Steve Davis, Former Oklahoma Quarterback, Killed in Plane Crash

Steve Davis, who quarterbacked Oklahoma to back-to-back national titles, died in a plane crash yesterday. He was 60.

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Steve Davis, who quarterbacked Oklahoma to back-to-back national titles, died in a plane crash yesterday. He was 60.

LAT (“Former Oklahoma QB Steve Davis dies in plane crash“):

Former University of Oklahoma quarterback Steve Davis, who was the starting quarterback for the 1974 and 1975 national championship teams, was one of two people killed when a small aircraft smashed into a house in South Bend, Ind., on Sunday.

Davis, 60, and Wesley Caves, 58, died in the crash.

Davis started every game for the Sooners from 1973 to 1975 and finished with a 32-1-1 record. His coach at Oklahoma, Barry Switzer, sent out the following tweet on Monday:

“I’m saddened by the loss of Steve Davis. Great role model for young people on & off the field. He was my 1st QB & had an outstanding career.”

Davis talked about the thrill he got playing for Oklahoma in a recent book: “I will never get away from the fact that I was an Oklahoma quarterback. I will never get away from the fact that I only lost one game,” Davis said in the 2008 book “The Die-Hard Fan’s Guide to Sooner Football.”

“All of those things are a part of my legacy and my history. I am very thankful for what happened. I don’t know that I would trade my career for any other quarterback that has ever played at OU.”

Caves owned the plane involved in the crash and had a pilot’s license, but officials have not said who was flying the plane.

Sad news. While there are more dangerous things than flying in a small aircraft piloted by an amateur, it’s up there.

FILED UNDER: Obituaries, Sports, ,
James Joyner
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James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. PJ says:

    @James Joyner:

    While there are more dangerous things than flying in a small aircraft piloted by an amateur, it’s up there.

    Unless there was a deadly crash between 11th February and today, this crash ended more than four years of no deadly crashes in the US.

    Edit: There was a crash in Alaska ten days ago which claimed two lives.

  2. James Joyner says:

    @PJ: Those data are for commercial airlines.

  3. Me Me Me says:

    @PJ: PJ, that data is for airlines. I knew it couldn’t be correct because last year I attended the funeral for a high school friend who clipped a power line. I guess you don’t watch your local news, or you’d be seeing a news story about a small plane fatality on a regular basis

  4. Console says:

    Yeah. Being a commercial pilot is one of the most dangerous (in terms of fatalities) jobs in america and general aviation crashes happen quite often. People don’t think about this because GA crashes tend to not claim many lives and the only real interaction people have with commercial pilots are major airlines… not crop dusters that are flying over fences and under powerlines, or air ambulances that are landing using night vision and flying between buildings.