1927 – Jan 22, Baylor University Basketball Team Bus Hit by Train, Round Rock, TX– 10
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 2-27-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–11-14 Bakersfield Californian. “14 Killed When Train Hits Bus.” 1-22-1927, p. 1.
— 10 Abilene Reporter-News, TX. “Bus Crash Kills at Least 28.” 8-5-1952, p. 1.
— 10 Port Arthur News, TX. “Crash Kills 10 Baylor Students.” 1-23-1927, p. 1.
— 10 San Antonio Light, TX. “Some States Meet…Need…Abolishing Grade…” 1-25-1927.
— 10 San Antonio Light, TX. “State Mourns as Baylor U. Buries Ten.” 1-24-1927, p. 2.
— 10 Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).”
Narrative Information
1952, Abilene Reporter-News, TX: “It was on this same highway – U.S. 81 – that 10 members of the Baylor University Basketball Team were killed in a bus-train collision in 1928.” (Abilene Reporter-News, TX. “Bus Crash Kills at Least 28.” 8-5-1952, p. 1.)
Wikipedia: “January 22, 1927 – Round Rock, Texas: A bus carrying the Baylor University basketball team to a game at the University of Texas at Austin takes a grade crossing just as an International-Great Northern train approaches. Evasive action is taken, but the bus skids on the rain-soaked road surface directly into the path of the train. 10 players are killed, 12 injured. To this day Baylor honors them as the “Immortal Ten”.” (Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).”)
Newspapers
Jan 22: “Georgetown, Texas, Jan. 22. – (AP) – Fourteen dead was the toll reached late today as the result of the crash of an International Great Northern train with a bus carrying the Baylor University basketball squad of Waco, near Round Rock.
“Eleven were killed almost instantly when the wreck occurred, and three died in ambulances on the way to Georgetown. Only four of the 21 persons in the bus escaped uninjured, reports here said…
“Austin, Texas, Jan. 22 – Eleven members of the Baylor University basketball team of Waco, Texas, were killed, five probably fatally injured and six less seriously injured hurt in a collision between an automobile bus and a fast passenger train of the International Great Northern railroad at Round Rock, 22 miles northeast of here, today.
“The toll of the accident was announced by Milton Morris, general agent for the railroad.
“The bus carrying the basketball team was on the way from Waco to Austin, where Baylor was to play the University of Texas tonight.
“Nurses and doctors were sent from Austin and Taylor and at 1:10 p.m. the train which struck the automobile bus was being held to carry the wounded to Taylor, about 15 miles away. The nurses and doctors were held at Taylor to receive the wounded.
“Morris said the fast Sunshine Special of his road which left San Antonio this morning and the bus loaded with students crashed at an open crossing. All the occupants of the bus were either killed or injured, according to Morris’ information. The accident occurred at 11:45 a.m…
“The nurses and doctors are awaiting at Taylor and the injured will be cared for there,” said Morris. “Our information is that five of the injured cannot live until they arrive at Taylor.”
“I. K. Howith of San Antonio saw the accident while driving an automobile following the wrecked bus. He said the bus driver apparently did not see the rapidly approaching train, which was whistling. When the bus reached the tracks the train was almost upon it, the bus driver turned suddenly parallel and going in the same direction as the train. The crash came almost instantly. The bus was splintered, tires being thrown in all directions.
“The bus had gone 30 yards down the tracks when it was hit. The passengers occupied wicker chairs in the Baylor bus and these chairs were scattered in all directions. The locomotive hit the automobile in the center. The train stopped a short way down the track.
“Round Rock, Texas, Jan. 22. – UP – Only three men escaped injury when a fast International and Great Northern passenger train struck a bus load of Baylor University students on a grade crossing, killing 11 here today, according to J. S. Truesdel, who saw the accident. Truesdel, filling station proprietor, was about 100 yards from the crossing when the speeding locomotive smashed into the big automobile. “Just before the crash,” Truesdel said, “I saw a man jump from the bus. He and two others were the only ones of the students who were not hurt.” “The driver was making about 25 or 30 miles an hour,” Truesdel continued. “As he approached the crossing, he made a desperate attempt to avoid the collision by swerving the big bus to one side.” “But he couldn’t make it. The locomotive struck his machine just as he was about one-third of the way across the rails.” “There was a terrific crash and the bus seemed to break up in scores of pieces.” “Bodies of the boys were tossed to one side as the train rushed past the crossing with its brakes grinding.” “I am sure the driver didn’t see the train until too late. I think nearly all the boys in the bus knew they were going to be hit, but only one was able to jump to safety.” Truesdel said two bodies were found on the pilot of the locomotive and a third body found beside the track 100 yards from the crossing. The driver was not seriously injured, according to Truesdel.” (Californian, Bakersfield. “14 Killed When Train Hits Bus.” 1-22-1927.)
