Levi McCormack: Sideswiped!
Son of a Nez Perce tribal leader, Levi McCormack was a 3-sport star in college, often drawing comparisons to Jim Thorpe. However, a tragic accident on a mountain road ended his baseball dreams.
Snoqualmie Pass, Washington June 24, 1946.
THE BUS carrying the Spokane Indians snaked its way through the night. The road through the Snoqualmie Pass was tough to navigate in daylight, but this was nighttime, and the damp Pacific Northwest weather made the roadway slick. After the bus made a pit stop for hamburgers in Ellensburg, the fourteen Indians and their driver wearily reboarded the bus and tried to catch some shuteye before the next day’s game in Bremerton.
The even vibration of the engine lulled most of the Indians to sleep. The sound of content snoring mixed with the intermittent grinding of the transmission gears as the driver coaxed the old bus higher into the Cascade Range.
Levi McCormack stared out the window beside him. The moonlight occasionally illuminated the silhouettes of trees and telephone poles, but for the most part he looked into an inky darkness. The absence of anything to look at made Levi McCormack’s thoughts turn within.
The big war was finally over, and boy-oh-boy, baseball was back! The Dodgers and Cardinals had rekindled their blood feud up in the National League and over in the American, newly discharged Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams were showing the wartime replacements how a real big leaguer swats the ball. Heck, even in the bush leagues the postwar boom was clearly evident – in the last year of the war there were just twelve minor leagues – now in 1946 there were forty-three. And even with this exponential growth in teams, there were still a surplus of returning veterans trying to get their spot back in the game.
Levi had himself just gotten his discharge papers. Four years he’d spent in the U.S. Navy. Putting his career on hold for that long was a shame, but lucky for him he’d spent his war mostly playing baseball at bases far behind any warzone. The same couldn’t be said for many of the sleeping ballplayers on the bus who had seen combat. But the one thing they all shared was their burning desire to get back what the war had taken from them.
For Levi, his return to baseball was easy. The Spokane Indians, the club where he had spent the three years before the war, had welcomed him back with open arms. He found getting into playing shape wasn’t that much of an issue, something the .338 he was currently hitting could attest to. Plus, the Indians were hovering in the top half of the Western International League standings. Back in 1941, Levi and the Indians had won the last championship before the war forced the league to shut down. Nothing says welcome home than a repeat championship.
Yeah, baseball was back, and so was Levi McCormack.
The headlights of an approaching vehicle suddenly cut through the darkness, snapping Levi out of his thoughts. Then came the screaming squeal of tires, a terrible crushing metallic shrill, and the fleeting glimpse of a black sedan below his window as it sideswiped the side of the bus and veered back into the darkness.
There were some shudders, the feeling of floating, yells, and then a light so damn bright one could no longer see…
LEVI WARREN McCORMACK was born on the Lapwai Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Idaho in 1913. He was the second youngest of Joseph and Annie McCormack’s nine children. Though Levi was always described as being “the son of a Nez Perce chief,” this is only partially true. The title “chief” is actually of European origin, coming from the French word “chef” meaning “leader.” When French and English settlers met Native Americans, they used the title “chief” as a term of respect to describe a tribal leader.
The Nez Perce Tribe, which the McCormack’s belonged to, traditionally had several leaders who held different responsibilities within their community. Levi’s father, Joe McCormack, was one of these leaders. So, while the more well-known term “chief” might not have been technically accurate, Levi really was the son of one of the Nez Perce tribal leaders. And beyond that, the McCormack’s lineage included a long line of leaders: his great grandfather and namesake, Levi McCormack, was a legendary cavalry scout serving under General O.O. Howard.
But the McCormack’s most illustrious ancestor was Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt. More commonly known in American history as “Chief Joseph,” Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt led the Nez Perce people in their 1877 rebellion against the United States when they were forcedly moved from their ancestral lands in northeastern Oregon to a reservation in the Idaho Territory. Chief Joseph fought a spectacular 1,170-mile running campaign against the U.S. Army before surrendering in October of 1877. His heroic fight made the Nez Perce famous around the world and Chief Joseph’s tactics are studied to this day.
In his youth, Joe McCormack had been a well-known athlete and baseball player, but, as he matured, he was entrusted with prominent tribal leadership roles, particularly of the spiritual nature. At various times Joe held the roles of Methodist Sunday School Superintendent, leader of the local Temperance Movement, steward of the Lapwai Church, and district steward of the Spokane Methodist Church.
