Toledo, OH Airliner Crashes Carrying Football Team, Oct 1960

GRIDDERS' C46 HITS, BURNS IN FOG AT TOLEDO

Toledo, Ohio -- UPI -- A chartered airliner carrying the California Polytechnic College football team en route home to San Luis Obispo, Calif., crashed as it lifted from the runway here last night. An undetermined number of persons, probably 22, were killed.
There were 26 known survivors from the plane whose flight plan filed 30 minutes before takeoff listed 43 persons in the college traveling party and five crew members.
The official party included 44 persons and three crew members when it flew here Thursday, but there was a possibility two women joined the plane here for the return trip.
Four hours after the plane crashed in the dense fog which covered the airport, the coroner's staff still was searching the wreckage for bodies and trying to identify those taken to a morgue set up inside a hangar.
Among the football players known dead were WAYNE ROGER SORENSON of Los Angeles and JIM LEDBETTER.
Head Coach LEROY HUGHES, was pulled from the wreckage by Assictant Coach WALTER WILLIAMSON who said the plane seemed to rise about 100 feet off the runway when it began to veer off and the left wing hit the ground. He said the plane caught fire but did not burn.
The airport control tower said the decision to take off in the fog was made by the pilot. Fog was so dense on the road it slowed ambulances and rescue workers trying to get to the airport 20 miles southwest of the city.
Editor Survives.
Sports Editor JOHN NETTLESHIP of the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune survived the crash. His newspaper said it had learned the survivors were Coach HUGHES, team physician DR. ARTHUR JAMES, Arroyo, Calif., Assistant Coach HOWARD (HOWIE) O'DANIELS, SHELDON HARDEN, WALTER WILLIAMSON, and the following players:
BILLY ROSS, 25, Bakersfield; RUSSELL WOODS, 21, Gridley; GIL STORK, 19, San Luis Obispo; DAN ADAMS, 25, Modesto; JOHN BRENNAN, 19, Glendale; AL MARIANI, 20, Huntington Park; ROY SCIALABBA, 20, San Bernardino; FRED BROWN, 20, Albany; ROGER KELLY, 21, Bakersfield; BILL DAUPHIN, 19, Shafter; TED TOLLNER, 21, Palo Alto; DICK McBRIDE, 19, Redondo Beach; BRENT JOBE, 19, Escondido; CARL BOWSER, 23, Bakersfield; BOB JOHNSON, 23, of Detroit, Mich.; and JERRY WILLIAMS of Santa Monica.
Mercy Hospital said NETTLESHIP is in critical condition with chest injuries and a fractured arm.
California sources said the plane, chartered from the Arctic Pacific Airlines, carried 44 passengers and a crew of three when it left Santa Maria, Calif., for Toledo Thursday.
The possibility of additional passengers aboard was raised by DALE HERBERT, an assistant basketball coach at Bowling Green State University, who accompanied the visiting team to the airport. He said two women at the airport told him they intended to fly on to the coast with the team.
The plane, after bringing the California team here Thursday, went on to Youngstown, Ohio, where it picked up the Youngstown University team and flew it to Connecticut for a football game. It returned the Youngstown team to Youngstown last evening and came on here to take the California team home. HERBERT said the two women indicated they had boarded the plane in Connecticut.
Breaks In Half.
A spokesman at the airport control tower said the plane broke in half, that the front end was mangled and the tail section was not damaged.
Toledo Police Lieutenant EDWARD JARCZYNSKI said the plane's tail began to quiver as it went down the runway. He said he understood the plane's left wing hit the ground and the plane spun around.
The Ohio Highway Patrol, the state agency charged with investigating all plane crashes in Ohio, first reported that 30 persons were killed and that 17 were injured.
