On This Date in Sports March 14, 1980: Lost but not Forgotten

In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com

The entire United States Olympic boxing team is killed in a plane crash in Poland. The boxing team was on their way to a pre-Olympic com competition in Cracow and Katowice. A total of 87 people were killed; this included 14 boxers and eight officials on the flight that originated in New York and crashed near the Warsaw airport. With the United States boycotting the games in Moscow, the team would not be replaced. 

For many years the United State Boxing Team were the class of the Olympic Games, as many future legends got their start by winning a Gold Medal, including Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, and Sugar Ray Leonard. The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were fraught with troubles as the United States was threatening a boycott due to aggression by the Soviet government in Afghanistan. Even as the participation in the games was severe doubt, the American Boxing Council sent a group of boxers to participate in a pair of exhibitions in Poland. 

There were 14 amateur boxers on the flight, along with eight officials, who were among 77 passengers and ten crew members. The flight was a LOT Polish Airlines flight on a Soviet-made plane. The flight was delayed two hours due to a snowstorm. In the air, the nine-hour flight to Warsaw was rather uneventful, until it began its approach to the Warsaw Airport. Unable to get the landing gear down, the plane circled the airport when an engine part failed to cause the plane to go in a steep dive. After clipping a tree, the aircraft crashed into a moat, two miles from the runaway. All 87 on board were killed. At the time, it was the worst air disaster in the history of Poland.  

Leading the team over to Poland, was coach Tom ‘’Sarge” Johnson, who guided Team USA to five Gold Medals in 1976. Lemuel Steeples a Welterweight, who won a Gold Medal at the Pan-Am Games. Andre McCoy, a middleweight, was considered a prime contender for a medal. Byron Lindsay, a lightweight and Kelvin Anderson, were also among the dead. Tyron Clayton, a bantamweight, was warned not to get on the flight, as his brother had a dream of the plane crash. Lonnie Young, a gold gloves champion from Philadelphia. 

USA Boxing Team Members and Staff Lost in the 1980 Plane Crash: 

1. KELVIN D. ANDERSON
2. ELLIOT CHAVIS
3. GARY TYRONE CLAYTON
4. WALTER HARRIS
5. BYRON LINDSAY
6. ANDRE MCCOY
7. PAUL PALOMINO
8. BYRON PAYTON
9. GEORGE PIMENTAL
10. CHUCK ROBINSON
11. DAVID RODRIGUEZ
12. LEMUEL STEEPLES
13. JEROME STEWART
14. COL. BERNARD CALLAHAN
15. THOMAS "SARGE" JOHNSON
16. JOSEPH BLAND
17. JOHN RADISON
18. JUNIOR ROBLES
19. LONNIE YOUNG
20. DELORES WESSON
21. DR. RAY WESSON
22. STEVE SMIGIEL 

In total, there were 14 boxers and eight trainers, coaches, and doctors on board, they were scheduled for a pair of exhibitions in Poland, in Cracow and Katowice. The disaster could have been worse, as several boxers missed the flight to Poland. Mavis Frazier, the son of Joe Frazier, was not allowed to go on the trip by his champion father, who had a fear of flying. Davey Anderson, an Olympic veteran, lost his ticket. Jimmy Clark, a heavyweight, was snowbound in Philadelphia and could not make it to JFK Airport in New York. 

 Outside the USOC Training Center in Colorado Springs, they would unveil a statue, with the inscription, “Down but not out, lost by not forgotten.” It would also place the named the victim on the pedestal.