Plane Crashes as Holtz Waits

A pilot who was a friend of Lou Holtz was killed Sunday night when his plane crashed in a misty rain four miles short of a runway near Beaufort, S.C., where the South Carolina coach was waiting for him to go on a recruiting trip.

Holtz had flown from Moncks Corner, between Charleston and Columbia, to the Beaufort area on the King Air turboprop earlier Sunday. It crashed after refueling in Hilton Head Island, going down in a wooded, isolated part of Oak Island not far from the Lady’s Island airport.

Dewey “Sonny” Foster died in the fiery wreck. Co-pilot Joe Baier was taken to Beaufort Medical Center for shoulder surgery.

“It was a very close call. It could have happened while we were landing,” Holtz said, speaking barely above a whisper.

According to Athletic Director Mike McGee, Baier, 77, said he and Foster were going through the landing checklist when “it happened suddenly and he wasn’t sure why.”

Foster, a 65-year-old retired brigadier general from the South Carolina Air National Guard, flew part time for the university for several months and was added to the full-time staff Dec. 1, McGee said. The university has had the 1977 King Air turboprop since 1982.

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An employee of Houston-based sports agent Carl C. Poston III may have arranged the purchase of airline tickets for three Florida State football players in violation of a Florida licensing law, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Poston’s company, Professional Sports Planning Inc., became the focus of an inquiry in July after university athletic officials learned that flights had been booked from Tallahassee to Houston for receivers Peter Warrick, Laveranues Coles and Ron Dugans. Only Coles took the flight, and he was ruled ineligible by the school Sept. 9.

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Maryland has extended the contract of Coach Ron Vanderlinden for two years to Jan. 31, 2004, at his current $134,175 base salary. . . . Ron Dickerson was fired as Alabama State’s football coach after going 7-15 in two seasons.