{"id":21410,"date":"2013-07-07T17:57:34","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T00:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21410"},"modified":"2013-07-07T17:58:25","modified_gmt":"2013-07-08T00:58:25","slug":"a-hall-of-fame-pitcher-returns-after-a-54-day-shutout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21410","title":{"rendered":"A hall of fame pitcher returns after a 54-day shutout"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>
Click photo to view original news story.<\/figcaption><\/figure>For softballer Dave Blackburn, booking an appearance at the Maccabiah later this month meant overcoming a nearly two-month-long coma<\/strong><\/p>\n

In August 2010, Maccabi USA team member Dave Blackburn was nearly killed when his car was hit by an SUV on an Arizona highway, en route to the American national championship for players over 40. He was helicoptered to the hospital unconscious, in critical condition, with serious injuries all over his body.<\/p>\n

Born in Hammond, Indiana, Dave took after his father and became a fast-pitch softball pitcher. At the age of 50, after the decision to induct him into the International Softball Congress Hall of Fame, the man who had pitched dozens of no-hitters and stared down opponents on the field found himself in a new battle \u2014 for his life.<\/p>\n

Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email
\nand never miss our top stories Free Sign up!<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo broken legs, a broken ankle, broken wrist, nine broken ribs and the sternum on one side,\u201d his brother Jay said at the time. \u201cHis pelvis was broken, he had a hole in his colon that was torn, a hole in his lung and subsequently, the lung collapsed. It\u2019s one of those never-gonna-be-the-same accidents. It\u2019s hard imagining him ever walking normally again without assistance for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Dave managed to battle through. He lived, and he didn\u2019t give up on his love of sports \u2014 or his will to participate in the Maccabiah. In July, he\u2019s due to arrive in Israel as part of team USA for the seventh time, adding yet another appearance to his record-holding resume.
\nDavid Blackburn, in a coma after a near-fatal car accident (photo credit: Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Blackburn in a coma after a near-fatal car accident (photo credit: Courtesy)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a head-on collision,\u201d the 53-year-old resident of California described the accident to The Times of Israel in a recent interview. \u201cI broke 27 bones, [was] in a coma for 54 days and suffered nerve damage in my lower body\u2026 I haven\u2019t been able to walk since the accident and lost my right leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being an amputee doesn\u2019t take away Dave\u2019s love of sport or his commitment to the Maccabiah Games. \u201cMaccabi USA wanted me to throw the first ceremonial pitch\u201d at the 2013 softball event, Dave says, \u201cto be there as a VIP.\u201d But the fact that there are parallel games for disabled people provided Dave with another chance to play. \u201cI got a call, asking if I knew how to play table tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so, after six Maccabiah experiences as the primary pitcher, Dave will participate in the 2013 Games as a table tennis player. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be different for me. I\u2019m going to miss the camaraderie of 14 teammates and fellow Jewish brethren on the [softball] team.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as Dave is concerned, Jewish identity and friendships are the focal points of the Maccabiah. He participated in his first Games in 1985, when the US decided to send a fast-pitch softball team. \u201cThe US had to identify its best fast-pitch softball players,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI made the team. I was the primary pitcher.\u201d From that moment, he says, his relationship with the Jewish world changed.<\/p>\n

Since 1985, Dave has come to Israel every four years for the Games, missing only the 2001 Maccabiah during the Intifada, when \u201cthe softball team fell apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the guys were married and their wives didn\u2019t want them flying to a war zone, he explains. The last straw, he says, was \u201cthe Dolphinarium suicide bombing,\u201d in which 21 teenagers were killed. \u201cIt took place right next to the hotel we were supposed to stay at. You can\u2019t play softball with six players.\u201d<\/p>\n

The friends, the experiences, the Jewish heritage \u201ccouldn\u2019t have happened to me in another arena of my life,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a lot of involvement in my town\u2019s Jewish life,\u201d but since that first Maccabiah experience, \u201cI found a way to connect.\u201d Dave, with some friends, joined the board of directors at a new Hall of Fame for Jewish athletes in Southern California. \u201cI gave thousands of hours to the community in a way I could relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a terrible misconception in the world, of the Jewish non-athlete\u2026 It\u2019s hard to imagine the contribution Jews have had on the world of sports.\u201d This is why he\u2019s volunteered at the Hall of Fame. \u201cPlayers, athletes, managers, writers, agents \u2014 Jews have done it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Maccabiah spirit burns deeply in my heart,\u201d he says. Pushed on what he means by that \u201cspirit,\u201d he pauses for a moment before answering. \u201cWonderful warmth, love and respect. There\u2019s a battle on the field as hard as [in] any other sport competition. But, when it\u2019s over, you feel like one big family. Part of the 12 tribes. One big mishpucha. There\u2019s a different feeling than at other settings where I\u2019ve competed.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Maccabiah experience he cherishes is something Dave wants to pass on, and he hopes his 18-year-old nephew, participating in his first Games as a wrestler, will feel the same. \u201cI love the feeling of being here for the Games. Having my nephew with me on his first [Maccabiah] after being in it for so long, is like closing a circle, since it was his father who told me about the tryout in 1985.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years Dave has seen much of Israel, including Masada, the Dead Sea and other historic and heritage sites the Maccabiah participants usually travel to. However, when asked to name the place he loves the most, he chooses a location along the beach many Israelis have never heard of: a cave house, built into the cliff \u2014 by a man who lives there to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe asked a cab driver to take us somewhere outside of Tel Aviv and the city, so he dropped us off at the beach, and we started walking\u2026 We saw a strange structure in the side of the cliff,\u201d Dave tells of how he befriended Nissim Kachalon, also known as the Herzliya hermit. \u201cWe befriended the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since meeting Kachalon in 1985, Dave has visited him on every one of his trips to Israel. In fact, \u201che hosted the entire softball team,\u201d and though he doesn\u2019t like to venture away from his home \u2014 built nearly 30 years ago out of rocks, ruins, and what others thought was garbage \u2014 \u201che came to watch one of our games in 1989.\u201d This trip, Dave hopes to see his friend, but knows getting to the house isn\u2019t really an option. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to go through sand in a wheelchair\u2026 but hopefully I\u2019ll get together with him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel has changed over the years, Dave says, almost 30 years since his first trip to the Jewish state: \u201cIt\u2019s more modern\u201d and \u201chigh-tech related.\u201d He describes the visual changes, as well as the changes in government and social life. Nonetheless, he feels that the warmth and love he first felt as a Maccabiah athlete \u201cwalking through the streets\u201d with a badge and team uniform \u201chaven\u2019t changed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For softballer Dave Blackburn, booking an appearance at the Maccabiah later this month meant overcoming a nearly two-month-long coma In August 2010, Maccabi USA team member Dave Blackburn was nearly killed when his car was hit by an SUV on an Arizona highway, en route to the American national championship for players over 40. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,22,19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international","8":"category-people","9":"category-players","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21410"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21413,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21410\/revisions\/21413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}