Kobe Bryant, Roberto Clemente among sports figures who died in aircraft crashes

Posted by author January 30, 2025 Sports

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The sports world is once again in mourning after the deaths of several U.S. figure skaters, coaches and family members in a collision Wednesday night between a military helicopter and a commercial jet near Washington, D.C.

The skaters were on their way home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. championships Jan. 21-26 in Wichita, Kansas. The exact number of athletes killed in the crash has not yet been determined.

The tragedy is the latest air disaster to involve sports figures. Here are some of the most prominent ones that come to mind from years past.

Kobe Bryant (2020)

NBA All-Star Kobe Bryant was killed, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020. He was 41 and had just retired from the Los Angeles Lakers four years earlier.

Bryant, a five-time NBA champion and the league’s fourth all-time leading scorer, was posthumously elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Roy Halladay (2017)

Two-time Cy Young award winning pitcher Roy Halladay died Nov. 7, 2017, when his single-engine plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Halladay, who retired after the 2013 MLB season with 203 wins and 2,117 career strikeouts, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Cory Lidle (2006)

Pitcher Cory Lidle had just finished his ninth MLB season when he died Oct. 11, 2006, as he was piloting a small plane that crashed into a Manhattan office building.

Payne Stewart (1999)

Three-time major champion golfer Payne Stewart was killed four months after winning the U.S. Open when he was one of six people aboard a private jet that lost cabin pressure and crashed near Aberdeen, South Dakota, on Oct. 25, 1999.

Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki (1993)

The two NASCAR drivers died a little more than three months apart in separate crashes. Alan Kulwicki, the 1992 series champion, was flying to an upcoming race in Bristol, Tennessee, when his plane crashed on April 1, 1993.

Davey Allison, the 1992 Daytona 500 champion, died on July 13, 1993 – the day after a helicopter he was piloting crashed on the infield at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Thurman Munson (1979)

New York Yankees catcher and 1976 AL MVP Thurman Munson died at the age of 32 when the private jet he was piloting crashed near his home in Canton, Ohio, on Aug, 2, 1979.

University of Evansville basketball team (1977)

All 14 players and head coach Bobby Watson of the Evansville Purple Aces were among 29 people who died when a DC-3 bound for Nashville and a game against Middle Tennessee crashed during takeoff at the Evansville (Indiana) Regional Airport on Dec. 13, 1977.

Roberto Clemente (1972)

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder and 15-time MLB All-Star Roberto Clemente was killed in a plane crash on Dec. 31, 1972, on his way to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. The plane plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after taking off from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Clemente, 38, had just completed his 18th year in the major leagues, collecting his 3,000th hit on the final weekend of the 1972 season. He was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in a special election in 1973.

Marshall University football team (1970)

The deadliest plane crash involving a sports team in U.S. history occurred on Nov. 14, 1970 when a chartered DC-9 carrying 36 Marshall University football players, plus 39 coaches, support staff and crew crashed into a hill just before it was preparing to land in Huntington, West Virginia.

The team was returning home from a game against East Carolina. Their story was told in a 2006 feature film, “We Are Marshall,” starring Matthew McConaughey.

Rocky Marciano (1969)

Former world heavyweight champion boxer Rocky Marciano was one of three people who died on Aug. 31, 1969, as their private plane crashed into a field near Newton, Iowa. The plane had taken off from Chicago and was en route to Des Moines, Iowa, where Marciano was planning to celebrate his 46th birthday the following day.

Marciano retired from boxing in 1956 with a record of 49-0.

U.S. Figure Skating Team (1961)

The figure skating world suffered another air tragedy when the entire U.S. national team died Feb. 15, 1961, in a plane crash in Belgium on the way to the that year’s world championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Knute Rockne (1931)

Legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne died March 31, 1931, at the age of 43 when a plane carrying him and seven others crashed near Bazaar, Kansas.

Though he coached for only 13 years, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history. His Fighting Irish won three national championships over that span (1924, 1929, 1930) and had a record of 105-12-5.

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