Ronnie Van Zant
On October 20, 1977, a plane carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ran out of fuel outside Gillsburg, Mississippi. The passengers had been informed about potential problems with the Convair CV-240 and were told to brace for a crash. Van Zant died on impact from head injuries suffered after the aircraft struck a tree. Bandmates Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines, along with assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray, were also killed. The rest of the band was seriously injured. Van Zant was 29 years old.
Professional snooker career of Ronnie O'Sullivan
O'Sullivan started playing snooker from just seven years old, and showed a considerable natural talent for the game: winning his first club tournament aged 9 and scoring his first century break (a run of 117) aged 10. O'Sullivan's first major success was becoming the 1989 British Under-16 Champion, aged 13, beating Andy Hicks 3–1 in the final. A year later, O'Sullivan made a "big breakthrough" at a professional-amateur tournament in Stevenage. He defeated world number 34 Marcel Gauvreau 3–2 in the quarter-finals, with a break of 120 in the deciding frame before progressing to the final and defeating fellow amateur Anthony Hamilton for the title. Afterwards, Gauvreau described O'Sullivan's play as "unbelievable" and that "No-one's ever played that well against me." Still aged 14, O'Sullivan made his television debut at the Thames Snooker Classic. He made a televised 75 break during his quarter-final match, which was commentated on by Steve Davis, before being defeated at the semi-final stage. Two years later, O'Sullivan reached the final of the 1991 English Amateur Championship, where he fell 10–13 to Steve Judd. During the tournament, at the age of 15 years and 98 days, he became the youngest player to compile a maximum break in a recognised tournament, a record that stood until July 2017 when it was broken by Sean Maddocks from Liverpool, who was 15 years and 90 days old when he achieved the feat. Later the same year, O'Sullivan defeated Patrick Delsemme 11–4 for the 1991 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship title. O'Sullivan's last notable amateur achievement before turning professional was capturing the 1991 Junior Pot Black title, defeating Declan Murphy 2–0 in the final.