The football team players listed by Bowling Green State University as aboard the plane were: LARRY AUSTIN, DON ADAMS, ROD BAUGH, JOHN BELL, CARL BOWSER, JOHN BRENNAN, FRED BROWN, DEAN CARLSON, JOE COPELAND, BILL DAUPHIN, JAMES FAHEY, VIC HALL, GUY HENNEGAN, CURTIS HILL, ROBERT JOHNSON.
BRENT JOBE, ROGER KELLY, MARSHALL KULJU, JIM LEDBETTER, LYNN LOBAUGH, AL MARINAI, DICK McBRIDE, DON O'MEARA, GENERAL OWENS, RAY PORRAS, BILL ROSS, ROY SCIALABBA, BILL STEWART, WALTER SHIMEK, GIL STORK, WAYNE SORENSEN, TED TOLLNER, GARY VAN HORN, JERRY WILLIAMS, and RUSSELL WOOD.
With the team were coach HUGHES and his assistants, HOWARD DANIELS, SHELDON HARDEN and WALT WILLIAMSON; an unidentified team manager; team physician DR. ARTHUR JAMES; PETE BACHINO member of the Mustang Booster, and JOHN NETTLESHIP, sports editor of the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune.
HERBERT, an assistant basketball coach at Bowling Green State, said two women probably boarded the plane.
Pilot's Decision.
Airway Traffic Specialist ARTHUR CAMPBELL at the control tower said the decision to take off in the fog was made by the pilot.
HERBERT accompanied the team here from Bowling Green. He said he shook hands with the players, coaches, and others in the college party as they boarded the plane. He left, however, before the plane went down the runway, wanting to begin his drive homeward as quickly as possible because of the fog.
"The fog was so terribly thick I thought we had better get back as soon as possible because driving was hazardous," he said. He was accompanied by two of the Bowling Green trainers who had helped the visiting team during its stay at Bowling Green.
The plane, owned by the Artic Pacific Airline Company, after bringing the team here Thursday, went on to Youngstown, Ohio, where it flew the Youngstown University team to Connecticut. It returned the Youngstown team to Youngstown early last evening, then flew on here to pick up the California team.
From Connecticut.
HEBERT said the women asked him at the airport if the plane were an Arctic Pacific plane. He told them it was and they said they had flown from Connecticut to Toledo on the plane and intended to fly on to California.
The California team had lost 50 to 6 to Bowling Green, rated No. 2 nationally among the nation's small college football teams by the United Press International Board of Coaches.
Coach HUGHES, who had been with the team for 10 years, is known as the Silver Fox. His teams have scored in all but two games in his 10 years at the school and has a record of 67 wins, 29 losses and one tie. He was graduated from the Polytechnic High School in San Francisco where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball and swimming. He attended San Mateo, Calif., Junior College, winning honors in football, basketball, and swimming. He later attended the University of Oregon from which he was graduated.
Star At Santa Clara.
O'DANIELS was a former football coach at California Polytechnic College from 1933 to 1947 with time out for navy duty, and has been an assistant in recent years. He was a football star at the University of Santa Clara in California.
Maumee Valley Hospital identified three of the injured as CARL BOWSER of Bakersfield, Calif., TED TOLLNER and RICHARD McBRIDE.
Toledo hospital said 15 injured persons were admitted.
Injured List.
Mercy Hospital said at 12:30 A.M. the following injured persons had been admitted for treatment:
BRENT JOBE, 19, of Vista, Calif.
DANNEY MILLER, 34, stewardess, of Seattle, Wash.
JERRY WILLIAMS, 19, of Santa Maria, Calif.
LEROY HUGHES, 54, coach of the team, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
HOWARD O'DANIELS, 52, assistant coach, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
SHELDON HARDEN, an assistant coach.
DAVE FAHEY, 24, of Gilroy, Calif.
GENERAL OWENS, JR., 21 of Barstow, Calif.
The tragedy shocked the college community of San Luis Obispo, where the college vice president, ROBERT KENNEDY, phoned the college president, JULIAN McPHEE, in Washington, D. C. to notify him of the crash. The college president was attending a meeting there.
