealed, fans showered him with love. Tiger couldn’t have a better role model as he recovers.

 

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca