Pickleball players killed in Texas plane crash included a school tennis star, trauma counselor

(AP) – Five members of a pickleball club who died after the small plane carrying them crashed in Texas are being mourned by a tight-knit community of fellow players.

The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed Saturday that Justin Appling, Hayden Dillard, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick and Seren Wilson were on board the Cessna 421C that crashed Thursday night in Texas Hill Country. Appling was the pilot.

The aircraft had departed from Amarillo and was heading to New Braunfels National Airport. It crash-landed in Wimberley, a city about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Austin, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

The Amarillo Pickleball Club posted on its social media that the victims were members on their way to a pickleball tournament in New Braunfels.

Teammates who became more like family

Dillard and Appling, who went by the nickname Glen, were the owners of a manufactured home dealer in Amarillo. The business announced early Friday that it would be closed until Monday.

Sarah Lister got to know Dillard and Appling during pickleball tournaments and described them as both genuine people. She said Appling was always making them laugh and Dillard was an amazing businesswoman and mother.

She said Dillard has two daughters, one of whom was about to start college. Dillard and Appling had played mixed doubles for a long time together, and Skypala was Dillard’s women’s doubles partner, Lister said.

“The pickleball world is super, super small, even though it’s huge at the same time,” said Lister. “And when one of us has a tragedy like this, it’s like it’s the whole community that gets hit.”

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Leroy Clifford, a club member who had traveled to the tournament on another plane, considered all of them family, even though he’d only recently met Wilson. They had traveled to Pro Pickleball Association-sanctioned tournaments all over the country together, from Dallas to Las Vegas. They bonded over being on the higher-end competitions of pickleball, but they also didn’t take themselves too seriously.

“One thing I can say about this group is this group, you wanted to be around this group. They were fun, carefree, not uptight, just relaxed, loved to joke with each other, make fun of each other,” Clifford said. “You couldn’t ask for better friends, honestly.”

He played the most with Skypala, who he described as quick-witted and a natural athlete.

“She was very witty, super sweet and very funny,” Clifford said.

Skypala, who was married with children, had just celebrated a professional milestone. Last month, she announced on her Facebook that she had just started accepting clients as a counselor, fulfilling a decade-old goal. Skypala, who has a master’s of education from West Texas A&M University, said in her post that she works with those “navigating anxiety, trauma, relationship challenges, and life transitions.”

Last summer, Skypala helped host a pickleball camp for dozens of children from the nonprofit Amarillo Children’s Home.

Hedrick was someone who loved to laugh, carried a positive outlook and “had a big heart.” She also was a fierce player who earned the nickname “Rippy” from Appling, Clifford said. Everyone else started calling her that.

“She was a very good tennis player. In pickleball, you have to be able to do drop shots,” Clifford said. “We gave her that nickname because all she did was rip. All she did was smash the ball or forehand it really hard.”

Wilson, the youngest, was an accomplished tennis player. In 2022, she was University Interscholastic League team tennis state champion, according to the tennis booster club at Amarillo High School, where she graduated from.

A family member of Wilson’s declined to comment when reached by phone Saturday.

The pickleball club posted on Facebook that “Seren loved big and her presence, encouragement, and spirit will be deeply missed by so many.”

Amarillo pickleball community mourns together

Federal authorities are leading the investigation into what caused the crash.

Recorded audio indicates another pilot in the area confirmed the troubled plane’s locator emergency device had emitted a distress signal. An air traffic controller then called 911.

It was mostly cloudy in the New Braunfels area shortly before the crash, and there was a thunderstorm two hours later, the National Weather Service said.

The pickleball tournament the players were supposed to compete in at the Cranky Pickle in New Braunfels, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of San Antonio, canceled Friday’s events, said Martin Robertson, head pro at the venue.

“We’re very heavy-hearted, heartbroken from this,” he said. “Everybody knows everybody.”

Clifford said the Amarillo club’s focus now is on those closest to the five and to “lift these families up in prayer.”

“It’s going to be a long road ahead. But there’s a lot of love and support from everyone that knew these people,” Clifford said.