Team Tragedies

SI Staff | Sep 8, 2011

Team Tragedies /

Team Tragedies

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)

A Yak-42 airliner carrying the Kontinental Hockey League team to its season-opener in Minsk, Russia, went down into the Volga River shortly after take-off, killing 43 of the 45 passengers and crew. Among the victims were former NHLers such as Brad McCrimmon, who was about to coach his first game with the team, Pavol Demitra, Josef Vasicek, Ruslan Salei, Karel Rachunek, Josef Vasicek and Alexander Karpovtsev. It was the second air crash involving a Russian hockey squad. In 1950, a plane carrying the Soviet Air Force team crashed near the city of Sverdlov, killing 13 members and officials.

Bluffton University baseball

Five members of the Bluffton University baseball team died when the team's bus fell from an overpass in Atlanta.

Oklahoma State basketball

Players Nate Fleming and Dan Lawson and six officials associated with Oklahoma State's men's basketball team died when their plane went down in Byers, Colo.

Zambian soccer

Zambia's entire national soccer team died in 1993, when a military aircraft carrying them to a World Cup qualifying match crashed into the sea.

U.S. boxing

Twenty-two members of the U.S. boxing team -- 14 boxers and eight staff members -- were killed in a plane crash in Poland. The Polish IL-62 jetliner carrying the team went down just a half a mile from Warsaw's Okecie Airport as the team was traveling to compete in two dual events in Cracow and Katowice.

Soviet Pakhtakor soccer

One of the most frightening accidents in aviation history happened in 1979. Two aircrafts, both twin-engine airliners, collided over the Ukraine SSR near Dneprodzerzhinsk. An air traffic controller tried to alert one of the planes of its intersecting path, but falsely interpreted a muffled response, and neither flight subsequently changed course. All 178 combined passengers were killed, including 17 members of the Soviet Pakhtakor Football Club.

University of Evansville basketball

A plane crash killed 14 University of Evansville basketball players and coach Bobby Watson in Evansville, Ind.

Israeli Olympians

Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were killed by the Black September terrorist group at the Summer Olympics. Competition was suspended following the hostage-taking, the first time the Games had been halted in modern Olympic history.

Marshall University football

The entire Marshall University football team, including 37 players and 48 others, died when their plane crashed in Huntington, W.Va.

Wichita State football

Fourteen Wichita State football players were killed when their plane crashed in Colorado.

U.S. figure skating

A plane crash claimed 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team -- including Laurence Owen, in Belgium -- along with 43 international officials, judges, coaches, family members and passengers.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo football

A plane crash killed 16 players of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo football team, a team manager and booster, in Toledo, Ohio. In September 2006 the team was inducted into the Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Fame and Mustang Memorial Plaza (left) was dedicated to those who perished in the crash.

Manchester United

Attempting to return from a European Cup match in Yugoslavia, Manchester United was struck by tragedy on Feb. 6, 1958. British Airways Flight 609 collided into a buildup of slush during the plane's ascent, disrupting its takeoff and prompting its immediate crash. Twenty-three of the 44 passengers were killed, including eight Manchester United players, three team staffers and eight traveling journalists. Memorials in their honor were unveiled at the team's stadium, Old Trafford, in 1960.

Torino A.C.

A plane crash sent shockwaves through the Italian soccer circuit in 1949. Torino A.C., the four-time defending Serie A champions, was tragically wiped out when a Fiat G212CP aircraft collided into the Basilica complex at the peak of Superga, a hill located just outside Turin. The plane had descended to compensate for a storm that decreased visibility. All 31 passengers -- including 18 players -- died during the crash.

Published Sep 8, 2011

SI STAFF