By: Sean McClelland (DaytonDailyNews.com) -

Through it all, friends and other observers had one word for Dan Bertrams: Why?

Truth is, the Alter High School graduate has trouble answering that question. Best he can tell, some internal force drove him to keep trying, to keep coming back, injury after injury, rehab after rehab. He would not — or could not — give up playing soccer.

“There were periods after each injury that I was so devastated and so depressed, and a lot of times I felt like I might as well quit,” Bertrams said. “I guess I just didn’t want something like that to keep me from playing.”

It’s an approach that paid off handsomely in March when Bertrams — after four knee surgeries, a detour to Capital University and the death of a close relative — impressed the Ohio State coaches enough during a walk-on tryout to merit a further look in the fall as a central defender.

“What impressed us the most was his fitness,” OSU head coach John Bluem said. “He’s done an incredible job of coming back. He was extremely fit and ready to go.

“You could tell he pushed himself.”

One after another

His first knee injury, Bertrams recalls, was the result of a freak accident. After a solid junior season at Alter, he was playing for his club team when his right foot caught in the ground, causing his anterior cruciate ligament to tear.

Surgery and rehab cost him the first few games of his senior season, but he came back. Then, two games into his return, he promptly tore his left ACL.

Because that injury also cost him the subsequent club season, gone was any chance of landing a Division I soccer scholarship, which had been his dream. So he enrolled at Capital, a Division III school in Columbus, joining some of his friends.

After playing at Capital as a freshman, Bertrams tore cartilage in his right knee while playing in the summer. That led to a third operation. And another comeback.

In the fall of 2007, after making it back to the field for Capital as a sophomore, he tore his left ACL a second time, prompting yet another round of surgery and rehab.

Surely this should have been his cue to stop chasing the game, but Bertrams did not see it that way. As Lee Beyerle, his uncle, put it, “He has unparalleled fortitude.”

Not to mention a willingness to adapt.

“It’s hard because, when I train now, it’s not the same,” Bertrams said. “I have to ice and stretch a lot more. It’s tons more work. But it’s worth it. Honestly, I think it shows a lot of determination.”

Big fan missing

In 2008, Bertrams transferred to Ohio State, where he had wanted to be all along. This past spring, after acing the walk-on tryout but still with nothing promised, he played in five matches with the Buckeyes, including one against the Columbus Crew.

He emerged whole and was invited back, although with no guarantees.

“We’ll take a look at him and see how he compares to the kids we’ve recruited,” said Bluem, whose team won the Big Ten last season and is a year removed from an NCAA championship game loss to Wake Forest.

“We like him a lot. Great kid. Tremendous attitude. Great student. I’d say his chances are really good. What I like is he won’t be content to just make the roster. He’s going to push for playing time.”

The spring indeed went well, but it was tinged with sadness for Bertrams, who on his 21st birthday, just before the tryout, learned of his grandfather’s death as a result of heart failure. Carl Bertrams was 84.

“He lived down the street from us for as long as I could remember,” Dan said. “He came to all my games and was always very encouraging.

“It was very devastating. Not a good time.”

Bertrams went through with the tryout in spite of it all.

“We weren’t sure if he’d be able to,” Beyerle said. “But in true fashion, Dan used his grief and put it all into his playing. And he made the cut.”

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