Getting back to this was the goal for Cole Roberts. La Verne athletics file photo by Dennis Putian Photography

By Joe Sager
D3sports.com

The roar of the crowd, cheers of teammates and the pop of pads — football was back at Ortmayer Stadium on Saturday.

Nobody was more grateful for that more than La Verne’s Cole Roberts.

The senior safety appeared on the Leopards’ special teams and went in on defense late in the team’s 42-0 win over Whitter. He was credited with one tackle in the program’s first game since 2019. But, the stat that mattered the most to him — Games Played: 1.

That’s a figure most doubted would ever happen for Roberts after a horrific car crash nearly left him unable to walk for the rest of his life.

The crash

It was March 2020, and spring break had just started for La Verne’s students. At that same time, COVID-19 infections were raging across the world and all students at the campus located roughly 30 miles east of Los Angeles were to complete their courses remotely once spring break was complete. Roberts had decided to head back home for a while. After finishing his shift at a La Verne-area movie theater late on a Sunday night, he started the roughly 230-mile journey to the northwest to Paso Robles.

Maybe an hour or so from home, the highway was shut down from an earlier accident, so Roberts was detoured to a different road through the desolate desert. Not long after, an oncoming car veered into the lane and hit Roberts’ vehicle head-on.

Cole Roberts' car, in the aftermath of the accident. Provided photo

The other driver was killed in the accident. Roberts survived, but had significant injuries to his lower extremities.

He was told it took 15 minutes for help to arrive on scene and another half hour for him to be extricated from his vehicle. He was to be airlifted to the closest hospital, but a steady rain started to fall, which prevented a medical helicopter from being dispatched to the scene. Instead, he was taken by ambulance and arrived at Kern Medical in Bakersfield about two hours and 10 minutes after the accident.

“I was awake until they put me out by meds in the hospital,” Roberts said. “I don’t remember anything about the situation, though, which I am thankful for because I feel fine driving at night. So, I don’t remember the incident, but I remember everything leading up to it. In my memory, I must have blacked the rest out.”

He woke up two days later, after being put into a medically induced coma.

“According to my family, I woke up a couple times and asked what happened,” he said. “I know I was out for two days because when I did wake up, I took a selfie and some pictures of my cuts and scratches, thinking I needed to remember this.”

It was tough for Roberts to comprehend what had happened.

“It was a whirlwind of emotions. I was just mad at the situation and upset at the fact I couldn’t walk. I was asking why this happened to me,” he said. “One of the reasons I cried about my situation was because I didn’t think I was going to be able to play football. That’s crazy to look back and think about it, but it happened.”

Since this accident happened at the onset of massive COVID-19 precautions, his brother, Wesley, was able to visit early on, but visitors were restricted soon after, so no teammates could come to the hospital. That didn’t stop his family from coming up with a unique solution, though. His father, Steve, and step-mother Sabine Anderson-Roberts made the short drive to the hospital. His mother, Martina Lovejoy-Moxley and his step-father, Wade Moxley, left their home in Rigby, Idaho, the day after the accident and went to the hospital. All four decided to quarantine in an RV in the hospital parking lot, with one person taking extended shifts in Roberts’s hospital room with someone by his side at all times.

“My parents are divorced and they quarantined in a RV trailer together (with their spouses),” Roberts said. “I didn’t think it’d be possible. I love my parents, but having them in a room together for more than 20 minutes is stressful.”

Roberts remained at the hospital for three weeks. In that span, he had six surgeries with multiple procedures to fix 17 broken bones in 27 places. All told, he’s had nine surgeries and 22 blood transfusions. His last surgery was in December.

“At the very beginning, the doctors were contemplating amputation just above the knee on both legs,” he said. “They said because I still had feeling in the bottom of my feet, that’s why they decided to keep them and give me the chance. I didn’t even know amputation was an option until my mom told me a year later.”

Road to recovery

After being discharged from the hospital, Roberts began rehabilitation.

“I had to learn how to shower, get in and out of vehicles and be able to get onto a wheelchair, that sort of thing,” he said. “It was frustrating.”

Provided photos

However, Roberts made it his goal not only to walk again, but to be on the field for the Leopards for the opener of his senior season.

“The doctors told me I was recovering faster than I was supposed to,” he said. “I stood for the first time two months directly after the accident. I took my first steps three months exactly after the accident. I don’t think it was doctor-recommended and I don’t think my parents recommended it, either. But it was something I knew in my head I needed to do. I wanted to come back and play football.”

Thus began the long process of building his body back into shape. He was in a wheelchair at the three-month mark and using a walker one month later.

“His doctors were just amazed at his work ethic,” La Verne coach Chris Krich said. “He had been going through our offseason weight program and our conditioning program and was probably in the best shape of his life when the accident happened. Working out and his preparation for the upcoming season really helped him recover from this and get rehabilitated at a faster rate.

“He is the toughest guy I know. How many people would have thrown their hands up in the air and said, ‘I am done’? He didn’t accept what the doctors were telling him. That goes to show you what kind of a person he is. Our motto here is ‘HWPO’ which stands for Hard Work Pays Off. He put that into play. He told himself that, if he wanted to be out there on the first Saturday of the 2021 season, he had to put the work in. He did everything he had to in order to get it done.”

