Pittsburgh – Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger, the youngest quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl championship, broke his jaw and nose in a motorcycle crash Monday in which he was not wearing a helmet.
Four doctors operated on Roethlisberger for seven hours to treat multiple facial fractures and “all of the fractures were successfully repaired,” Dr. Harry W. Sell, chairman of the surgery department at Mercy Hospital, told reporters late Monday night.
Dr. Daniel Pituch, who led the team, said Roethlisberger was in serious but stable condition, and doctors were aware of no other serious injuries.
“His brain, spine, chest and abdomen appear to be without serious injury and there are no other confirmed injuries at this time,” he said.
The doctors said his condition was not expected to change through the evening, and that no updates were expected until today. They declined to release further information at his family’s request.
Roethlisberger was talking to doctors before the surgery, Dr. Larry Jones, chief of trauma at Mercy Hospital, said.
“He’s coherent. He’s making sense,” Jones said. “He knows what happened. He knows where he is. From that standpoint, he’s very stable.”
As Roethlisberger was undergoing surgery, a vigil of sorts – reporters standing next to television trucks and fans, many in Steelers regalia, sitting in lawn chairs – was kept outside the hospital. By early evening, a few fans outside the hospital began cooking food on a barbecue.
“I send my prayers up for him and his family,” Steelers receiver Hines Ward told Pittsburgh television station WTAE from Los Angeles, where he was filming a commercial. “It’s like a serious accident that happens to your brother.”
Roethlisberger, 24, was on his black 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa – the company calls it the world’s fastest bike for legal street riding – and heading toward an intersection on the edge of downtown. A Chrysler New Yorker traveling in the opposite direction took a left turn and collided with the motorcycle, and Roethlisberger was thrown, police said.
Witnesses said he flew over the handlebars of his motorcycle, hit the windshield and then hit his head on the pavement. The car was driven by a 62-year-old woman, police said. She was not seriously injured. No charges were filed.
Witness Sandra Ford was waiting at a bus stop when she said she saw the motorcycle approach. Seconds later, she said she heard a crash, saw the motorcyclist in the air and ran toward the crash scene.
“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,” Ford said.
In only his second year in the NFL, Roethlisberger helped guide the Steelers to the Super Bowl title in February at age 23.
Training camp for next season begins at the end of July. Charlie Batch probably would start at quarterback for Pittsburgh if Roethlisberger was not ready to play.
Roethlisberger previously has said he prefers not to wear a helmet when riding his motorcycle. He has pointed out Pennsylvania’s state law requiring helmets to be worn by riders (21 and older) was repealed in September 2003.
Athletes and motorcycle crashes
The NFL’s standard player contract prohibits any activity involving “significant risk of personal injury” – outside of playing football. Many prominent athletes continue to ride motorcycles anyway, despite the personal risk and the possibility of losing salary. Recent motorcycle accidents involving athletes:
2006 – Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was injured in a motorcycle crash Monday and had seven hours of surgery. He was in serious but stable condition.
2005 – Cleveland tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. suffered internal injuries and damage to his right shoulder and right knee, forcing him to miss the season.
2003 – Chicago Bulls guard Jason Williams crashed his motorcycle, fracturing his pelvis, tearing knee ligaments and damaging nerves in his left leg. The former No. 2 NBA draft pick hasn’t played in the NBA since.
2001 – Olympic skier Hermann Maier broke both legs in a wreck, nearly lost one and was told he never would walk again. He won a silver medal and a bronze this year at the Turin Games.
1998 – Green Bay defensive lineman Jermaine Smith smashed his elbow in a June accident, prompting coach Mike Holmgren to prohibit kick returner Glyn Milburn from riding the Harley-Davidson he won as MVP of the American Bowl exhibition in Tokyo.
– AP
