4 Men Killed In Plane Crash Leave Legacy Of Passion & Compassion
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Besides a passion for football, the four local men killed Friday in an airplane crash on the Georgia-South Carolina border were known for their compassion for the communities they lived and worked in. Warsaw City Councilman, former Tippecanoe Valley High School football coach and retired Lake City Bank Executive Vice President in charge of Commercial Banking Charles “Charlie” D. Smith, 71; his son and local attorney Scott Smith, 44; business owner and retired Sprint Car driver Tony L. Elliott, 54; and former Tippecanoe Valley High School guidance counselor, teacher and coach Scott Bibler, 51, were killed Friday when Charlie Smith’s Piper Saratoga PA-32 crashed near Lake Hartwell on the Georgia-South Carolina border. “All four are great community folk, all in a different way, and it will be a big hole to fill, with all four of them,” Warsaw Mayor Dr. Joe Thallemer said in an interview Saturday. “Certainly, Charlie wouldn’t want to be remembered as any better than anyone else. That was the way he was. He worked hard and did a lot for the community. Again, it will be tough to fill those shoes. But every one of them has families, every one were involved in businesses. All four of them typified what makes our community great – that’s their selfless attitude and love for the community.” Charlie was flying the group so they could attend the University of Notre Dame football game at Clemson Saturday. The Federal Aviation Administration is still investigating the cause of the crash, according to the Associated Press. Obituary information for all four men appear in today’s newspaper. Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis officially identified the men Saturday morning. Post mortem exams on Charlie and Scott Smith indicated Charlie died from multiple injuries due to blunt force trauma and Scott died from cervical spinal column trauma (fractured neck) due to blunt force trauma. Post mortem exams were scheduled for this morning on Elliott and Bibler. Channel 22 reported an official from the National Transportation Safety Board said Smith was reliant on instruments to fly the plane at the time of the crash due to cloud coverage. The NTSB report on the crash will be completed in one to two weeks, with the final report in 12 months. The coroner’s office press release states that at approximately 3:10 p.m. Friday, an airplane was observed to go down in a wooded area of Oconee County. The first call to Oconee County 911 Communications was received at 3:13 p.m. with the report of an airplane spiraling downward. This incident occurred in the Tabor Community of Oconee County near the state line, Westminster. Emergency services workers would later locate the wreckage. Their flight Friday from Warsaw to Clemson, S.C., wasn’t the first time the four men flew together to catch a Notre Dame away football game. Elliott’s Facebook page has photos of past trips of them going to and at away Notre Dame games posted on it. University of Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins issued a statement on the crash, saying, “Charlie Smith was a beloved coach and revered business and civic leader who was also a devoted Notre Dame fan. We mourn his death and the loss of his son and friends, and keep their families in our prayers.” Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. Athletic Director Duane Burkhart knew the Smiths and Bibler very well. In an interview Saturday morning, Burkhart said Charlie started out in education, teaching at Triton, then came to Valley in 1975 when the school corporation began. He was Tippecanoe Valley High School’s first football coach, leading the Class A team in 1977 to being state runners-up, then winning state in 1979. Bibler was a sophomore on the state championship team. Though Burkhart arrived at Valley in 1983, and Charlie went into banking around that time, Charlie’s three kids all went to Valley. “Scott (Smith) was a point guard on the basketball team. He was a heck of a point guard. I think he still has the record for most assists in a season,” Burkhart recalled. Scott Smith also had his business in the community, Thallemer said. According to his law firm’s website, Scott Smith attended TVHS and was part of the Kosciusko Leadership Academy. He attended Warner University, Lake Wales, Fla., where he received his bachelor’s degree in accounting. He played basketball for Warner and was team captain for two years. He graduated law school from Valparaiso University, and obtained licenses to practice in the Indiana Supreme Court, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana and the U.S. District for the Southern District of Indiana. Scott Smith was deputy prosecuting attorney in St. Joseph, Allen and Kosciusko counties, prosecuting cases from murder and drugs to driving infractions. As a private attorney, he has practiced criminal law, personal injury and family law, the website indicates. Charlie’s daughter, Michelle Smith LeDrew, was a cheerleader in high school, was on a basketball team that Burkhart coached and started her own business in Warsaw. Charlie’s other son, Ryan, is a pilot who instructed Burkhart’s son as a commercial pilot several years ago. “I knew them very, very well,” Burkhart said of the Smith family. Bibler became a teacher, starting at Valley in 1990. He served as an assistant athletic director under Burkhart for six to seven years; coached the football team from 1990 to 2005 and in 2014; and became a guidance counselor for Valley. Bibler resigned from the school corporation earlier this year to work more with at-risk kids in the community. “Scott (Bibler) was a very good friend. Charlie and Scott (Smith), I knew them very well. They all loved football,” Burkhart said. He said Charlie and Scott Smith would go to all home Notre Dame games and would fly to every away game. At home ND games, they would tailgate at the university, leaving for South Bend at 3 a.m. Burkhart said they always told friends to stop by. Burkhart