Jan 22: “Taylor, Tex., Jan. 22. – Ten young men, including five crack members of the Baylor University basketball squad and five student followers of the team, met death almost instantly when a speeding passenger train crashed into a motorbus near Round Rock two minutes before noon, Saturday. Eight were injured in the collision and at least one of these is expected to die.
“The ‘Sunshine Special,” No. 2 fast flier of the International & Great Northern Railroad company, moving north at a terrific rate, struck the bus in which 22 students from the university, located at Waco, were riding to Austin, where the Baylor squad was scheduled to play the University of Texas quintet Saturday night.
“Great confusion which followed the tragic crash gave rise to early reports that the lives of as many as a score had been snuffed out. Horror struck at the suddenness of the disaster, the little village of Round Rock, stunned, set about the work of caring for the dead and injured. Bodies were removed to morgues and hospitals in three places, and five hours of checking were necessary before the toll of the crash was known precisely.
“The tragedy was the worst that has ever happened in the history of any Texan college. The boys were laughing and talking about the prospects for the game as they passed through the business section of Round Rock, without stopping. Almost before they knew what happened, the crash came.
“Joe Potter, a student, was driving. ‘He could not see the train for a string of boxcars,’ John Kane, one of the survivors declared, ‘until we got right n the track. Then several of us saw the train coming. Joe automatically tried to stop, but realizing it was too late, he turned down the track. Nobody had time to say anything.’….
“Abe Kelley, elected football captain for next year, died a hero, Kane said. ‘He and Washam were inseparable pals,’ he said. ‘They were sitting together. Just before the impact, Abe shoved Washman out of the car and clear of the wreck. He was saved. Abe was killed.
“Ed. Gooch saved his [own] life through an act of kindness.
“At Temple, when the bus passed along, the students saw Ivey Forster, Jr., of Taylor. ‘He will freeze out there, and he wants to go to the game,’ Coach R. R. Wolfe said, according to Kane, ‘So let’s take him along.’ The bus stopped and picked up Foster, and [Ed] Gooch got up and gave him his seat. Foster was killed and Gooch was not.
“At Round Rock, the entire citizenship turned out to help minister to the injured, and gather up the dead.
“The train stopped as soon as the brakes could hold, but three of the Baylor boys were found on the cowcatcher.
“Section hands were put to work clearing the track. The bodies were put in the baggage car and the injured taken by train to Taylor, with the exception of Bob Hannah and William Winchester, who were so seriously injured they were taken to Georgetown, where they died at a hospital….
“Ivey R. Foster, Sr., a business man of Taylor, was helping take the bodies of the dead off the train. He looked at one corpse and recognized it to be that of his son, Ivey, Jr….
“Fred Acree, most seriously injured of those still living tonight, is not expected to survive. The others will get well, physicians say. Coach Wolfe is suffering from injuries about the head and severe shock, but he is not dangerously injured….
“The Dead
Sam Dillow, Fort Worth.
- Clyde ‘Abe’ Kelley, Waco.
Jimmie S. Walker, Gatesville.
Jack Castellaw, [21] Ennis.
- H. ‘Bob’ Winchester, Georgetown.
Robert Hammer, St. Louis, Mo.
Ivey R. Foster, Jr., [19] Taylor.
Willis E. Murray, Gatesville.
Bob Hailey, Lott.
Merle Dudley, Abilene.”
(Port Arthur News, TX. “Crash Kills 10 Baylor Students.” 1-23-1927, p. 1.)
Jan 24: “Waco, Jan. 24. (INS)….A memorial service on the campus o£ the university was to be held this morning, during which business houses will be closed. No classes were to be held at the university today. Hundreds from the city were expected to join the 2500 students in paying their respects to the memory of the ten students, including five basket ball players, for which the shriek of a fast passenger train was the “final whistle.”