Roberts resumed virtual classes in the fall of 2020. There was no football season. He was allowed to finish the classes he was in at the time of the accident. He finished one in the summer, but opted to complete the other three this spring (along with his regular classes) because of the integrated business program’s out-of-class demands in the fall. All the while, he attended physical therapy sessions three times a week and lifted weights with his teammates four days a week.

“And, I am still on pace to graduate a semester early,” said Roberts, who will finish up his final classes this semester and get his diploma at La Verne’s February commencement ceremony.

He credited lifting weights with three of his teammates – Trevor Goulet, Spencer Pool and Oscar Orta – this spring with convincing him he could achieve his goal of suiting up for the Leopards this fall.

Cole Roberts working out, first in December 2020, then in June of 2021.  Provided photos

“They would help give me a modification of a lift or exercise if I couldn’t do one. For a while, my toes didn’t bend up, so I wasn’t able to do lunges. They’d give me different activities to do instead. They had the same goal for me to come back and play. It never felt they were holding me to a lower standard,” Roberts said. “The positive reinforcement was great. Lifting with those guys, they told me I didn’t have to be 100 percent at that moment; I was trying to be at 100 percent when I got to the fall.”

The steady approach paid off for Roberts.

“I went from 178 lbs. the week of the accident and my lowest point was 135 lbs. When I started fall camp I was at 195 lbs. With muscle atrophy, I was told that you retain the muscle memory and the muscle comes back fast. It’s hard to believe.

“It did come back fast, in the grand scheme of things. I have more muscle, coming back, than what I had in certain areas before,” he said. “It was a frustrating process. I have always been athletic growing up. There were definitely hard days like going and learning how to run and looking at my running form and being like, ‘geez.’

“It’s still a process, though. I am trying to gain speed and agility. I probably won’t get to be as fast as I was. I feel a step behind and that’s definitely frustrating. I try to jump and only get 6 inches off the ground instead of 24 inchers or whatever. I am not as explosive. But, I have to sit back and think that I still made it. There’s a point where I could have had no legs.”

Season debut

Roberts remained determined to play football and he began fall camp with the team.

“The doctors told me it’d take a year and a half for full recovery. A year and five months was August, which was the start of our fall camp,” he said. “That pushed me through when I was going through physical therapy.”

“People advised me not to come back. Coming back to football is the best thing for my body, though. I can get myself in great shape again. If I didn’t have this goal, I don’t know where my body would’ve been. I know there are some pains. But, if I didn’t get through that pain initially, it probably would be there for the rest of my life. I think that I just need to keep going. I use that to help motivate others. If I can do this, you guys can do this. I just keep moving forward.”

The buildup to the season opener was tough, and not just physically.

“My goal was to come back and play and be where I was before the accident. If I was not able to do that, I thought I’d help out with the coaches, if I could. As it got close, I realized I could play and I am in the position to play,” he said. “I had butterflies for two weeks before the game.”

Roberts gained a special honor from his team – he was voted as a captain.

“That was a big thing for me,” he said. “To see everyone knows and respects what I have done is super meaningful.”

“He was pretty much a lock as a captain from our players and coaches,” Krich said. “I am a true believer that, if you work hard enough, you can get yourself to wherever you need to be. The inspiration he brings to our football program or to me is incredible. When I am a little tired and think about not watching film or wanting to take a break, I think about what Cole would do and I know he’d be watching film just like I should be.”

With a large contingent of friends and family in the stadium Saturday, Roberts went to work right away on the Leopards’ kickoff coverage team.

“It was emotional, to say the least. I was thinking back to where I was in the hospital – I couldn’t even get up and go to the bathroom myself – I was thinking about how low I felt and this being a very high moment in my life to be able to be back,” he said. “Bob Dyer is our public address announcer and, as we were coming out, he said, ‘Welcome back, Cole!’ and that meant a lot. I teared up a couple times thinking of all the hard work and thinking of all the physical training and lifts I did to get to that point. 

“It was nice to come out and hit somebody else for a change. We haven’t been doing a ton of hitting in practice. To be able to hit someone else, I felt rejuvenated. The jitters went away after the first play. It was just great to be there. I could feel the energy from the sideline of everyone rooting for me.”

Roberts saw some action at safety late in the game and passed all the coaches’ tests there, too.

“What we were really worried about, what is that first tackle going to look like? What will happen when he makes contact? He said it all felt the same,” Krich said. “He doesn’t want to hold anyone back. He wants to make sure that, when he is out there, he is contributing. That’s what he is doing. When he is out there, it’s not like we’re fearful. It’s the same old Cole out there again. If you’re going to be out there, you have to contribute. That’s why we had no issues with him being other there. He got in some tackles and he was battling. We have to go game by game, but he wants to be keep competing. He is battling for time at safety. He’s not going to let this challenge defeat him. He is going out there to compete and make all the guys better.”

This fall, though, Roberts is going to cherish every practice, every game and every chance he can step on the field with his teammates.

“It’s my last semester in college. I don’t plan to pursue football after college, which I might have overseas or something if I hadn’t had that accident,” he said. “I am just focusing on playing my last year and putting my all into it and taking in all the memories. Everyone knows that, with COVID-19, it can be taken away in an instant and it’s not fun when it’s taken away from you.”