When Levi was fifteen, his mother Annie passed away from complications brought on by diabetes. Both sides of Levi’s family tree suffered from diabetes, and his father Joe soon developed the disease as well.
LEVI GREW INTO a well-rounded teen. Successful in school, he played the violin and acted in school plays, but it was sports that truly held his attention most. Broad-shouldered, 6’-1” and blessed with all around athletic skills like his father, Levi lettered in football, basketball, track, and baseball at Lapwai High School in Lewiston, Idaho. His prominence as a local athlete led to his being recruited by Washington State College. Just like at Lapwai High, Levi was a multi-sport phenom, lettering in basketball, football, and baseball. He honed his baseball skills under the leadership of Arthur “Buck” Bailey, Washington State’s legendary coach who won 14 conference titles in his 32 years as head coach. Levi soon made the right field spot his own, his blinding speed put to good use chasing fly balls as well as on the basepaths.
But Levi made the biggest splash on the gridiron. Now thought of as the fastest collegiate athlete in the Pacific Northwest, his speed was put to great use when he was paired with All-American quarterback Ed Goddard, giving the Washington State Cougars an explosive offense. Levi cemented his WSC star status by catching a touchdown pass against USC in a 1935 game at the LA Coliseum. Though the Cougars lost the game in the last quarter, the game was nonetheless looked upon as a victory, showing the college football world that modest little Washington State could hold their own against the vaunted USC juggernaut.
Now the national sporting press was beginning to take notice of Washington State’s multi-sport star. A September 26, 1935 Associated Press feature posed the question “New Thorpe?” and said Levi McCormack “may come closest of his race to the feats of the great Jim Thorpe. Fastest man on the Cougar squad and a sophomore backfield candidate, McCormack also plays basketball, baseball and even the violin well.”
Like many college athletes at the time, Levi McCormack funded his tuition by playing professional sports in the off-season. Not willing to stick to just one sport, beginning in 1934, Levi played baseball with the Lewiston Indians of the Idaho-Washington League and football with the Enumclaw Silver Barons in the Northwest Football League. Though this would technically forfeit his amateur eligibility to participate in college athletics, most universities chose to look the other way, especially during the depths of the Great Depression.
BY THE SUMMER of 1936, the lure of professional sports became too much for Levi to avoid. His renown as one of the most outstanding Native American athletes since Jim Thorpe led the Washington Redskins to make inquires for his services, but Levi chose baseball instead. The Seattle Indians of the Pacific Coast League put a contract in front of Levi that he just couldn’t refuse.
The Pacific Coast League was one of the three minor leagues that were one level away from the majors. That Seattle thought Levi was advanced enough to make the leap from college to what is today’s AAA level spoke much to his talent at the time. Make good in the PCL and the majors was just around the corner.
Levi’s signing made sports pages up and down the West Coast, with most containing some derivative of the headline, “The Indians Get Their Indian” or “Indians Sign an Indian.” Interestingly, this was the second of the three teams nicknamed the “Indians” with which Levi McCormack would play his entire professional baseball career!
Just as Levi was poised to break into pro ball with Seattle, his father Joe passed away from complications of diabetes. As a testament to Joe McCormack’s standing and respect in the tribe, the Lewiston Morning Tribune headline read, “Largest Funeral Cortege In Lapwai History Of Nez Perce Leader,” with more than seventy-five automobiles chauffeuring Native American and White politicians and spiritual leaders to the church service.
After laying his father to rest, the Lapwai community gave their local hero a mighty send off. He was presented with “a beautiful traveling bag” and the Lewiston Morning Tribune quoted his uncle as saying, "You ball fans have become accustomed to calling Levi, ‘Chief’ McCormick," said Abel Grant, uncle of the ball star, yesterday. While you are referring to him with that title, you fans don't know how true the appellation is. Levi is my nephew, a son of my sister. His father is a direct descendant of Chief Timothy of the Nez Perces, one of the best friends of the early white settlers. On his mother's side he is a direct descendant of Chief Joseph, in fact Levi is a member of the fourth generation descended from the old chief. He goes to the Coast league with our best wishes."