“The ten were killed when the university bus was hit by International and Great Northern passenger train No. 2, at the Round Rock station. Eight others were injured, five seriously. Fred Acree, the one most critically injured, is reported slightly improved at the Taylor; hospital where
he and the others were taken. His back is said to have been broken, with other injuries being inflicted….
“All of Texas yesterday mourned the tragedy, said to be the worst bus-train accident in the history of the state. Pastors in many pulpits appealed to the people to get behind a movement to eliminate grade crossings….”
“Waco, Jan 24. – (AP) – Memorial services…were held at the Baylor chapel this morning, with nearly 2000 in attendance….” (San Antonio Light, TX. “State Mourns as Baylor U. Buries Ten.” 1-24-1927, p. 2.)
Jan 25: “Texas has been shocked by news of the appalling grade-crossing accident at Round Rock, in which ten Baylor University students…were killed and five others seriously injured. This is the worst disaster of the kind in the State’s history and – coming when the Legislature it in session — it already has aroused demands for dealing constructively with the problem. Ten lives sacrificed at one swoop is a high price to pay for perpetuating the railroad grade crossing – and the aggregate lost in a year is many times as great.
“The circumstances surrounding the crash emphasize the fact that amid the multiplied hazards of a complex civilization, small and seemingly inconsequential factors may lead to disaster. The roads were muddy; a fine mist filled the air; heavy clouds and a bespattered windshield reduced visibility to a low point. The driver was on strange ground; before he realized it the bus was on the track and the fast train was upon it. Then it was too late to stop, and he could only try to beat the locomotive.
“The distractions incident to conveying a group of demonstrative college youths, bound for an athletic contest, also must be considered. The human equation in such circumstances is not easily explicable. To cite one example, how account for the fact that a driver ran a bus loaded with school children in front of a train in Ohio about two years ago? Some twenty deaths resulted. In that instance the driver knew the road. He long had gone over it twice a day as a matter of routine, and also must have known that the train was about due.
“Plainly, the fallible human factor must be eliminated — but how? As yet no device has been adopted for stopping a car automatically us it approaches a railroad crossing. Various schemes for compelling the man at the wheel to take notice — such as sharp curves — have met but indifferent success.
“Last year one of the worst accidents was reported from Georgia, which early enacted a “stop” law. Public conveyances — everywhere legally required to halt before crossing a railroad — have been involved in many such collisions.
“Obviously, the only positive scheme of prevention is separation of grades. Such accidents are rare in England and almost unknown on the European continent. There, grade crossings are not tolerated in the metropolitan areas, and those in the provinces are guarded by flagmen.
“Neither arrangement is immediately practicable for the United States. The Interstate Commerce Commission record shows 242,000 such danger-spots in this country. Elimination, it is calculated, would cost an average of $80,000 each. The total expense would reach the practically impossible sum of $19,360,000,000, and the work would require many years.
“The only feasible plan is gradual abolishment, therefore, the Texas State Highway Commission consistently has followed such a program, rerouting primary roads to avoid crossings so far as possible and separating the glaringly dangerous grades.
“New fork is grappling with the problem on a more ambitious scale: The voters approved a $300,000,300 bond issue for doing away with 4,000 such deathtraps throughout the State—half the expense to be borne by the State and half by the carrier companies. This experiment will be watched with interest and doubtless will inspire emulation.
“Of the bills and resolutions introduced in Austin as a reaction to the disaster at Round Rock, it is to be feared that few, if any, will prove practicable. The matter must be dealt with dispassionately, along the lines here indicated.” (San Antonio Light, TX. “Some States Meet the Need of Abolishing Grade Crossings.” 1-25-1927, p. 10.)
Sources
Abilene Reporter-News, TX. “Bus Crash Kills at Least 28.” 8-5-1952, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=76894923
Bakersfield Californian. “14 Killed When Train Hits Bus.” 1-22-1927, p. 1. Accessed 2-27-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bakersfield-californian-jan-22-1927-p-1/
Port Arthur News, TX. “Crash Kills 10 Baylor Students.” 1-23-1927, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=21022320
San Antonio Light, TX. “Some States Meet the Need of Abolishing Grade Crossings.” 1-25-1927, 10. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=71014554
San Antonio Light, TX. “State Mourns as Baylor U. Buries Ten.” 1-24-1927, p. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=68108233
Wikipedia. “List of Rail Accidents (Pre-1950).” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-1950_rail_accidents