Sometimes the news does touch deeply, merging worlds of sorrow, cryptozoology, and baseball. My thoughts go out to the parents, the players, and the many people in Bluffton – a wonderful little village that hosted me, cryptozoologically, and was kind to me 30 years ago this spring.

My heart truly is with Bluffton. Times are hard. To the baseball families, the survivors, and the hurt bodies and souls from that town in Ohio, how can we really understand what they are going through? I empathize with how close baseball families can get. I’ve always worked with my sons and coaches, as a baseball dad, volunteer booster, active president for their teams’ parents. This tragedy hits close to home on many fronts – including the cryptozoological one, strangely enough.

28 April [1977] – Maria Henderson was the first person to see the cat. In her statement to the Bluffton Police, she said she was going to work by way of Bentley Road, near the County Line in the road. When she got closer, she saw it was a cat…a big cat, black and gray in color, and approximately one and a half feet tall. The Bluffton Police checked and found Henderson to be a “good, substantial, solid citizen.” - Loren Coleman, Creatures of the Other Edge

Cryptozoology has taken me to many places, including to Bluffton (population about 3800), a village right on the border of Allen and Hancock counties, Ohio. I visited there, and the nearby town of Lafayette (population: 400), to investigate reports of black panthers and other mystery cats in the midst of a major cat flap.

My time in the Bluffton area included my searching for clues with Dog Warden Bill Reeder and being hosted by Elmer Nesbaum and his wife, both Reformed Mennonites, who had experienced the loss of most of their sheep to the mystery marauder. Those cryptid happenings occurred in that creepy “Year of the Creature – 1977,” thirty years ago. The Nesbaums wept openly when I talked to them about their animals being killed. Kind people had been hit hard by the deaths around them.

Now the crying and sorrow again visits this village. My sadness is with the families and friends of the four baseball players who died in the bus accident and, indeed, the whole community of Bluffton. Let us focus on these young men. Here are remembrances of those four players’ lives:

Sophomore David Betts

David Betts, 20, of Bryan, was a great-grandson of former Bluffton University President Lloyd Ramseyer. He was part of a family enthusiastically involved in both the church and athletics, said the Rev. Ronald Guengerich of Zion Mennonite in Archbold. Betts’ two older sisters graduated from Bluffton, and he had a younger brother.

“He was one of those kids who gave everything he had,” said Connie Tipton, a friend helping take calls for the family while they traveled to Atlanta. At Bryan High School, he also was on the cross-country and basketball teams and played trombone, said Tipton, who knew Betts since he was in preschool. Betts’ father and grandfather had been flying to Florida for the games when they got the news and rerouted to Atlanta, where the rest of the family was flying to join them, Tipton said.

Sophomore Tyler Williams

Those who knew outfielder Tyler Williams of Lima described him as an outgoing student who was always smiling and laughing. “It’s a real tragedy to lose such an outstanding man as he was,” said his high school coach, Jim Hay. Williams selected Bluffton for college because he could play baseball as well as get a good education, said Jim Offenbaker, athletic director at Lima Senior High School. Williams earned three varsity letters during his time at the high school before graduating in 2005, he said. Williams was funny and a little hyper, said Matt Rau, a Bluffton volunteer assistant baseball coach. “He’s the kind of kid you need on your team,” he said.

Freshman Scott Harmon

Scott Harmon “was always the guy that put the team before himself,” said his high school baseball coach, Mark Thompson. Once, Thompson recalled, Harmon injured his nose during a collision at third base during a district tournament. Despite being bloody and lightheaded, Harmon couldn’t wait to get back in the game — and ended up hitting a home run to help the team win, Thompson said.

“He’s a competitor,” Thompson said. “He’s going to do what he can to help his team out.” Harmon, who graduated in 2006, also played football at Elida High School and was a member of the National Honor Society, Thompson said. He believes Bluffton’s “close-knit, family-type atmosphere” played into Harmon’s decision to enroll there. Matt Rau, a Bluffton volunteer assistant baseball coach, said Harmon had a great work ethic. Just a freshman, Harmon had been so excited to have made the team’s bus trip, Thompson said.

Freshman Cody Holp

They had only known each other a few months, but Cody Holp’s teammate Brett Hunt already considered him a good friend. “He was one of the guys, like the class clown, who liked to make people laugh,” said Hunt, who met Holp at Bluffton. “We’d hang out, watch movies, go to eat together.” Holp, a pitcher from Arcanum, graduated from Lewisburg Tri-County North High School.
Hunt said he had some classes with Holp, who was a good student, but what he’ll remember most is “his sense of humor, how he could make anybody laugh.”

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Meanwhile, my continued thanks for the effort noted here. I’m not out-of-the-woods yet, but I did want to mention the above, out of respect to this Bluffton news, which has touched me deeply.