60th anniversary of Lakers plane crash

 
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spflakers
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 7:46 pm    Post subject: 60th anniversary of Lakers plane crash

So after a Boston debacle, it's probably a good time to appreciate the fact the Lakers even have a franchise. Because 60 years ago the whole crew was nearly wiped out in an Iowa cornfield. The pilot is still alive at the age of 96. Still in good health and says he still thinks about the landing all the time. Here's a story about the crash on the 50th anniversary.

http://www.startribune.com/happy-anniversary-a-half-century-ago-minneapolis-lakers-survived-a-plane-crash-into-an-iowa-cornfield-during-a-blizzard/567125482/

Quote:

Pollard rode in the mortician’s vehicle. He said before his death in 1993 that he didn’t start shaking that night until he saw a stretcher in the back and realized he was in a hearse.

Whether fact or fiction, the undertaker purportedly said that night, “Thought I had some business tonight, boys.”
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KindCrippler2000
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 7:49 pm    Post subject:

Thanks for sharing. I always worry about team planes and all the things that could possibly go wrong. It's crazy and spectacular that no NBA players have died yet in a plane crash, given the sheer number of plane rides they take. Just a few weeks ago a Pelicans reporter died in a plane crash and they don't even travel as much.
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pio2u
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 7:57 pm    Post subject:

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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 8:08 pm    Post subject:

Wow, a thirty year old DC3 with no electricity in a blizzard. Amazing it didn't end much worse. The safety record has been good these past few decades and I hope it stays that way.
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JUST-MING
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 11:54 am    Post subject:

Quote:

The stalks and the accumulating snow provided cushion. The plane landed about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 18, 1960, and plowed to an astonishingly quick stop. Baylor the next day called it the “smoothest” landing you could imagine, but Hundley now compares the dissipation of energy to dropping a basketball and letting it bounce until it stops.

Garmaker remembers Hundley breaking the deadly silence by shouting, “I live to love again!” when everyone realized they were still alive.

“You would have thought we won the world championship,” Hundley said.


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