Survivor of ’98 Explosion Dies in Head-On Collision

Nolan LeMar battled to resume his baseball career after suffering severe burns in a freak science class explosion 2 1/2 years ago.

On Tuesday, friends and relatives were in mourning after learning that LeMar, a 19-year-old co-captain on the College of the Canyons baseball team, had been killed in a head-on collision with an alleged drunk driver in Santa Clarita.

LeMar, who hoped to one day play professionally, was remembered as a leader by his teammates. “This is a time where Nolan would have something to say to all of us--to keep us positive,” said pitcher John Smith.

“He was the best thing we had going on with the team, leading us on the field and off the field,” said Smith, 20, at the crash site on Soledad Canyon Road.

LeMar--who died at the scene of the 8:21 p.m. crash Monday near the landmark Saugus Speedway--was one of two students seriously injured in November 1998 in a science experiment explosion at Hart High, suffering burns over 12% of his body. LeMar and other students were attempting to launch tennis balls out of makeshift cannons--made of empty juice cans--when the methanol launch fuel exploded.

Reached at the LeMar home in Castaic, his stepmother, Dawn, said the family did not wish to make a statement Tuesday.

Hart High baseball players, many of whom had played with LeMar on the school’s 1999 Southern Section Division II championship team, learned of his death as they arrived Tuesday morning at El Modena High in Orange for a game against Riverside Arlington in the Villa Park Tournament.

“It’s been a tough day for us,” Hart High Coach Jim Ozella said.

Ozella and several players talked about the courage LeMar showed in coming back from the second-degree burns he suffered in the accident in his senior year.

“This is a guy who really battled to stay with baseball after that,” the coach said. “He came back and made a major contribution on that championship team.”

Traffic investigators of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Santa Clarita Station said LeMar was eastbound in a sport-utility vehicle just as Michael Glover, 44, of Saugus, headed west in a pickup. Glover lost control of his truck, crossed the center median and slammed into LeMar’s vehicle on the driver’s side, investigators said. The impact split the pickup in two.

Both vehicles were struck by a sport-utility vehicle driven by Jesse McKelvey, 36, of Newhall. McKelvey and his passenger, Monica Pranga, 36, were treated at the scene for minor cuts and released.

Glover, whose injuries included a broken back and ribs, was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, where he remained in critical condition Tuesday, Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Shapiro said. Emergency personnel said they smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Glover’s breath.

“Alcohol was involved. He had been drinking,” Shapiro said, adding that Glover’s blood-alcohol level had not yet been determined.

Because of his injuries, Glover had not been arrested Tuesday. Shapiro said he plans to ask the district attorney’s office to file charges of gross vehicular manslaughter with negligence against Glover.

A roadside shrine of flowers and candles grew Tuesday beside a tree near the crash site. An anonymous mourner had drawn “We Love U Nolan” in the dirt, decorating the message on each side with a single yellow daisy held down by a small rock.

“Everybody’s always known Nolan. He was always good, but this year he was really breaking out,” said teammate Smith as he crouched beside the flowers.

With spring break in full swing, the College of the Canyons campus was quiet Tuesday afternoon except for the baseball team, which was loading up a van for a road trip to the Easter Classic Baseball Tournament in Santa Maria.

Players--as well as Coach Chris Cota and Athletic Director Len Mohney--seemed downcast and shaken up, but the coach said the best thing to do was to head up to the tournament and play ball.

“I think it’s pretty important that we stay together as a team,” Cota said. “And I’m sure Nolan would be right here saying, ‘Get after it.’ ”

LeMar was one of the team’s three co-captains, and a standout player. He was batting .368 for the year--the second-highest average on the team.

In 1999, LeMar batted .431 for Hart High School, helping them win the Southern Section Division II championship.

Mohney said LeMar played in a junior college all-star game in November, and a number of four-year colleges had recently contacted the 6-foot-3, 200-pound sophomore about continuing his college career at a larger school.

“The guy was just a serious gamer,” Cota said. “He loved to play, and he basically led by example out there.”

College of the Canyons pitcher Ivan Hernandez said players were shocked when they heard the news Tuesday morning.

“I just got back from a team meeting,” he said. “A lot of guys said, ‘Come on, that’s not funny.’ [LeMar] was in practice yesterday, having the time of his life, joking around. . . . Everything was just going good for him.

“He was a great guy and a great ballplayer. Nobody knows how to react to something like this.”

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Times staff writers Ofelia Casillas, Eric Sondheimer, Fernando Dominguez and Lon Eubanks contributed to this story.