March 31, 1931: Knute Rockne Is Killed

March 31, 1931: Knute Rockne is killed in a plane crash. At that point, he was probably the most famous American ever to suffer that fate.

It happened to aviator Wiley Post and entertainer Will Rogers in 1935, on the same flight, in America's northernmost city, Barrow, Alaska. It probably happened to pioneering aviatrix Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, in the Pacific Ocean in 1937.

It happened to early rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens in Iowa in 1959; to soul singer Otis Redding in Wisconsin in 1967; to rock singer Jim Croce in Louisiana in 1973; to country-rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd in Mississippi in 1977; to early rock singer Ricky Nelson in Texas in 1985; pop singer John Denver off California in 1997; pop singer Aaliyah in the Bahamas in 2001; and banda singer Jenni Rivera in Mexico in 2012.

It happened to labor leader Walter Reuther in Michigan in 1970; to Congressmen Hale Boggs and Nick Begich in Alaska in 1972; to Senator John Heinz outside Philadelphia and former Senator John Tower in Georgia, on back-to-back days in 1991; to John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren Bessett off Massachusetts in 1999; to Governor Mel Carnahan in Missouri in 2000; and to Senator Paul Wellstone in Minnesota in 2002.

It happened to the Cal Poly football team in Ohio in 1960, and to the U.S. figure skating team in Belgium in 1961. It happened to 2 college football teams within a few weeks in 1970: Wichita State, not in their native Kansas but in Colorado; and Marshall University, near their base of Huntington, West Virginia. It happened to the University of Evansville basketball team near their home base in Indiana in 1977, and to the U.S. boxing team in Poland in 1980.

It happened to baseball players Ken Hubbs in Utah in 1964, Roberto Clemente in Puerto Rico in 1972, Thurman Munson in Ohio in 1979, Cory Lidle in New York in 2006, and Roy Halladay in Florida in 2017; 1920 Olympic sprint champion Charley Paddock in Alaska in 1943; former Heavyweight Champion Rocky Marciano in Iowa in 1969; basketball star Wendell Ladner at Kennedy Airport in New York in 1975. Kobe Bryant's death in Los Angeles in 2020 was in the crash of an aircraft, but it was a helicopter, not an airplane.

Knute Rockne, an immigrant from Norway, grew up on the Northwest Side of Chicago. He had been a star player at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, served in World War I, and then as head football coach at Notre Dame starting in 1918. He led them to National Championships in 1919, 1920 (with George Gipp), 1924 (with a backfield known as "The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame"), 1929 and 1930. He was already being hailed as the greatest coach football had ever known.

On March 31, 1931, Rockne, only 43 years old, and still Notre Dame's head coach, boarded a Fokker F-10 (and that's pronounced "FOH-ker") belonging to Transcontinental and Western Air, at Kansas City Municipal Airport. (It's now named Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport.) Having visited his sons Bill and Knute Jr. at their boarding school in Kansas City, he was on his way to Los Angeles to assist in the production of the film The Spirit of Notre Dame.

The plane crashed in Bazaar Township, Kansas, 142 miles to the southwest of its takeoff point. Rockne, the other 5 passengers, and both crewmen were killed. Rockne left behind a wife, 4 children, and the admiration of an entire nation. President Herbert Hoover called it "a national loss," and King Haakon VII of his birthplace of Norway posthumously knighted him.

The Spirit of Notre Dame premiered on October 13, 1931. Lew Ayres starred as a player, Sally Blane as his love interest, and several former Notre Dame players had cameos, including all of the Four Horsemen: Harry Stuhldreher, Jim Crowley, Don Miller and Elmer Layden.

In 1940, the film Knute Rockne, All American was released, though it took some liberties with his story. He was played by Pat O'Brien.

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March 31, 1931 was a Tuesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was in the off-season. The NBA hadn't yet been founded. And only 1 game was played in the NHL.

It was a Stanley Cup Playoff game. The Chicago Black Hawks beat the New York Rangers, 1-0 at the old (but then, relatively new) Madison Square Garden. Tom Cook scored the only goal of the game. It was a two-games, total-goals series, and it was the 2nd game of the series, and the Rangers were out. The Hawks advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens.