It's been 25 years since Valentine, Flair, Woods, Crockett went down

The plane crash that changed wrestling

It was supposed to be a routine flight.

On October 4, 1975, a twin-engine Cessna 310 plane carrying a promoter and four wrestlers took off from Charlotte for Wilmington, North Carolina. En route to an evening show at the outdoor Legion Stadium, the passengers were counting on a restful flight. It turned out to be something quite different.

As they approached the Wilmington Airport runway the plane ran out of gas, cutting across several treetops and a utility pole before crashing to the ground. And with that the lives of promoter David Crockett and wrestlers Tim Woods, Bobby Bruggers, then-U.S. Heavyweight champion Johnny Valentine and a 24-year-old upstart named Ric Flair were inextricably changed forever.

Read the entire story by Canoe's John Molinaro on Slam! Pro Wrestling.

Excerpt Used by permission.

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