A Strong Hart: Profile in Courage

Eleven years after suffering a spinal cord injury during a college football game, Todd Hart of Newport Beach took his place before a wildly applauding crowd at the Hyatt Regency Irvine on Monday night to receive the Tribute to Courage Award from Casa Colina.

The 29-year-old lawyer, a quadriplegic, told the black-tie crowd he hoped he would be a source of education for others. “I want my success to help others with disabilities see how much can be done,” he said.

It was the staff at Casa Colina--a rehabilitative facility in Pomona--who helped Hart go from a 19-year-old patient who was not expected to live to the father of two that he is today.

The year was 1982. Todd Hart was playing football for Cal Stage Long Beach against UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Everything was going fine, said his parents, Sue and Wyatt Hart of San Juan Capistrano.

Then Todd fell. And didn’t get up.

“I told my wife to sit there, relax,” said Wyatt Hart. “We’d watched Todd play sports since he was 7. We were used to falls.

“But Sue sensed it was bad, and she began to cry. Suddenly, she pushed me aside and ran down on the field.”

Said Sue Hart: “I’m probably the only mother who has ever been on the field at the Rose Bowl.” Her instincts were right. Her young son lay there, neck broken, barely able to breathe.

Doctors gave him a 5% chance of survival. And if he did survive, they said, he only had a 5% chance of moving his body below the neck.

They didn’t know the courage of Todd Hart.

Years of determined rehabilitation enabled him to return to Cal Stage Long Beach, where he earned an undergraduate degree and then went on to graduate from UCLA law school.

“His injury forced him to use other resources--his brain power,” said his father. “He had one life. Now he has a new life.”

During the pre-dinner reception, Todd Hart’s wife of six years, Polita, explained how she met her husband. “He was a year into his accident, and I read an article in the newspaper about him,” she said. “He was so cute and sounded so wonderful, I called him.”

Todd told her to hook up with him at an upcoming football game, “and we got married five years later,” he said.

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Gala festivities included a dinner of petite filet mignon and grilled salmon, with white chocolate ice cream truffle for dessert.

Renee Bondi of San Juan Capistrano, 35, also a quadriplegic, entertained guests when she sang “Yes!,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” “Look to a Rainbow” and “The Wind Beneath My Wings.”

“I broke my neck in the most bizarre way,” confided Bondi, who attended with her husband, Michael. “I was sound asleep in bed and had a bad dream. I fell out of bed head first. That was it. It was two months before my wedding. I went into the hospital in May of 1988 and didn’t get out until October of 1989.”

During her rehabilitation, Bondi was visited by Todd Hart. “He was so shy and sweet,” said Bondi, who directs the youth choir at Mission San Juan Capistrano (and just recorded a CD titled “Inner Voice”). “He offered me words of encouragement, told me to keep trying, that it wasn’t all so bad. I wanted to be here tonight to say thank you to him and to Casa Colina.”

Gala chairman was former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, now a KFI radio talk-show host. He said he volunteered to participate in the event because he has great admiration for Hart’s determination and courage. “Casa Colina is a place of miracles. During my years as Los Angeles police chief, I saw many officers rehabilitated there.”

During the festivities--reception, dinner and a video that saluted Todd Hart’s brave battle with his disability--one young man stood on the sidelines beaming. It was Todd’s brother, Ryan, who is 19--the age Todd was when he was injured.

“Everybody needs a hero,” said Ryan, a graduate of Santa Margarita High school. “Since I was 8 years old, Todd has been mine. I admire his accomplishments and his determination.

“As a football player, he was the meanest player out there. He played the hardest, the fastest and the best.

“Someday I hope to be an attorney just like him.”

Also among guests were Gates’ daughter, Kathy Perricone (a close friend of Todd and Polita Hart), and Greg Kading. (“Greg is like an adopted son,” Wyatt Hart said. “He is the one who took Todd to Casa Colina, to school and turned him every hour at night.”)