Nicolaas Peter Vanos (April 13, 1963 – August 16, 1987) was an American professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
player for the
Phoenix Suns of the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
. The
San Mateo, California, native was selected 32nd by the Suns in the
1985 NBA draft
The 1985 NBA Draft took place on June 18, 1985. It was also the first NBA draft of the "lottery" era. It was also around this time where the league decreased the amount of rounds the draft spent, with the previous few years lasting up to 10 roun ...
, after playing for
Hillsdale High School and collegiately at
Santa Clara University. He played for the Suns as a
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
on the team.
His career with the Suns lasted only two years before his death. On August 16, 1987, Vanos and his fiancée, Carolyn Cohen, boarded
Northwest Airlines Flight 255
On August 16, 1987 a McDonnell Douglas MD-80#MD-82, McDonnell Douglas MD-82, operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 255, crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, about 8:46 pm Eastern Time Zone, EDT (00:46 UTC Augus ...
, after visiting his fiancée's parents, for a trip to
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
. The plane crashed after takeoff from the
Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport , usually called Detroit Metro Airport, Metro Airport, or simply DTW, is a major international airport in the United States covering effective December 30, 2021. in Romulus, Michigan. It is the primary ...
in
Romulus, Michigan
Romulus is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 23,989 at the 2010 census. Romulus is a western suburb of Metro Detroit and is also considered part of the Downriver collection of communities. It is most not ...
, killing 154 passengers and crew, including Vanos and his fiancée, as well as two motorists.
See also
*
List of basketball players who died during their careers
This is a list of notable basketball players who died while still on a team roster or as a free agent. A majority died of accidents such as car or plane crashes. Some suffered sudden cardiac death, which has a higher incidence in basketball among y ...
References
External links
*
1963 births
1987 deaths
Accidental deaths in Michigan
American men's basketball players
American people of Dutch descent
Basketball players from California
Centers (basketball)
People from San Mateo, California
Phoenix Suns draft picks
Phoenix Suns players
Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball players
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1987
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
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