Smith: Model In Perseverence Team Usa Pitcher Stronger Than Ever Despite 1986 Accident

Michele Smith doesn’t believe much in coincidence. So the fact that she will play in the first Olympic softball game ever today 10 years to the day after she nearly lost her left arm in a horrifying accident well, that’s just too much to write off to happenstance.

“It was meant to happen,” Smith said. “I believe God allows us to go through things for a reason. I know people who have endured something tragic in their lives. I look at them as extremely strong people. My favorite word is perseverance. My favorite scripture is Romans 5:1-5.”

Verses 3 and 4 in that segment (New King James Version) read: “… but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

It was July 19, 1986, the summer between Smith’s freshman and sophomore years at Oklahoma State. Ernest Smith was driving his daughter home after she had had oral surgery. Her father had helped her get a summer job with the utilities company in Califon, N.J. She worked a jackhammer and dug ditches. “If I was sleeping 4 hours a night, I was lucky.”

Smith will not say what happened next. But she was propelled from the truck. Her elbow struck a telephone pole. The impact shattered the bone at the tip of her elbow. It was never found. The impact also ripped the triceps muscle, which had to be surgically reattached.

Yet, as traumatic as the accident was, Smith realizes it could have been worse. Miraculously - and she believes that to be a matter of fact, not a figure of speech - her ulna nerve was not damaged. Nerve damage would have left her arm at least impaired, possibly not functional. Also, her head missed a fire hydrant by maybe a foot.

That’s all Smith reveals about the accident. Her reluctance stems not so much from her own misgivings as from her father’s lingering guilt.

“He still blames himself,” she said. “So it’s hard for him to view it the way I do. I think it’s his nature. He worked for 35 years in a negative environment. Now that he’s retired, his outlook’s a lot better.”

Smith talks openly about the effect the accident had on her life.

“For a long time, I thought my only value was my ability to pitch. I found out that was the least of my value,” she said. “If I had to go through it again to learn what I did, I would.”

A tremendous hitter, Smith easily could have given up pitching and concentrated on playing first base and the outfield. Chances are she still would have been a strong contender to make any team the USA assembled for international competition.

But Smith refused to accept - or even consider - not pitching again. “Never for a second did I allow it to come into my mind.” Instead, she worked so hard to rehabilitate her elbow, she actually made her arm stronger than it was before. She picked up nearly 5 miles per hour on her fastball.

In a game dominated by pitching, Smith is one of the five most dominant pitchers in the world. She’s the designated hitter today but certainly will pitch within the next couple of days.

“I think that shows she wanted something so badly that she was rehabbing to the point where she is better than she was before,” said Dot Richardson, her Olympic teammate and an orthopedist. “I think that says a lot about the athlete she is and the character she has.”