The tragic Toilers plane crash of 1933

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/03/2018 (2762 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of our province’s major sports tragedies happened 85 years ago this week. Early on the morning of March 31, 1933, a plane carrying the Toilers men’s basketball team crashed into a farmer’s field near Neodesha, Kan.

Two players, Joe Dodds, 21, and Mike Shea Jr., 26, were killed and several members of the Toilers contingent were injured. The accident took place on the second anniversary of a crash into another Kansas field that killed famous Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne.

The 1932 Canadian senior champion Toilers were returning home from Tulsa, Okla., where they had played two games against the Diamond Oilers, the U.S. Amateur Athletic Union champions. The plan was to complete a five-game series with three games in Winnipeg in April. The team had won the provincial championship a few days before leaving for Tulsa.

The Toilers’ season record was 28-0 while the Oilers had won 27 straight. Playing under American rules, the Canadians were no measure for the Oilers losing 32-13 and 41-19.

The team had taken the train from Winnipeg to Minneapolis and then chartered a plane for $400 to fly to Tulsa and back to the Twin Cities.

On the return trip, the plane was flying low due to rough weather. Its left engine failed, followed by the second when the plane was about 100 feet off the ground.

In addition to Dodds and Shea, the pilot and co-pilot, the plane’s owner and the man who sponsored the series were all killed in the crash.

Ten Toilers were on board. Players Andy Brown, Bruce Dodds, Hugh Penwarden, Al Silverthorne and captain Ian Wooley were injured, as were team president A.C. (Colonel) Samson and manager George Wilson. Lauder Phillips, who was seated at the rear, escaped uninjured.

Winnipeg supporters quickly rallied around the team to establish a benefit fund in aid of the injured members and to organize a public service for Dodds and Shea.

It was held in the Winnipeg Auditorium on April 5, with a funeral service for Shea the following day at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Phillips, who was able to attend Shea’s service, and Penwarden, the team’s small speedster, were the first players to return from Kansas. By mid-month the rest of the team was back in Winnipeg except for Silverthorne, who was still hospitalized with a fractured arm and leg.

The Toilers basketball club was formed in 1910 and Toiler teams also played several other sports.

The Toilers are remembered today with a memorial park on Riverside Drive in Fort Garry, where the young members of the early Toilers teams started hanging out before the First World War.

Throughout the years, the “camp” on the banks of the Red River became a gathering spot for the Toilers and their families. The park was first dedicated in 1965 and since then a new plaque with a photo of the team was added. The 1932 champion Toilers were inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.  

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com