Harold Gifford, a veteran Air Force pilot, impressively served his country during World War II. He flew planes after the war and then moved to Florida to work in real estate. But on a snowy night in January, he became the Lakers savior.
It was one of those chance opportunities, a quirk of fate. Harold Gifford was slated to pilot the Lakers plane after a game in St. Louis though he was against flying in the brutal snowstorm. Nevertheless, when Gifford piloted the Lakers plane he not only saved them from sudden death, he saved the franchise itself.
Jan 21, 2013; Memphis, TN, USA; Elgin Baylor is honored with the national civil rights sports legacy award during halftime of the game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Indiana Pacers at the FedEx Forum. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Without Gifford there would be no Los Angeles Lakers history to sort through. No Kobe and Shaq. No Phil Jackson. No Magic and Riley. No Jerry West. Without Gifford, the Lakers would have been one of those talked about tragedies, an anecdote. Remember that team that won 5 NBA titles with George Mikan? Remember how tragically they all died?
Outside of his World War II missions, Harold Gifford had his most difficult and important flight assignment on January 17th 1960. He was to guide the Los Angeles Lakers from St. Louis to Minneapolis in the harsh, crispness of winter, a night that was cold and snowy and stormy. No one could have predicted it would turn out the way it did, much less Harold Gifford, an experienced pilot.
The Lakers in 1960 were a mediocre team. The George Mikan days had long been forgotten. The Lakers owner, Bob Short, had intended to move the team west but he had yet to announce it. And so the Lakers played their schedule out. They played the St. Louis Hawks losing by 16 points. And then they boarded the plane in the middle of a snowstorm.
Elgin Baylor was on the plane. So was Boo Ellis. And Larry Foust. And Dick Garmaker. Tommy Hawkins, Rod Hundley, Jim Krebs, Slick Leonard and Frank Selvy were on the plane too.
Coach Jim Pollard was aboard the plane as was his 11 year old son. 9 others connected with ownership and the organization were also passengers.
All of them expected a short ride from St. Louis’ Lambert Field to Minneapolis. But what happened instead was 5 hours in the air, the cabin dark and freezing as ice formed on the windows and floor, and players and management clinging to one another. The plane had no heat, no lights, no radio, no navigation system. But they had Harold Gifford. And that is how his story and the Lakers history intersected.
The plane took off a little after eight in the evening. The storm was brutal and in the clouds the generators failed. The pilots continued, hoping that once they were in the cloud tops they could reverse their course and go around the storm. But that didn’t work. They followed the North Star. They began to descend. Flashlights were used to see the instrument panel in the dark cockpit. At one point, both pilots stuck their face out of the window. It was the only way they could see where the ground was. Everything was so dark and the storm was relentless.
Five hours came and went. It was one o’clock in the morning. It was January 18th. The DC-3 plane’s altitude was 500 feet. There wasn’t much fuel left. Gifford, sticking his head out the window, saw a road and US Highway 71. He saw a farm and figured it was a town. So he began circling the town to attract attention. It worked. Porch lights came on providing a little bit more visibility as the lights provided sight lines. Gifford could see the cornfields.
The plane was losing altitude and the only choice was to land in Carroll, Iowa. To set the plane down in the cornfields was tricky. There was 15 minutes of fuel left. As Gifford landed the plane in the field of snow and corn, the road was covered in cars. Ambulances. Funeral hearths. Emergency personnel.
Gifford avoided disaster as he had in World War II. “You don’t have to land in airports”, Gifford later said. “You can land anyplace if you size it up right.” All 20 Lakers were safe and let out a loud, raucous cheer, a homage to their brave pilots and their miracle in Iowa.
A few months later, the Lakers moved to Los Angeles. They would be the first team on the West Coast. They would draft Jerry West. They would embark on a spectacular march through the NBA record books. They would acquire iconic talent and make their mark on the league itself.
Gifford continued to fly charters and corporate planes before he retired in 1993. “When I think of that day in 1960”, he told Woodbury Magazine, “I believe fate had something to do with it. Had we not made it, there may not have been a Los Angeles Lakers franchise.”
Jeanie Buss agrees. “Had the team died the franchise would have folded and Lakers as we know them would not exist.”
(information for this story courtesy of Woodbury Magazine, Daily Yonder)