Four Notre Dame fans perish in South Carolina plane crash

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:23 p.m. ET

foxsports

WALHALLA, S.C. -- Authorities say all four people who died in a plane crash in South Carolina were from northern Indiana.

The men were flying from Warsaw, Indiana, to Clemson, South Carolina, to attend Saturday's Notre Dame-Clemson game.

Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis identified the men who died Friday afternoon as: 71-year-old Charles D. Smith; his son, 44-year-old Scott A. Smith; 54-year-old Tony L. Elliott; and 51-year-old Scott D. Bibler.

Elliott was a former sprint car driver, and won the U.S. Auto Club national sprint car series championship in 1998 and 2000. Tony Stewart, a three-time NASCAR champion, posted a message on his Facebook page Saturday that said Elliott was "fierce competitor on the track, he was also a father, husband, son, brother and friend.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Elliott family at this time. Godspeed & Rest In Peace," Stewart's post said.

The elder Smith was a councilman and former high school football coach, and Bibler also used to coach high school football. Scott Smith was an attorney.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Berger said the wreckage of the Piper PA-32 was found near Lake Hartwell on the Georgia-South Carolina border. Authorities have not yet given a cause for the crash.