Sports

Friends, Family Mourn 7 Victims of Illinois Plane Crash

Published

9 years ago

April 8, 2015

Investigators work in a thick fog at the site of small plane crash near Bloomington, Ill., Tuesday, April 7, 2015, that has claimed the lives of seven people. The Cessna 414 took off from Indianapolis and crashed just short of the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington after midnight. The plane was returning from the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/The Pantagraph, David Proeber)

DAVID MERCER, Associated Press
JASON KEYSER, Associated Press

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — As family, friends and colleagues mourned the loss of the seven victims of a small plane crash in central Illinois, authorities were investigating but had no immediate word on the cause.

The aircraft was returning from the NCAA basketball tournament in Indianapolis when it crashed in a field near Bloomington early Tuesday, killing all on board, including Illinois State University’s associate head basketball coach and a deputy athletics director.

“The Redbird family and the Bloomington-Normal community has suffered a terrible loss today,” Illinois State athletics director Larry Lyons said of the deaths of his deputy, Aaron Leetch, and associate coach Torrey Ward.

All seven victims, who were found strapped in their seats, died from blunt force trauma resulting from the crash, McLean County Coroner Kathleen Davis said.

The journey to Monday night’s championship game began with a phone conversation. Scott Bittner, a 42-year-old business owner, got a call from sports bar owner Terry Stralow, 64, asking if he wanted to go to the game.

“He said he had an extra ticket and asked him to go,” said Terry Wertz, who worked alongside Bittner at a meat processing plant. Wertz said that when Bittner hung up the phone he was “really excited.”

They took off for the game in a plane that Bittner used regularly for business trips, owned by his father. It was not clear exactly how they were connected with the others on board, but local broadcasters talked about the group as if many of them were well acquainted with one another.

Bittner and Stralow were two of the seven killed.

Illinois State University President Larry Dietz confirmed in an email to students, faculty and staff that Ward, 36, and Leetch, 37, also were killed in the early morning crash.

“Words cannot fully express the grief that is felt in the wake of such a tragedy,” Dietz wrote, adding that both men were well-respected and much-loved in the athletics department. “We move between shock and profound sadness.”

The Cessna 414 twin-engine aircraft took off from Indianapolis and crashed just short of the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington after midnight, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash, and the National Transportation Safety Board said its full investigation was expected to take a year to 18 months.

The airport was open and all systems, including its runway lighting, were functioning, though the tower had closed several hours earlier and handed responsibility to an air traffic control facility in Peoria. Radar contact was lost moments before the crash, and a search was launched when the pilot failed to close out his flight plan. It took about three hours to find the wreckage.

News photos from near the scene showed dense fog. NTSB investigator Todd Fox said the plane was cleared to land in fog and rain but appears to have made a turn away from approaching the runway before crashing. It isn’t clear why, he said.

Fox said he didn’t know if the plane was having problems or if the pilot radioed in distress. The plane’s engines caught fire on impact, Fox said.

The pilot had flown about 12,000 hours and held an air transport license, which allows a pilot to fly commercial airliners, Fox said.

The other victims included Jason Jones, 45, a former basketball and baseball player for Illinois Wesleyan University who worked at Wells Fargo Advisors.

“He loved his children and his family more than anything in the world, wonderful man. That’s really all I can say right now,” said his wife, Lyndsey Jones.

The McLean County coroner’s office identified the other victims as Stralow, pilot Thomas Hileman, 51, and Andrew Butler, 40, an employee of Sprint.

Bittner lived with his wife and two children in Towanda, a small village just outside Bloomington, his co-worker Wertz told The Associated Press. He owned a meat processing plant in Eureka, Illinois, carrying on the family’s line of work after his dad established another plant in the small city of Chenoa, where Bittner grew up.

“He always told me that he wasn’t my boss, that I didn’t work for him, I worked with him,” said Wertz, who has worked at Bittner’s Meat Co. for 15 years.

“If I needed anything, he’d do anything for you,” Wertz said through tears.

The aircraft was registered to Make it Happen Aviation LLC of Towanda, Illinois.

