Niccum’s Swing Also Is on the Mend : Hart Outfielder Makes Remarkable Recovery From Auto Accident

Frustration mounted in Casey Niccum with every swing.

The Hart High outfielder started his season in a slump, the lack of production wearing on him.

“You hate to let your team down--especially in your last year,” Niccum said. “You want to make the clutch hit. It’s important.

“But it’s not life and death. Yeah, I know what that’s about.”

Niccum is causing pitchers problems again, snapping out of his slump quickly. But comebacks are nothing new for him.

Nearly a year ago, Niccum was involved in a three-vehicle accident that threatened his life.

His gallbladder was damaged beyond repair and doctors removed it. He also suffered a lacerated liver and severe lung contusions.

However, after hours of surgery and gradual recovery, Niccum, 17, is back--both in everyday life and as a key member of the baseball team.

“You don’t really ever think about anything bad happening to you when you’re young because it’s not supposed to work that way,” Niccum said. “You just don’t think anything bad can happen to you.

“That’s the last thing on your mind.”

Niccum was cruising through his adolescence, another care-free youngster viewing the world through the filter of “cool” shades--his head turned this way but his baseball cap turned that way. A drive through an intersection on a sunny Tuesday morning altered that perspective.

The accident occurred May 19 at 7:30 a.m. Niccum and teammate Brian Wallace were driving near the Hart campus in Newhall when Niccum’s car collided with another car turning left in front of him, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department report. Niccum lost control of his car after the collision and was broadsided by a third car.

The accident report states that Niccum’s car jumped the curb and slammed into a brick wall.

“When I got down to the accident scene and saw Casey’s car, I didn’t think anyone could have survived that,” Hart baseball Coach Bud Murray said. “(The car) was just crushed. It was a shocker. It was just horrible.”

Said Hart football player Deriek Charles, Niccum’s good friend: “Casey’s car looked like something you would see in a TV show wreck. But it was real.”

There were no fatalities among the seven injured, but paramedics called to the scene had to use the Jaws of Life to free Wallace from what was left of Niccum’s maroon sports car. Niccum and Wallace were knocked unconscious, their heads cracking the car’s windshield.

Niccum awoke to discover Wallace slumped on Niccum’s shoulder and bleeding heavily from a large wound on the left side of his head.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh, no, what’s going on?’ ” Niccum said. “One minute I’m driving and the next thing I know, I’m laying in my seat with this guy bleeding all over me.

“I was freaked out. I didn’t know what to do. What can you do?”

Wallace suffered head trauma and was taken by helicopter to Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills where a skin graph was performed over his left eye. He spent more than a week in the hospital.

Niccum suffered the most severe injuries--but that was not known immediately. He arrived by ambulance at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia about 8:30 a.m., followed shortly by a parade of friends who left school as soon as word got out.

Niccum appeared to be fine--with the exception of some cuts, scrapes and a really bad headache. Tests performed on him revealed no major damage and he was experiencing little pain.

However, an X-ray later that day showed that Niccum was bleeding internally, caused when the steering wheel jammed into his stomach.

Emergency surgery was scheduled.

“Everything seemed fine so I went home to have some lunch with a friend,” said Sierra Samuel, 16, Niccum’s former girlfriend. “Then I get this call from one of my friends. I didn’t believe it at first.”

The hospital had problems contacting Niccum’s family to authorize the surgery. His stepfather, Barry Tasso, and mother, Terry Tasso, were attending a softball tournament in Las Vegas. Finally, the hospital reached Niccum’s grandmother and aunt.

When friends of the family eventually contacted the Tassos in Las Vegas, they told them of the preliminary report: no serious injuries. The Tassos learned the full extent of his condition only when they called the hospital for an update shortly before boarding a flight home.

“Those were the worst five minutes of my wife’s life,” Barry said. “The first indications were that he was OK, just a lot of abrasions. Then we make another call and find out about the bleeding. It was very difficult.”

Despite the danger he faced, Niccum had other concerns. The accident occurred just days before the start of the Southern Section playoffs and his thoughts wandered to baseball.

“Right before I went into surgery, I told my nurse I’d rather be out on the field,” he said. “She asked me if I’d rather play baseball or live. I stopped thinking about baseball for a while.”

After two hours of surgery to remove his gallbladder and close a five-inch laceration of his liver, Niccum opened his eyes to the sight of his parents.

“I’ve got a great family and some great friends, and I think I took them for granted a little bit,” Niccum said. “It made me really take a look at things and appreciate them a lot more.”

Pain from the surgery prevented Niccum from sleeping. The cries of anguish he heard while lying in the intensive care unit frightened him.

“That’s when I started thinking it could be worse,” he said. “I mean, I was in some real bad pain, but it wasn’t as bad as what some other people were going through.”

After a weeklong hospital stay, his return home was bittersweet, the familiar surroundings providing comfort and pain. Niccum lay in bed surveying his room, wanting desperately to grab a ball and glove and run to the park. An avid water and snow skier, he longed to hit the waves and slopes.

No way, said the doctor. Niccum needed rest.

Niccum tried to pass time watching television and reading piles of letters and cards from well-wishers. He grew restless. Although the accident matured him, he remained a headlong teen-ager.

“I was going nuts,” he said. “I’m the type of person who goes to school even when I’m sick. I just couldn’t stand it.”

Keeping him put was a battle. Once, shortly after Niccum’s return home, Barry Tasso heard someone shooting baskets behind the house. Guess who?

“I practically had to tackle him to get him back in the house,” Barry said.

Although he was given medical instructions to stay at home for the remainder of the school year, Niccum returned anyway despite his parents’ reservations. He was back in class three weeks after the accident.

But he wanted more. He wanted baseball.

“We weren’t in favor of that at all; it was too soon,” Barry said. “He was a skeleton.”

At 5-foot-10, Niccum played at 160 pounds as a junior. In the weeks after the operation, he dropped to nearly 130.

“We were horrified,” Terry said. “He was still so weak he couldn’t hold a bat, let alone run.”

Niccum had healed from surgery, though. His doctor left the decision to the Tassos with the provision that Niccum stop if he encountered problems.

Niccum joined a youth team for 17- and 18-year-olds in Newhall after the team’s coaches assured the family that Niccum would be brought along slowly.

“They really didn’t let him do all that much,” Barry said.

Still, Terry was unsettled.

“All the other parents were on pins and needles, worried that he was going to get hurt,” she said. “Everyone was so afraid but he did what he wanted to.”

Niccum believes the quick return paid off.

“I think that helped me to get ready for this season,” Niccum said. “Lifting weights and running over the summer helped me put some weight back on. I think I’m just getting my swing back and getting comfortable again. I don’t know what I would have done if I had just started now.”

Niccum has battled out of his slump to become a leader on offense. Heading into Foothill League play Friday, Niccum is Hart’s second-leading batter at .381. He leads the team in hits (eight) and is third in runs batted in (six).

Murray is more impressed with another part of Niccum’s game.

“You can see a lot more maturity in Casey,” Murray said. “No one ever prepares young people for what he went through, but he handled it and has moved on.”

Said Eric Metten, 19, another of Niccum’s friends: “I don’t want this to come out the wrong way, but Casey is really a lot more mature. He used to be kind of like a guy without fear, but now he’s a lot more down-to-earth.”

Each day Niccum looks in the mirror he is reminded of the accident by a 12-inch scar that runs just below his sternum to well past his navel. The scar reminds him of other things.

“Anything can happen to anyone,” he said. “You just can’t take life for granted.”