The California Polytechnic State University football team plane crash occurred on October 29, 1960, at 22:02 EST near

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. The aircraft, a veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, was carrying the

Cal Poly Mustangs The Cal Poly Mustangs are the athletic teams representing California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The university fields twenty-one teams and compete in NCAA Division I; they are primarily members of the Big West ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

team.CAB Accident Investigation Report, SA-360 File No. 1-0047
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/ref> Of the 48 on board, 22 were killed, including both pilots, 16 players, a student manager, and a Cal Poly football

booster Booster may refer to: Amusement rides * Booster (Fabbri ride), a pendulum ride * Booster (HUSS ride), an evolution of the Breakdance ride * Booster (KMG ride), a pendulum ride Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Booster, a char ...

Investigation

The

Civil Aeronautics Board The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1938 and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services including scheduled passenger airline serviceStringer, David H."Non-Skeds: Th ...

(CAB) investigated the accident and concluded that the

Curtiss C-46 Commando The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...

aircraft had been overloaded by above its maximum certificated gross takeoff weight of and that there was a partial power loss in the left engine prior to the crash. Prior to takeoff the weather at the airport steadily deteriorated: at 7 p.m. the visibility was 3/4-mile (1.2 km); down to 1/16-mile (100 m) at 8:37 p.m.; and zero at the time of the accident, 22:02 EST. The CAB accident report states that stemming from the crash, the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

(FAA) published a notice in the Airman's Guide that prohibited takeoff for commercial aircraft when the visibility is below 1/4 mile (400 m), or the runway visual range is below . In its final report, the CAB Probable Cause statement was "The accident was due to loss of control during a premature lift-off. Contributing factors were the overweight aircraft, weather conditions, and partial loss of power in the left engine."

Aftermath

The pilot who made the decision to take off was flying on a certificate that had been revoked, but he was allowed to fly pending an appeal. Following the crash, the Arctic-Pacific Company lost its certificate to charter airplanes. Among the survivors was

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Ted Tollner Alfred Theodore Tollner (born May 29, 1940) is a former American football player and coach. He had served as the head coach at the University of Southern California (USC) from 1983 to 1986 and San Diego State University (SDSU) from 1994 to 2001, ...

, later the head coach at

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. At the time of the crash, Bowling Green State had been the easternmost opposing school ever to play football against Cal Poly. The university canceled the final three games of the 1960 season.

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

coach

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...

, a Cal Poly alumnus who played for the Mustangs during the 1957 and 1958 seasons, had a

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, which was commonly attributed to the crash, although he said it instead stemmed from

claustrophobia Claustrophobia is the fear of confined spaces. It can be triggered by many situations or stimuli, including elevators, especially when crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and hotel rooms with closed doors and sealed windows. Even bedrooms with ...

. Madden was coaching at the nearby Allan Hancock Junior College at the time of the crash and knew many passengers aboard the aircraft. As a result of the crash, Cal Poly did not play any road games outside California until 1969, a 14–0 loss at

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

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. Cal Poly did not play another game east of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

until 1978, a 17–0 loss to Winston-Salem State in North Carolina in the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

playoffs. They did not play another regular season game east of the Rockies until 1989, a 45–20 loss to

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in Texas. Two weeks afterward, ''

LIFE Magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

'' published an article, "Campus Overwhelmed by Team's Tragic Flight". In April 2001, the tragedy was examined in an

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Outside the Lines ''Outside the Lines'', or also referred to as ''OTL'', is an American television program on ESPN that looks "outside the lines" and examines critical issues in mostly American sports on and off the field of play. The primary host of the show is ...

'' monthly special focusing on the evolution and frequency of travel in collegiate and pro sports. The segment, entitled "Have Game, Will Travel," included an interview with Tollner conducted by

Lisa Salters Lisa Salters is an American journalist and former college basketball player. She has been a reporter for ESPN and ESPN on ABC since 2000. Previously, she covered the O. J. Simpson murder case for ABC and worked as a reporter at WBAL-TV in Balt ...

Mercy Bowl

In the following season on

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden a ...

1961,

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

Supervisor

Warren Dorn A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Anglo ...

and

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

Campus memorials at Cal Poly

There are memorial plaques for the crash on the Cal Poly campus at Mott Gym and the Mustang horse statue. A permanent memorial plaza opened with the new

Alex G. Spanos Stadium Mustang Memorial Field, formerly known as Mustang Stadium and then Alex G. Spanos Stadium, is an 11,075-seat multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, California. It&nbs ...

. The memorial has 18

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

pillars, one for each of the Cal Poly-affiliated individuals who died in the crash. Each pillar rises to the height of the person honored and is adorned with a plaque about that individual's life. On September 29, 2006, the 1960 football team was inducted into the Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Fame. The following night, former players and members of the crash victims' families stood at mid-field of Spanos Stadium during a halftime memorial.

References

External links

* * * * *
Mustang Memorial Plaza
(PDF) – Dedication ceremony photos {{DEFAULTSORT:Cal Poly Football Team Plane Crash Cal Poly Mustangs football Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1960 Airliner accidents and incidents in Ohio History of Toledo, Ohio Lucas County, Ohio 1960 in sports in California 1960 in sports in Ohio 1960 in California 1960 in Ohio October 1960 events in the United States Aviation accidents and incidents involving sports teams Accidents and incidents involving the Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando Transportation in Toledo, Ohio