QB Steve Davis Dies: Legendary Oklahoma Quarterback Killed In Indiana Plane Crash

Legendary Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Steve Davis was one of two people killed when a small plane crashed in South Bend, Ind.

Davis, 60, and Wesley Caves, 58, owner of the Hawker Beachcraft Premier 1 twin-jet plane, both died when the plane clipped a pair of houses before crashing into a third in suburban Indiana. News accounts of the incident said that two other people aboard the plane were injured, and a person on the ground was hurt.

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the crash, but the Wall Street Journal has reported that an electrical problem may have been a factor.

Davis is remembered as one of the most successful quarterbacks in the Sooners' storied football program.

Davis’ Oklahoma school records for consecutive starts (34) and career wins (32) stood for nearly four decades, broken only last year by long-time Sooners starter Landry Jones. Jones, who was arguably Oklahoma’s best quarterback since Davis, remembered how his fellow Sooner would reach out to him in times of turmoil.

"He just really wanted to encourage me," said Jones in USA Today. "Just keep going, keep leading those guys and keep fighting, regardless of what happens in the next game or the last game. Your focus is on this game and always to lead those guys."

Davis, who played under head coach Barry Switzer, had a large role in establishing the University of Oklahoma as a football powerhouse. He compiled an 32-1-1 record in Norman, culminating in back-to-back national titles during the 1974 and 1975 seasons.

He had long acknowledged that playing for the Sooners as his lifelong dream. In an interview with the Oklahoman, Davis said he kept a photo from the school's football brochure in his dress drawer.

"It was a shot into the huddle, and there was Bobby Warmack, who was my idol. He had that eye-black, and the double chin strap and the towel out of the front of his pants," Davis said. "I took that picture, and I took a big, black magic marker and wrote 'WHEN?' "

Later, just before Davis’ start in the 1973 season opener, his mother took the picture and wrote on it “TONIGHT.”