William "Skipper" Beck, a co-owner of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, has died in a single-engine plane crash.
The York County coroner and the Federal Aviation Administration said Beck was the only person aboard the craft when it crashed at an airport in South Carolina
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Witnesses said the plane returned shortly after taking off, but crashed upon landing.
Beck's death occurred on the same day that NBA icon Michael Jordan, who is a minority-owner and managing member of basketball operations for the Bobcats, was to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Massachusetts.