LEVI MADE a good first impression on manager Dutch Ruether. “He has a chance,” he told a reporter. “He’s strong and courageous and hits the ball well. If he learns to play the outfield, he has a chance.”
The 23-year-old rookie appeared in 18 games, batting .345 with a home run and pair of doubles for the third-place Indians. The next season he played 93 games for Seattle and hit .288 with five homers for the sixth place club. In the August 8 game against the Mission Reds, Levi had five consecutive hits including a home run. It looked as if the 24 year-old outfielder carved out a place for him in Seattle, but changes in the franchise soon proved otherwise.
The Great Depression had hit the Seattle Indians hard. The team’s finances were dismal, their ballpark was in disrepair, discouraging all but the most diehard fans from attending games. At the end of 1937, Emil Sick, owner of the Rainier Brewery and Great Western Airways, bought the team. He infused his own capital into the club which financed new players and a brand new ballpark, named Sicks’ Stadium. He also rebranded the team as the Seattle Rainiers after the mountain range and brewery of the same name.
But the most important move Sick did was sign University of Washington star athlete Edo Vanni. The Seattle native had made a huge splash as a freshman kicker and quarterback and already had offers from professional football teams. However, Vanni chose to drop both college and football when Emil Sick offered him a generous Seattle Rainiers contract that included a signing bonus of 4,000 shares of Rainier Brewery stock.
Right field was Vanni’s natural position, and he and Levi platooned through the 1938 season. Levi hit .288 (some credit him with .297) in 67 games while Vanni hit .301 in 107 games. The pair was more or less evenly matched at the plate, both strong singles hitters. Levi was given the edge when it came to speed, but Vanni was the better fielder.
At this point one may ask the question, “Why not find another spot in the outfield for Levi?” Well, there really wasn’t another position open.
Minor league ball back in Levi’s time was very different than it is today. Most minor league teams before World War II were unaffiliated with a major league club, and that meant they had no guaranteed infusion of money and quality players every year. To turn a profit, unaffiliated clubs like the Seattle Rainiers had to simultaneously develop young ballplayers that they could sell to the majors at a profit and try to field a winning ballclub that that would put fans in the stands. To do this successfully meant a team had to have a careful balance of a few talented but still learning youngsters peppered in amongst older experienced veterans who were there to win ball games.
That meant a club like the Rainiers only had a precious few open spots where they could develop a young player while still trying to play winning ball. The Rainiers’ 1938 left and center fielders were 32-year-old Bill Lawrence and 30-year-old Mike Hunt. Both were veteran PCL lifers who could consistently deliver .300 ball and pick up the slack for one still-learning outfielder. Since Edo Vanni was the local boy and drawing the much larger paycheck, he was given the nod as Seattle’s right fielder for the foreseeable future. Manager Jack Lelivelt sent Levi to the Spokane Indians of the Western International League where he was assured a place to play every day.
THE WESTERN INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE was a step below the Pacific Coast League, comparable to todays AA. Once he secured the right field spot for himself, Levi made the most of his new home. Once again on a club named the “Indians,” Levi leaned into his heritage by playfully posing in full Nez Perce outfits and occasionally performing impromptu war dances. The fans dug his schtick and appreciated how he ran full out to and from his outfield position and eagerly signed autographs for his grateful devotees. He finished his first season in Spokane a shade under .300 and the best was yet to come.
The 1940 season brought aging slugger Smead Jolley to the Indians. Smead (his real first name) was a legendary hitter who never made good in the majors because of his poor fielding skills. 1940 was Smead’s last hurrah in pro ball as he won the batting title with a .373 average. Levi had one of his best years as well, batting .327 with 108 RBI to help Spokane finish 6 ½ games in first. However, the club lost to Tacoma in the final round of the 4-team playoff to determine league champions.
1941 was Levi McCormack’s greatest season. He’d developed into an elite fielder, racking up just 4 errors all season and at one point going 75 games without a miscue. His arm was rated as one of the best on the coast, and his speed was still unmatched. Levi’s 191 base hits was tops in the league as was his 42 doubles. Hitting the ball at a .338 clip with a .485 on-base percentage, he led the Indians to a runaway first place finish. Spokane was so dominant that summer that the league cancelled the playoffs and simply awarded the championship to the Indians.