said he found out about the airplane crash during the Valley-Rochester football game Friday night. Two former assistant coaches of Charlie’s – Mike Hoyt and John Parker – told him. “Charlie left a legacy for the school, the program and the community,” Burkhart said. “Since the 1970s, former players have been involved with the Valley program. Several former players have been on the coaching staff over the years.” He said Bibler really enjoyed his friendship with his former coach, Charlie Smith, and the two stayed in touch over the years. Burkhart said Valley will have at least a moment of silence for all four men at the last home game this season. At the Saturday ND-Clemson game, Clemson recognized the four men before the start of the game, according to Channel 22. “It’s going to be a very difficult time for the Tippecanoe Valley community and the Warsaw community because those four gentlemen touched a lot of people’s lives. It’s amazing this occurred, but what’s more amazing is how many lives they touched,” he said. Burkhart said the community needs to keep all four men’s families in their thoughts and prayers because they will need it. “We’re all in shock. This is really sad,” Lake City Bank Chairman Mike Kubacki said in a telephone interview Saturday. Kubacki said he met Charlie when Kubacki joined the bank in 1998. According to Lake City Bank CEO David Findlay, Charlie was hired in July 1983 to open the Mentone office. In July 1985, he was promoted to vice president-commercial business development officer. He was promoted to senior vice president-commercial banking in January 1992. Then in March 2000, Charlie was promoted to executive vice president-commercial banking. He retired in August 2011. “Charlie had an amazing career at Lake City Bank and always brought his ‘A’ game to his efforts here. He was an exceptional leader, mentor and coach to everyone he touched at Lake City Bank,” Findlay said. “I just loved Charlie Smith,” Kubacki said. “He was a leader. He just had this personality that was assertive but humble. He was smart as a banker, but he didn’t allow himself to think that.” As a coach at Valley, Kubacki said Charlie led his teams to some great achievements, and that also was the way he was at the bank. “He had such an infectious personality. You couldn’t help but like him. He was very, very important to the bank’s growth because he was popular with our customers and internally. He was a great man,” Kubacki said. “... He wanted to win everything, but you never saw him get mad. We’re in shock. Warsaw lost such a great man.” Kubacki agreed that Charlie and Scott Smith were two peas in a pod. “Charlie was proud of Scott, all three of his children. (Charlie and Scott) shared a love of football together,” he said. Kubacki and Findlay both said they would talk today and figure out a way to honor Charlie. “It sounds so cliched, but he was such a highly principled man,” Kubacki said. “He was a great guy. Great banker. He was as honest and principled of a person as you could find. You don’t find guys like that. ... I loved him. He was a great man.” Findlay told the story of how Charlie went from coaching at Valley to banking in 1983. At that time, Doug Grant was the CEO of Lake City Bank, which was opening a bank branch in Mentone, Findlay said. Since everyone knew Charlie, Grant asked him to be the branch manager. After going into banking, Findlay said Charlie was promoted quickly up the ranks, being named executive vice president of commercial banking in 2000. Findlay said he knew Charlie for the past 15 years. “Charlie is a legend at the bank,” he said, noting that over 11 years Charlie accelerated the growth of the bank’s commercial banking unit beyond what was expected. “He did an amazing job with it.” Findlay said Charlie never left his coaching roots. He was always coaching and mentoring the people who worked with him and around him. “He never met a customer he didn’t like, and no one ever left the bank not thinking positive thoughts,” Findlay said. “He was 71, but he still had a list of things he wanted to accomplish, including going to every Notre Dame game.” Saturday morning, Thallemer was making contact with all of the victims’ families. He was conducting interviews with television and newspaper reporters from all across Northern Indiana, praising each man’s contribution to the local community. Thallemer knew Charlie the longest of the four men killed. “Charlie and I, we had known each other, probably socially through the bank. Charlie actually, when I moved to town and started my business, he was my banker to help me get my business started. And that was really 1980. Then we saw each other socially,” Thallemer said. Thallemer was impressed from the start with Charlie and his community-mindedness and willingness to help Thallemer get his business started. In 2000, Charlie and Thallemer both ran for Warsaw City Council. Both were elected and served three terms through 2012. Thallemer decided to run for mayor in 2012 and told Charlie to run for re-election on the council or he wouldn’t run for mayor. “Charlie has always been a passionate, progressive leader. (He) understands the importance of economic development and quality of place, just community in general. I think his experience with the bank, his success with the bank, was rooted in his love for the community. His service to the community then extended into the municipal side here with his council terms,” Thallemer said. Charlie served on the Board of Works for many years, and headed the Redevelopment Commission. Thallemer said Charlie was an integral part of the new city hall downtown, the Tech Park and Warsaw’s success over the past several years. In 2006, Thallemer bought a lot adjacent to Charlie’s and built a house. “We’ve been neighbors, which makes this difficult. Charlie was just one of those neighbors you just hope to have. He was always out, working on the yard, and we will always bantering back and forth. Just a great neighbor. Would do anything for you, and did anything for you,” Thallemer said. He said they both loved Notre Dame football and went to “a lot of games together.” Charlie also was a Green Bay Packers fan, while Thallemer loved the Chicago Bears. “We never saw eye to eye on that, but we joked about that as well. He’s pretty much had the upper hand the last few years,” Thallemer recalled. The two long-time friends played a round of golf Sept. 25, and were at the Board of Works meeting Friday morning. Both Thallemer and Charlie sit on the BOW. “It was really sweet,” Thallemer said. “His daughter (Michelle) was in there. She just had her first year of success with her business, and I’m sure Charlie helped and guided her through that. They were requesting a road closure. She made the request, and I turned to Charlie and I said, ‘Got anything to say about this?’ And he said, ‘I’m not sure.’ He gave a solemn face and looked at his daughter, and, of course, we approved it. And that was really sweet.” Thallemer said he didn’t know Scott Smith as well, but Scott was possibly “a bigger Notre Dame fan than Charlie” and “those two were yin and yang when they went to games.” When Thallemer heard about the wreck, he said he knew Scott had to be in the plane because Scott went to all the games with his dad. Warsaw Municipal Airport Manager Nick King got a call from a local television station Friday asking for general information, Thallemer said in describing how he found out about the wreck. The details fit the style of Charlie’s plane, and there was the fact that it went from Warsaw to Clemson. “It was a Saratoga, and I knew that was Charlie’s plane,” Thallemer said. Smith’s Piper Saratoga is the same type of plane that John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren were traveling in when they were killed in 1999. Thallemer said, “My wife and I actually were driving to see our grandchild down in Tennessee, and we were kind of south of Columbus when we got the call. I had our airport manager verify that. He called back and said they had got the numbers off the tail and tied that back to Smith Family Aviation and there were four fatalities. It was pretty obvious what had happened. I wasn’t sure 100 percent who else was on the plane, other than I was pretty sure Charlie and Scott were on. As the evening wore on, we turned around and came back home last night. The information started filling in.” By the time they got home, as quickly as information spreads, Thallemer said it was “all real.” He visited Elliott’s wife and the Biblers Saturday, and talked to Charlie’s wife, Ann, and Michelle and her boys as well as Scott’s brother Ryan. “I certainly respect what they’re going through right now,” Thallemer said. Bibler and his family were patients of Thallemer’s and he had known them through Charlie at games. “They were just wonderful people, just great people,” Thallemer said. “Scott was a football coach that all the guys liked. Scott played for Charlie and they maintained that friendship. You know, that says a lot about Charlie – the fact that he’s socializing and maintaining a great relationship with his friend.” Thallemer knew Elliott for a while. “Again, just one of those guys who had a great smile and was a very friendly guy, a family guy. I knew him, and again, he’s the kind of guy that served our community well. He had a business and had a great family. I know his wife. Again, he didn’t lead a public life like Charlie did but served his community in a totally different way. As I did Scott (Bibler) did as well,” Thallemer said. According to the United States Auto Club website, “Elliott, one of USAC’s greatest ambassadors, was a two-time USAC National Sprint Car Champion (1998 and 2000) and scored 26 Sprint victories plus nine in Midgets and five in Silver Crown competition. The 2000 and 2001 Hoosier Hundred winner, his ‘traditional’ wins also included the 1999 ‘Ted Horn 100’ at DuQuoin, the 1998 and 2000 ‘Sumar Classic’ at Terre Haute, the 1998 ‘Hurtubise Classic’ Sprint at Terre Haute and ‘4-Crown Nationals’ Sprint races in 1987 and 1993 at Eldora Speedway. He also was the 1999 Indiana Sprint Week Champion.” Elliott was a sponsor and supporter of both USAC participants and events with his company, Elliott’s Custom Trailers. The website states Elliott was still a familiar face at many USAC racing events throughout the season, including last weekend’s “4-Crown Nationals” at the Eldora Speedway. “USAC extends its sincerest condolences to his family and friends. He will be missed by all. He was 54,” the website states. The Warsaw native also was a frequent competitor in the Little 500 non-winged spring car race, held annually on the quarter-mile Anderson Speedway, making 22 starts between 1990 and 2015, according to racechaseronline.com. The website also states he “had a career record of seven top five and nine top 10 finishes at the nation’s most grueling sprint car event, as well as a pole start in 2008. He led a total of 1,059 laps in his Little 500 career and completed 7,690 trips around the quarter-mile bullring across those 22 starts.” Race Chaser Online states that Elliott “recently retired from competition in his own right, while still spotting and mentoring several of the next generation competitors in the USAC national divisions.” Tony Stewart, a three-time NASCAR champion, posted a message on his Facebook page Saturday saying Elliott was a “fierce competitor on the track, he was also a father, husband, son, brother and friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Elliott family at this time. Godspeed and rest in peace.” Fellow driver Dave Darland told the Indianapolis Star, “It’s just a tragedy. He knew some tricks, and he was very good at learning tricks, and he could do what it took to win races. He was a very good race car driver.” NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne tweeted, “Sad to hear the news about Tony Elliott. Such a great guy who always had a smile on his face. We had a lot of good races together.” USAC driver Ronnie Gardner tweeted Saturday night that he was “honored that USAC came to me tonight at Kings Speedway to do a memorial lap for Tony Elliott.”
