Sophomore Tyler Swanson and junior Curtis Foster, both members of the ISU men’s golf team, have been on the road to recovery since they were in a near-fatal car accident in May 2004.

Swanson and Foster were traveling west on Interstate 80 from Iowa City in the early morning hours of May 2, 2004 when Foster’s red Chevy Lumina suddenly veered into the median, hit a U-turn embankment and went end over end. Swanson, who was driving, apparently fell asleep at the wheel.

Foster’s injuries were not life-threatening, as he sustained a crushed vertebrae. Swanson, on the other hand, suffered severe head trauma. He underwent surgery to remove a part of his skull, allowing his brain room to swell and was in a medically-induced coma for three weeks.

Foster has returned to competition, but Swanson’s collegiate career is still up in the air. He did not participate in fall classes, but was able to make it back for the spring semester.

Swanson is hoping to apply for a medical redshirt, but that is only possible, head coach Jay Horton said, after he finishes his fifth year of eligibility. Swanson used his one available redshirt last fall because he was not enrolled.

“With medical redshirts, you don’t know if that sixth year comes,” Horton said. “I keep trying to explain this redshirt process to him; you can’t bank on something happening.”

Swanson, who is going into his fourth semester of class work, was on pace to graduate in five years before the accident, Horton said, so he believes a medical redshirt isn’t out of the question.

“Logic tells me because of this accident, we’d have a pretty strong case, but nothing is guaranteed,” he said.

Foster has been able to almost fully recover and return to the game he loves.

“I’m playing in a lot of tournaments this summer,” he said. “I’m just starting to get feeling the way I used to before the accident.”

Foster suffered a crushed L2 vertebrae in the accident. Doctors said it was similar to crushing a pop can.

He said that although he has recovered from the injury, he still feels some pain every now and then and his back muscles tighten up, especially during cool weather.

“The warm weather really helps,” Foster said.

“As long as we’re playing in weather that isn’t too cool or rainy, I think I’ll be fine.”