As if winning a championship wasn’t heady enough, Levi’s career year had stirred up interest from other clubs. In August, it was reported that the Tulsa Oilers of the Texas League were in negotiations for Levi’s services, but Spokane was holding out for more money. Finally, in December, it was announced that Levi McCormack had been sold to the Portland Beavers. Levi was going back up to the Pacific Coast League.
Then came the war.
LEVI MCCORMACK teamed back up with Edo Vanni and publicly enlisted in the U.S. Navy a few weeks after Pearl Harbor. He was assigned to Naval Air Station Pasco in Washington. When not performing his duties in aviation ordnance, Levi joined the station’s baseball team, called the Pasco Flyers. The team was stocked with former Pacific Coast and Western International Leaguers including Mel Cole, Mike Budnick, Johnny Pesky’s brother Vince, plus the ever present Edo Vanni. The Flyers won the 1942 Pacific Northwest Service League Championship and remained one of the dominant service clubs throughout the war.
Levi’s rating in aviation ordnance kept him stateside for much of the conflict, training sailors in aerial gunnery. In 1944, he was transferred to Whidbey Island Naval Auxiliary Air Station where he was reunited with his old college coach, Buck Bailey, now a lieutenant in charge of athletics on the base. Levi was fortunate in that he was able to keep in peak athletic shape by playing not only baseball but basketball and football for Navy teams. He was finally sent overseas for the last nine months of the war, serving on Guam and Saipan in the Marianas. He was discharged and back home in Spokane just in time for Christmas, 1945.
AS SPRING 1946 came around, Levi McCormack was thirty-three – a well-maintained thirty-three, but still older than many of the ballplayers who were trying to get back into pro ball. His old Portland Beavers contract was voided when he joined the Navy, and he soon found that there were no vacancies in the Pacific Coast League for a ballplayer in his thirties. However, Levi found that the Spokane Indians were glad to have him back in the fold. What’s more, Mel Cole, Levi’s teammate on the Pasco Flyers, was now Spokane’s manager. He eagerly signed back with his old team.
The Spokane fans were thrilled. The Western International League folded after the 1942 season and by the time it was re-started in 1946, Spokanites were eager to see their Indians play winning ball again. Levi McCormack’s return brought back fond memories of the dominant 1940 and 1941 Indians teams and expectations for 1946 were high. For his part, Levi delivered and more. At the time he boarded the team bus for the long ride through the Snoqualmie Pass on June 24,1946, he was batting .316 with 24 extra base hits.
Then came the crash.
NO ONE EVER found the black sedan that sideswiped the Spokane Indians team bus. Glen Berg, the driver, tried to avoid a collision but the bus careened through the guardrail and plunged something like 300 feet down the side of the mountain.
The bus burst into flames on impact. Several players were thrown through the broken windows and onto the mountainside. Others were trapped inside as the flames quickly spread. Levi McCormack, who had seen the car’s headlights and watched helplessly as it sideswiped the bus, suffered a broken nose, lacerations on his face and scalp and had his side crushed as the bus rolled down the mountain. He was able to pull himself out through a shattered window, but his injuries were such that he could only lay helpless as his teammates screamed from inside the burning bus.
Six ballplayers died at the crash scene: player-manager Mel Cole, second baseman Fred Martinez, outfielder Bob James, pitcher Bob Kinnaman, outfielder Robert Paterson, shortstop George Risk. First baseman Vic Picetti, pitcher George Lyden, and catcher Chris Hartje passed away in the days following the crash.
Levi and five of his teammates survived as did the bus driver. All suffered from serious injuries from broken bones to burns. In the days and weeks following the accident, sympathy notes and prayers poured in. Several fund raisers were held, and the monies divided among the deceased families and surviving players; Levi’s injuries netted him $4375 share. The Western International League did everything it could to cobble together a new Indians team. A couple of the survivors were able to make an appearance later in the season, including second baseman Ben Geraghty who replaced their former manager Mel Cole, who had perished on the mountainside.
Though several newspaper articles hinted at a return, Levi McCormack’s season was finished. His nose and face healed, but he suffered chronic hip and side problems that hindered his recouperation. And while physical injuries would heal, the psychological toll the accident took on the survivors could not be treated with medicine. Edo Vanni later told the Seattle Times about the emotional scars his friend Levi endured: “He never got over the shock and frustration of lying there helpless, watching the flames consume his best friends.” To this day, the 1946 Spokane Indians bus crash remains the deadliest accident in the history of American professional sports.
