The site of Payne Stewart's bizarre demise. National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Bob Francis faces a wall of journalists during a news conference about the plane crash that killed the PGA star and five other people in Mina, South Dakota in October, 1999. (Craig Lassic/Getty Images)
In Depth
Athletes killed in air crashes
Cory Lidle is only the latest in a long and tragic line of athletes and teams killed in aircraft accidents
Last Updated Wed., Oct. 11, 2006
Andrew Lundy, CBC Sports Online
The nature of modern pro sports -- its hectic schedules, inter- and trans-continental travel demands -- has produced a sizeable list of athletes who met their demise in aircraft. Cory Lidle's shocking death Wednesday aboard a four-seater aircraft that slammed into a Manhattan high-rise is only the latest in a sad series of such events:
KNUTE ROCKNE, fabled Notre Dame football coach
March 31, 1931: The larger-than-life Rockne was 43 years old when he perished in an air crash during a heavy storm near Bazaar, Kansas. Rockne was killed, along with seven others, when one of the wings of the Trans Continental & Western Airways Fokker F10A he was flying in came off in mid-air.
BILL BARILKO, Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman
August 26, 1951: As any fan of the Tragically Hip can tell you, Bill Barilko disappeared on a fishing trip in 1951, scant months after he scored the winning goal to give the Leafs the Stanley Cup. He was returning from James Bay to his Timmins hometown in a Fairchild 24 when the single-engine plane disappeared. The crash site, near Cochrane, Ont., remained undiscovered until June 9, 1962 - the next time the Leafs won the Cup.
WILBUR SHAW, Indy driver and administrator
October 30, 1954: Race car driver Wilbur Shaw, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, died in a small plane crash near Decatur, Indiana. Shaw had won the Indianapolis 500 three times in his career, and many auto racing enthusiasts credit him with the sport's growth in popularity. Shaw, who would have turned 52 the next day, was killed along with pilot Ray Grimes and artist Ernest Roose.
ROCKY MARCIANO, heavyweight boxing champion
August 31, 1969: Marciano, a former heavyweight champion boxer who some say was the greatest ever (yes, greater than Ali) died along with two others near Newton, Iowa, when their Cessna 172 crashed at night in rough weather. Marciano, like Wilbur Shaw 15 years earlier, was also one day short of his birthday - his 46th - when he died.
ROBERTO CLEMENTE: Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder
December 31, 1972: Future Hall-of-Famer Roberto Clemente was on a mission of mercy when his Douglas DC-7 plunged into the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. Clemente and three others perished in the crash. The DC-7 may have been overloaded at the time of the accident, as it was full of supplies to relieve the victims of a Nicaraguan earthquake.
GRAHAM HILL, Formula 1 driver
November 29, 1975: Famed British race car driver Graham Hill died, along with five others, when his Piper Aztec crashed in heavy fog near Hertfordshire, England. The 46-year-old, who was piloting the plane, reportedly became lost in the fog before the crash. Fellow Grand Prix driver Tony Brise was also killed in the accident.
THURMAN MUNSON, New York Yankees catcher
August 2, 1979: The 32-year-old Munson, a fan favourite on a star-studded Yankees team, was practising landing and taking off in his Cessna Citation jet at a Canton, Ohio airport when it crashed short of the runway. Munson, a perennial all-star noted as much for his handlebar moustache as his catching prowess, was the only person killed in the crash. His two passengers survived.
Davey Allison, NASCAR driver
July 12, 1993: It was a helicopter rather than an airplane that led to the demise of NASCAR driver Davey Allison. And the crash was perhaps the most public of all. Allison, 32, was seriously hurt when the Hughes helicopter he was piloting in the infield of the renowned Talladega Superspeedway went out of control and crashed. While his passenger escaped with minor injuries, Allison died the next day in hospital.
Payne Stewart, pro golfer
October 25, 1999: It's easily the most bizarre air crash involving an athlete. PGA champ Payne Stewart, flying from Florida to Texas, died after the cabin of his Learjet depressurized after takeoff. Everyone on board lost consciousness and may have asphyxiated or frozen to death in the ensuing hours-long flight, as the plane was shadowed by jet fighters until it ran out of fuel and crashed in a South Dakota field. Along with Stewart, two pilots, two sports agents and a golf course designer were also killed in the mishap.
TEAM MISHAPS
- May 4, 1949: Torino F.C. was one of the world's premier soccer teams when its Fiat plane crashed into a mountain near Turin, Italy in bad visibility. Eighteen members of the team and six trainers died.
- February 6, 1958: It was either ice on the wings or slush on the runway that caused the crash of an Airspeed Ambassador airliner in Munich, Germany. The accident killed eight members of Manchester United, along with 15 others on board.
- October 29, 1960: The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo football team was decimated when 16 of its team members were killed (along with six others) when their Arctic Pacific airplane crashed shortly after taking off from a Toledo, Ohio airport.
- February 15, 1961: The entire U.S. Olympic figure skating team -- all 18 members -- died when their Boeing 707 crashed near Brussels, Belgium. Seventy-two passengers were killed, as well as a farmer on the ground.
- September 26, 1969: The crash of a DC-6 in the Andes mountains near La Paz, Bolivia killed 25 members of The Strongest, a Bolivian soccer team. The crash also killed 49 others on the plane.
- October 2, 1970: A pilot trying to show off the beauty of a Rocky Mountain canyon led to the crash of the charter aircraft of the Wichita State football team. Of the 40 people on board, 31 died, including 14 members of the team.
- November 14, 1970: The entrie Marshall University football team, along with staff and fans, perished when their DC-9 crashed short of the runway at a West Virginia airport after clipping a tree. Seventy-five people in all were killed.
- October 13, 1972: A Fairchild F-227 airplane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed into infamy in the Chilean Andes. The 72-day ordeal of the survivors, which included cannibalism, formed the basis of several books and at least two movies, including Alive and Survive!
- December 13, 1977: Eerily echoing the Marshall University disaster, the entire University of Evansville basketball team was killed when their DC-3 crashed on takeoff from an Indiana airport. In all, 29 people died, including the team's coach, a broadcaster, and aircrew and airline officials.
- March 14, 1980: The crash of an Ilyushin IL-62 near Warsaw, Poland, virtually wiped out the American Olympic boxing team, which perished along with 64 other passengers when one of the plane's engines disintegrated and fatally damaged the rest of the aircraft.
