Video: 'An AcesTV Retrospective: The 1977 University of Evansville Plane Crash'

(Tuesday, December 13, 1977, 7:22 p.m. CST) — Air Indiana Flight 216, a chartered DC-3 carrying the University of Evansville basketball team on a flight to Nashville, crashed after it took off in dense fog tonight, killing all 29 people on board.

The plane was on its way to Nashville International Airport, taking the team to play the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.

The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the crash on the pilot’s failure to remove gust locks on the right aileron and the rudder before takeoff, as well as an overloaded baggage compartment.

Two weeks after the crash, the only member of the basketball team who was not on the DC-3 was killed after being hit by a drunk driver, leaving all of the members of the 1977 Purple Aces Basketball team dead.