Crowds of people flocked to the scene, blocking roads to the airport and snarling police and rescue traffic.
The pilot of the ill fated plane was identified as Captain DONALD G. CHESSER of San Leandro, Calif., with HOWARD PAROVICH, 30 as, copilot.
The hostess was FAITH MILLER of Seattle. The airline says she was not injured.
Given Account.
WALT WILLIAMSON, backfield coach of the California State Polytechnic college team, was one of members of the school's party aboard. He gave this account:
"We started to take off. Visibility wasn't very good. One hundred feet off the runway the plane started to veer off."
"The left wing hit. Everything went."
"The whole front of the plane was gone."
WILLILAMSON said he was sitting next to the team physician, DR. ARTHUR JAMES.
"I don't know what happened to him. ROY HUGHES (head coach) was cut in the head. I pulled him outside."
'Plane Burning'
"The stewardess got out all right. She was in the rear. Several persons back there got out. The plane was burning, but it didn't blow up."
"I tried to find some guys to help out."
"AL MARINAI'S leg was injured badly."

List Of Dead And Injured
Toledo, Ohio -- AP -- Here is a list of reported casualties in the crash of a chartered airplane at the Toledo Express Airport last night:
Dead:
PETE BACHINO, San Luis Obispo, an insurance man.
JAMES GARY LEDBETTER, 19, Sacramento, a Cal Poly football player.
RODNEY BAUGHN, 21, San Gabriel, a player.
Captain JACK D. CHESNER, co-pilot, Los Angeles.
Captain TOM FLEMMING, pilot, Brooklyn, New York.
GUY HENNEGAN, 20, Huntington Park, a player.
CURTIS HILL, 21, Bakersfield, a player.
LYNN LOBAUGH, 20, Huntington Park, a player.
WENDELL M. MINOR, team manager.
WALTER SHIMICK, 20, Alberta, Canada, a player.
WAYNE SORENSON, 20, Los Angeles, a player.
VICTOR HALL, 21, Los Angeles, a player.
JOHN BELL, 26, Chicago, a player.
WILLIAM STEWART, 19, a player, Monterey Park.
LARRY AUSTIN, 23, a player, Bakersfield.
JOSEPH COPELAND, 23, a player, Bakersfield.
GARY VAN HORN, 22, a player, Paso Robles.
RICHARD CARLSON, 20, a player, Lompoc.
RAY PORRAS, 27, a player, Bakersfield.
HOWARD PAROVICH, co-pilot.
MARSHALL KULJU, a player, Antioch.
DONALD O'MEARA, 25, a player, Madera.
Injured:
In Toledo Hospital:
JAMES FAHEY, Gilroy, Calif., a player.
LEROY HUGHES, 54, San Luis Obispo, head coach.
JOHN NETTLESHIP, 51, sports editor, San Luis Obispo Telegram Tribune.
HOWARD O'DANIELS, assistant coach.
DR. ARTHUR JAMES, 38, Arroyo Grande, Calif., team physician.
MRS. DANIEL MILLER, 34, Seattle, Wash., stewardess.
BILLY ROSS, Bakersfield.
RUSSELL WOODS, Gridley.
GIL STORK, San Luis Obispo.
DON ADAMS, Modesto.
JOHN BRENNAN, Glendale.
AL MARINAI, San Francisco.
ROY SCIALABBA, San Bernardino.
FRED BROWN, Albany.
BOB JOHNSON, Detroit, Mich.
WALT WILLIAMSON, backfield coach, San Luis Obispo.
BILL DAUPHIN, Shafter.
ROY HUGHES, head coach, San Luis Obispo.
In Maumee Valley Hospital:
TED TOLLNER, Palo Alto.
DICK McBRIDE, Redondo Beach.
CARL BOWSER, Bakersfield.

Fresno Bee Republican California 1960-10-30
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!