Larry Lyons recalls many of the thoughts that lingered in his head through the morning hours of April 7, 2015.
A plane carrying seven men associated with Illinois State University athletics and the Bloomington-Normal business community had just crashed as it approached Central Illinois Regional Airport.
“The first question is always, ‘Why?’ I mean, somebody can come up with an answer physically why,” said Lyons, who was ISU’s athletic director at the time. “But as you know, that’s an existential question that we all ask whenever there’s a really bad question. I don’t know why. Why would we take seven such good people away from our community? I don’t know.”
The plane crash claimed the lives of ISU associate men’s basketball coach Torrey Ward; Deputy Director of Athletics Aaron Leetch; businessmen Scott Bittner, Andy Butler, Jason Jones, and Terry Stralow; and pilot Tom Hileman.
Several of their family members joined Lyons and current ISU Director of Athletics Jeri Beggs for a ceremonial gathering Monday alongside the Redbird Remembrance memorial situated between CEFCU Arena and Horton Field House on the ISU campus.
“It’s one of those extremely bittersweet moments where I’m happy to see a lot of the people that we’ve gotten to know over the years,” said Janice Ward, the mother of Torrey Ward. “But at the same time, the reason that we are here makes it extremely heavy.”
“It’s amazing, the support this community has given us,” added Terry Bittner, Scott Bittner’s father. “Without you guys, we couldn’t have done it. It’s a struggle yet, but I’m telling you, we really do appreciate everything you’ve done for our families.”
Beggs said it’s hard to believe an entire decade has passed since the tragedy.
“But in those 10 years, we’ve seen widows and fiancées, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, family and friends show strength that they didn’t know they had,” said Beggs. “These men had an incredible impact on all of us, and continue to have a lasting impact even now.”
The seven men were on their way back to Bloomington-Normal from a quick trip to Indianapolis for the NCAA Tournament championship game between Duke and Wisconsin. A celebratory Monday evening turned into a fateful Tuesday morning.
“It was a business trip for Aaron and Torrey; it was to say thank you for your support and it was to say thank you to Terry, Andy and Jason. We were hoping to build a relationship with Scott. Scott generously offered the use of his airplane, and Tom agreed to handle the pilot duties,” Lyons said in his remarks to the audience.
“Based on the little bit of social media I saw that night, they had a really good trip over to Indy and enjoyed the game. They were just guys being guys. It was dinner and a ball game.”
In the years since the deaths of their loved ones, the families have worked to honor their memory through community service. The wives, fiancées, and children of the crash victims created “Project 7,” an effort encouraging people to perform seven random acts of kindness each April 7.
Additionally, Janice Ward said her family has been working with an initiative called ShoesThatFit.org.
“Anybody who knows Torrey knows he loved shoes, so there were shoes everywhere, and we think that other kids should have shoes as well,” she said. “We actually have two of the kids here today from Oakdale [Elementary] School, and [ISU] athletics has been a big supporter and a lot of the fans, too, have helped support that.
“So we are honored to be able to do that, and we’re just going to try to keep trying to push forward like all of the families are, and just keep going through in their memory and in their honor.”
Lyons, who retired from ISU in 2020, touted the accomplishments of the seven men who he believed had bright futures. He said Ward was on the fast track to being a college basketball head coach, and called Leetch “a natural leader” who was potentially in line to succeed him as athletics director.
He added Hileman was a veteran who loved to fly, Jones excelled in wealth management, Bittner was a successful entrepreneur, Butler had developed an extensive client list in corporate cellular communications, and Stralow helped build Pub II into one of the nation’s top college bars.
And they all wanted to give back to the ISU community.
“In many ways, you can say it’s never recovered from that respect — the contributions, the impact that they would have continued to have on this community, on our athletic department,” said Lyons. “But in many ways, the support from the community and the support from the campus and the families have helped these families move on.
“The kids have all grown up, and they’re moving on through their lives. So healing is something I think is just ongoing, and things like this to show the support, and how many people are here, is truly, truly, awe-inspiring.”