LEVI MCCORMACK rallied to have one last season with the Spokane Indians. Playing in 119 games in 1947, Levi hit .276 before his injuries caught up with him. The Spokane fans came together to give their beloved right fielder a rousing send off, declaring August 25 “McCormack Night” and showering their hero with five grand in cash and a new Buick Roadmaster.
Levi now found himself on the other side of the minor league conundrum that necessitated his trade from Seattle to Spokane a decade earlier. With new ownership came an agreement making the Indians an affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers. This immediately opened a steady stream of cash and young talent. Whereas before the war an unaffiliated club needed popular veteran ballplayers to win games and attract fans, Spokane's new Dodgers affiliation made Levi McCormack dispensable. Any thoughts he had about playing another season dissipated when the ownership declined to offer him a new contract for ’48.
Now in his mid-thirties, Levi remained in Spokane where he was treated like the town’s own Babe Ruth. He gave his fans a few last thrills by playing semipro ball around town, then tested his popularity by entering local politics. He won the Democratic nomination for Spokane County coroner but lost to the incumbent in the general election. He finally settled on a career with the post office.
He married Margaret Elizabeth McDonald in 1948 and had three boys and four girls. A 2009 blog post by Royce Ferguson contained some of the author’s childhood memories of his local postal carrier who had been a real pro ballplayer and took time from his route to give the local boys some baseball tips. The post brought back fond memories for several others who had known Levi when they were kids growing up in Spokane. One recalled, “I grew up obsessed with baseball and the Spokane Indians were Gods of sorts to me. The fact that a former player delivered our mail – I was proud to say hello to him and, like you, probably a pest and I imagine I even got him to sign my glove – was so incredible that I've since actually wondered if I hadn't somehow made it up.” Another remembered, “Levi McCormack was my friends’ dad and he was a lovely man who was gentle, and very well liked by everyone who knew him. My mother was very fond of him too, I know he was very popular as a postal worker and was popular with the people and kids on his route.”
A heart attack felled Levi McCormack unexpectedly at the age of 61 in 1974. Aside from his former fans and the children who knew him along his mail route, Levi McCormack is remembered today as a permanent member of the “Rim of Honor” that commemorates four Indians players at Spokane’s Avista Stadium. Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, LA Dodgers great Maury Wills, and Spokane player and later team executive Dwight Aden being the other honorees.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The origin of this story lies with Mike Shannon, poet and publisher of Spitball Magazine. Mike graciously allows me to mine the extensive Spitball library when I’m doing research, and it was on one such visit that Mike turned me on to Levi’s remarkable story. If you look closely in the background of the accompanying illustration of Levi, you can see my little thanks to Mike and Spitball.
As popular as Levi McCormack was in Spokane, surprisingly few articles have been written about him since his passing. An exception is David Eskenazi’s “Baseball pride of Nez Perce” found on SportspressNW.com website. As for the Spokane Indians bus crash, several articles looking back on the tragedy have been published over the decades since 1946. After I finished researching and writing the bulk of this story, Rowman & Littlefield published Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything by Eric Vickrey. Though I have not read the book, it has been highly praised by and recommended by several historians whose opinion I greatly respect.
Shawn Hennessy’s site Chevronsanddiamonds.org is a tremendous wealth of WWII military baseball and his piece on the Pasco Flyers was indispensable when writing this piece.
And finally, I’d like to thank my sister-in-law, Cathy Gazzaniga, for her research expertise – I’m starting to think there isn’t anything that Cathy can’t uncover when she sets her sights on it!
*****************************************************************************************************
This story is Number 73 in a series of collectible booklets
Each of the hand-numbered and signed 4 ¼” x 5 1/2″ booklets feature an 8 to 24 page story along with a colored art card attached to the inside back cover. These mini-books can be bought individually, thematically or collected as a never-ending set. In addition to the individual booklets, I envision there being themed sets, such as the series I did on Minor League Home Run Champions. You can order a Subscription to Season 6 as well. A year subscription includes a guaranteed regular 12 issues at a discounted price, plus at least one extra Subscriber Special Issue. Each subscription will begin with Booklet Number 066 and will be active through December of 2024. Booklets 1-65 can be purchased as a group, too.