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Last updated on Monday, March 18, 2013
(SOUTH BEND) - A former college football star was among two people killed when a private jet crashed Sunday in a northern Indiana neighborhood, hitting three homes, officials said.
Steven Davis, 60, a former Oklahoma University football star, and Wesley Caves, 58, were killed when the Beechcraft Premier I twin-jet crashed near South Bend Regional Airport, hours after departing Tulsa, Okla.'s Riverside Airport.
Davis went 32-1-1 as the Sooners' starting quarterback from 1973 to 1975, starting every game of Barry Switzer's first three seasons as head coach. Oklahoma tied Southern Cal in the second game of the 1973 season, then ran off 28 straight victories with Davis under center. The Sooners went 11-0 in 1974, then won the national title again the following year after going 11-1.
South Bend Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Maggie Scroope said Monday that two survivors who were on board the private jet were Jim Rogers, who's listed in serious condition, and Christopher Evans, who's in fair condition.
Scroope said a woman on the ground who was injured when the jet crashed Sunday afternoon is in fair condition. She identified that woman as Diana McKeown.
The plane was registered to 7700 Enterprises of Montana LLC in Helena, Mont. The company is owned by Caves and does business as DigiCut Systems in Tulsa, Okla. It makes window film and paint overlay for automobiles.
In South Bend, Assistant Fire Chief John Corthier said the presence of jet fuel from the aircraft made the situation "very dangerous," Corthier said. The plane was lodged inside a house.
Part of the neighborhood southwest of the airport was evacuated. Buses transported up to 200 people to a nearby shelter, Red Cross volunteer Jackie Lincoln said.
Mike Daigle, executive director of the St. Joseph County Airport Authority, said the jet attempted a landing, went back up and maneuvered south to try another landing, but eight minutes later the airport learned the plane was no longer airborne.
"There was an indication of a mechanical problem," Herwig said.
Stan Klaybor, who lives across the street from the crash scene, said the jet clipped the top of one house, heavily damaged a second, and finally came to rest against a third.
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