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Rajah Caruth: Young Trailblazer of NASCAR

Imagine you’re only 22 years old and already making a name for yourself in NASCAR, one of the most thrilling sports in the US. That is the life of Rajah Kirby Caruth, an American professional stock car racing driver.

Published

13 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Rajah Kirby Caruth, an American professional stock car racing driver. (File Photo)

By Tamara Shiloh

Born June 11, 2002, in Washington, DC, he was drawn to the sport as a child after seeing the Disney Pixar film “Cars.”

Caruth dreamed of tooling around the track like the main character in “Cars,” Lightning McQueen. His enthusiasm grew when his parents surprised him with a trip to the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway when he was 12.

In 2018, while keeping busy with school, sports and a summer job, Caruth and his family held fundraisers so that he could buy an iRacing simulator. Then, at age 16, he traded a real driver’s license to race virtually in the eNASCAR Ignite Series, which led to him being recruited by the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Program.

His first big opportunity came in 2019 when he competed in a “Legends” car at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Bojangles’ Southern Shootout and recorded two top-third in the semi-pro points.

People began to recognize Caruth’s talents. In 2020, he stepped up to the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series and became the first African American to win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in a late model race. The next year, he won at Tri-County Motor Speedway and picked up his fourth overall late model victory.

Then, he became the first person of color to win at the South Carolina track.

In 2021, Caruth announced he would compete full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East for Rev Racing, where he finished third in the standings, including a series of top-five finishes. He made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut on a bigger stage as well.

Then, in 2022, thing really took off. A new chapter found Caruth at NASCAR’s unofficial Triple A league with GMS Racing, where he drives full-time for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, with a sponsorship from The Wendell Scott Foundation. After a few setbacks, he broke into the top 10 several times, finishing at a career-high 6th at Darlington Raceway.

Fast-forward to 2024, and Caruth’s took the third major step in his career. He is now driving full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Spire Motorsports and has been making the news for putting on stellar performances. Oh, and he won at Las Vegas: his first career victory.

From an impressionable young racing fan to a professional NASCAR driver, Caruth is charting a new path, creating history, and inspiring people to always remember that if you have the talent, the drive, and most of all, the heart, anything can be achieved.

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Salesian Coach Knew Angel Jackson Could Play in WNBA

Back in 2019, Salesian Girls Basketball Head Coach Stephen Pezzola made a bold prediction about one of his players, Angel Jackson. “If she keeps putting in the work like she did for us, she could be in the WNBA,” the coach said. That turned out to be very true. Last month, the Las Vegas Aces selected Jackson with the 36th overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. She is the second player from an Historically Black College or University, or HCBU, to be selected in the draft in 20 years.

Published

17 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Angel Jackson. Photo courtesy of Jackston State.

The Richmond Standard

Back in 2019, Salesian Girls Basketball Head Coach Stephen Pezzola made a bold prediction about one of his players, Angel Jackson.

“If she keeps putting in the work like she did for us, she could be in the WNBA,” the coach said.

That turned out to be very true. Last month, the Las Vegas Aces selected Jackson with the 36th overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. She is the second player from an Historically Black College or University, or HCBU, to be selected in the draft in 20 years.

Jackson’s success came as little surprise to Pezzola, who last year led the Pride to their 8th North Coast Section championship since he took over the program in 2008-2009. In 2019, Pezzola commended Jackson as “a very coachable kid” from the time she arrived at Salesian.

Tomekia Reed, her coach at Jackson State, shared similar sentiments, noting Jackson worked “very hard” to reach this moment.

“She came into our program doing great things and never looked back,” Reed told the Clarion Ledger. “She has trusted our leadership as we were able to develop her into an amazing player. I have watched her improve tremendously over the years.”

The 6’-6” Jackson played three seasons at the University of Southern California before transferring to Jackson State. She was ranked 10th in the NCAA in blocked shots and averaged 10 points per game in her final college season.

