Brice Swick Survives Head-On Car Collision

by • Featured

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

RIPON, Wisc. — RHP Brice Swick of Ripon College could have died after he fell asleep at the wheel of a car in 2017 as he crashed head-on with another vehicle.

The day before, he was running a fever and was vomiting as he felt horrible.

After going 1 1/2 days without sleep, he was forced to attend Army National Guard training for eight hours the next day simply because he didn’t have a doctor’s slip which would have excused him.

“Because I didn’t have the doctor’s slip, there is no provision that allowed me to miss training. So even though I felt horrible and had no sleep for 36 hours, I made the 20 minute trip to the armory on Dec. 2 of 2017 and worked there all day.

“I did briefs and went to mandatory classes. I remember vomiting once that morning and felt horrible all day. I was there from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

“I was fortunate they didn’t have any PT (physical training) that day which would have been extremely difficult in my condition.

“It was extremely cold in Wisconsin that particular day, and you can’t do much during the cold months outdoors.”

After he was done, he began driving the 20 minute trip back to Ripon College a little after 5 p.m. that Saturday.

“As I started to drive, I turned the music up to try to stay awake and rolled my window down a bit so cold air would hit me in the face.

“I set the cruise control to 60 mph, and I was on a county highway. When I fell asleep, the vehicle apparently drifted across the line into oncoming traffic and hit another car head-on. I don’t remember anything from that situation.”

Swick was extracted from the wreck by the Jaws Of Life and transported to Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah, Wisc. by a Flight For Life helicopter.

“I was really confused when I woke up the next day on Sunday,” said Swick.

To read more of this article, purchase the April 5, 2019 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE. It explains how seriously he was hurt and what type of surgery was performed and how long his hospital stay was. It also explains his comeback and another injury that took place, plus more.