A member of a family of five from Georgia who died in a small plane crash in upstate New York last weekend hit a grand slam in the final baseball game he played while visiting Cooperstown, his coach revealed.
Twelve-year-old James “J.R.” VanEpps was coached by Frank Tumminia Jr., according to the Times Union. He wrote in a Facebook post “His parents were too humble and modest to post about his athletic excellence, so that’s my job today as a coach.”
“In a final game in Cooperstown, N.Y., with a storybook backdrop and a tournament bracket with dozens of teams on it, where dreams are made for young athletes, J.R. Van Epps completed the Grand Slam,” Tumminia said.
“Today, and as long as I live, I will continue to teach JR’s living testimony. A part of me was left to him… I will remember him as the ultimate human being,” he added.
Family of man killed in New York plane crash was flying through area of ’storm activity’, NTSB says
Four people — James VanEpps, 12, Laura VanEpps, 43, Ryan VanEpps, 42, and Harrison VanEpps, 10 — were killed in a plane crash in New York on Sunday, authorities said. (courtesy)
A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that the plane Van Epps was traveling in crashed on Sunday afternoon after passing through an area of ”storm activity.”
A spokesman said flight tracking data for the single-engine Piper PA-46 aircraft was “lost approximately 12 minutes after departure” from Alfred S. Nader Regional Airport in Oneonta.
“Preliminary information indicates the plane crashed under unknown circumstances while en route from Oneonta, New York, to Charleston, West Virginia,” an NTSB spokesperson added. “Weather data indicates storms were developing along the flight path.”
Family killed in New York plane crash after Cooperstown baseball tournament: police
A Piper PA-46-310P aircraft, the same type as the one that crashed in New York on Sunday, June 30th. (aviation-images.com/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
New York State Police on Monday identified the five victims in the crash as James VanEpps, Harrison VanEpps, 10, Ryan VanEpps, 42, Laura VanEpps, 43, and Roger Beggs, 76.
“The passengers, all families from Georgia, had traveled to Cooperstown, New York, to attend a baseball tournament,” police said, noting the plane was on its way back to Atlanta via West Virginia when it crashed in the town of Masonville.
A single-engine Piper PA-46 crashed near Sidney, N.Y., on Sunday afternoon. Authorities are seen responding to the scene of the crash. (With)
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The NTSB said Tuesday that the wreckage path was about a mile long and that “all major components of the airplane” had been found except for the rudder.