She finished her collegiate career with 1,047 points and was twice named Southwestern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

As the 36th pick, Jackson was the final pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. In a television interview, Jackson said she didn’t expect to be picked, and called the moment “surreal.”

“It made me feel so appreciative that HBCU is getting back on the map again,” she said.

All she could do in that moment was cry.

“I called my mom immediately, and she started crying,” Jackson said. “It was the best moment you can feel as a young lady.”

There’s no stopping Jackson now. “The sky is the limit,” she said.

Her high school coach agrees.

“I knew that Angel could do it,” Coach Pezzola told the Richmond Standard this week. “We are so proud of Angel and what she has accomplished. It was an honor and joy to coach Angel at Salesian.”

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Oakland WNBA Player to be Inducted Into Hall of Fame

The Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame (MESHOF) announced that it will induct Dr. Alexis Gray-Lawson, a former WNBA player and Oakland Technical High School graduate at its inaugural Curt Flood Platinum Award Ceremony in February. Gray-Lawson’s Platinum Award is part of the Hall of Fame’s 24th Annual Bay Area induction and award ceremony, where four other retired professional athletes will be honored.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo Courtesy of Alexis Gray Lawson.

By Post staff

The Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame (MESHOF) announced that it will induct Dr. Alexis Gray-Lawson, a former WNBA player and Oakland Technical High School graduate at its inaugural Curt Flood Platinum Award Ceremony in February.

Gray-Lawson’s Platinum Award is part of the Hall of Fame’s 24th Annual Bay Area induction and award ceremony, where four other retired professional athletes will be honored.

The banquet and ceremony will be held from 5:45 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24, at the George P. Scotlan Convention Center at Oakland’s Marriott Civic Center Hotel.

“I am truly honored to receive this incredible nomination,” said Dr. Alexis Gray-Lawson, who, along with college teammate Devanei Hampton, lead Oakland Tech to its second consecutive state title in 2005. “It took a village to raise me and get me here, and I truly am excited to continue the legacy.”

Gray-Lawson, a “second team” Parade All-American and an All-State honoree, as a senior in ’05, was chosen for the California Interscholastic Federation sportsmanship award. She only lost one game throughout her four-year career in high school. Her jersey was retired at Oakland Tech and placed in the National High School Hall of Fame as a four-time All-City recipient, averaging 17.2 points per game during her career.

Gray-Lawson received scholarships in volleyball, softball, and basketball before deciding to travel up College Avenue to the University of California, Berkeley. There, she played in more basketball games (143) than any other player in Golden Bears’ history. She finished her career as the Bears all-time 3-point leader (211), and she is ranked third in scoring with 1,982 points.

An All-Pac 10 and honorable mention All-American in 2010, Gray-Lawson also was the top player at 5’8” or under for the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award. Later that year, she was a third-round pick of the Washington Mystics in 2010 and played with the Phoenix Mercury of the Women’s National Basketball Association in 2011 and 2012. She also played professionally overseas in Turkey and Israel.

Other inductees are Clifford Ray (Basketball); Lee Lacy (Baseball); Spencer Haywood (Basketball); and Mohinder Singh Gil (Track & Field).

Organizers say the event promises to be a “historic and celebratory evening,” and iconic personalities from across the professional sports industry and its various disciplines will attend.

The no-host cocktail hour begins at 5:45 p.m.; dinner at 6:45 p.m.; and the ceremony at 7:45 p.m. All times are prompt. General tickets are $250.00; Seniors (65 and older) $150.00, and students $50. This includes dinner and the ceremony. Tables of 10 are available as well, and early purchase is recommended.

MESHOF is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring athletes from all corners of the globe who have made significant contributions to the world of sports and broadening the public’s understanding of the contributions people of color have made to professional sports; and to provide educational life skills and mentorship opportunities for deserving youth. Proceeds will help maintain the City of Oakland’s Curt Flood Field, Oakland Parks & Recreation, and MESHOF’s after school and mental health initiatives.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.multiethnicsportshof.com. For additional information, please contact: Arif Khatlib @ afrosportshall@aol.com or India Alston @ india@beamcreativehouse.com