On the 5th of December, 1948, tragedy struck the city of Grants Pass, although that’s not the way the day started.

The Grants Pass Cavemen had just won the 1948 Football State Championships against the Jefferson High School Bulldogs.

The next morning, the team left, and there was a surprise rally beginning back home to celebrate the teams’ success.

The Greyhound bus stopped at a gas station in Roseburg to fill up. There, Coach Mel Ingram got off the bus to finish the ride back to town with his wife.

The bus was passing through Sunny Valley when players started to notice a rocking on the bus. Upon approaching the Mount Sexton Pass, the tires of the bus caught gravel and the bus skidded onto its side.

Shortly after, the gas tank became overheated and exploded. This caused the back half of the bus to break off and slide to the bottom of the cliff.

The teams’ championship football trophy, which had previously been passed around the bus from player to player, was used to break bus windows to free players.

Bystanders began taking the boys to the hospital and word soon traveled to the rally at the school of what had happened.

There were 25 injured and 2 dead. The deceased players were Al Newman, a Varsity lineman, and Sterling Heater, a bench player, who earned his letter in the championship game.

A funeral was held a few weeks later and football teams all over the state attended.

Heater-Newman Gym was later built in honor of the fallen players.