The 1960 Minneapolis Lakers cornfield landing was an aircraft incident where a

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper ...

carrying 23 people, including the coach and players of the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, having played and won championships in both the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) prior to ...

, made an emergency landing in an Iowa cornfield during a snowstorm after having got lost due to an electrical malfunction and poor weather. The incident has been described as the closest the United States has ever came to losing a professional sports team.

Incident

After a game against the

St. Louis Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at S ...

, the aircraft took off from St. Louis at around 8:30pm on January 17, after having been delayed for two hours because of weather. About 10 minutes into the flight, the plane suffered an electrical malfunction which took out the plane's heater, lighting, defroster, radio, fuel gauge, and compass amongst others. Flying blind, the pilots decided it was too dangerous to return to the busy St. Louis airport and headed for Minneapolis. Without the plane's navigational equipment, it soon got lost. After around four hours, and low on fuel, the crew spotted the town of

Carroll, Iowa Carroll is a city in, and the county seat of, Carroll County, Iowa, United States, along the Middle Raccoon River. The population was 10,321 in the 2020 census. History Carroll was laid out in 1867. It took its name from Carroll County, wh ...

. After circling the town a few times, looking for an airport, the pilots successfully made an emergency landing in a nearby cornfield at around 1:30 am on January 18.

Passengers and crew

The plane was crewed by three people. It also carried 20 passengers, including coach

Jim Pollard James Clifford Pollard (July 9, 1922 – January 22, 1993) was an American professional basketball player and coach. As a player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Pollard was considered one of the best forwards in the 1950s and was k ...

and players

Elgin Baylor Elgin Gay Baylor ( ; September 16, 1934 – March 22, 2021) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and executive. He played 14 seasons as a forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lak ...

Hot Rod Hundley Rodney Clark "Hot Rod" Hundley (October 26, 1934 – March 27, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and television broadcaster. Hundley played college basketball for the West Virginia Mountaineers and was selected by the Cincinna ...

and

Bobby Leonard William Robert "Slick" Leonard (July 17, 1932April 13, 2021) was an American professional basketball player, coach and color commentator. He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball, Indiana Hoosiers, where he was a tw ...

as well as several other players, team personnel, family members and fans.

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1960 1960 in the United States

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1960 Los Angeles Lakers