James Easter Heathman, the teenager who raced to a field near his family's central Kansas farm to find the plane crash that killed Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, has died. He was 90.

Heathman died Tuesday at an Emporia, Kan., hospital, where he had been for about a week after contracting pneumonia, said his son, Tom Heathman.

Tom Heathman said Wednesday his father had been taking people to the site, on private land near the Heathman farm, for about 20 years. He said his father gave the free tours because he wanted to honor Rockne, who at 43 was at the height of his career at the time of the March 1931 crash.

Rockne led the Fighting Irish to consecutive undefeated records his final two seasons. His death, which President Herbert Hoover called "a national loss," made front-page news across the country.

"Easter was a wonderful man whose lifelong dedication to honoring the memory of Knute Rockne will forever be appreciated by Notre Dame," school spokesman Dennis Brown said.

Tom Heathman said his father, who was about a week shy of his 14th birthday, heard the noise of the plane overhead and thought it was cars racing down the road.

"But then the operator rang shortly after that" and told them it appeared a plane had crashed, Tom Heathman said. "He got in an old Model T with his dad and a couple of his brothers and drove up there."

At the site, about 3 miles southwest of Bazaar, Kan., they found the plane's tail section sticking out of the ground. Five bodies were on the ground, and the two pilots' bodies were inside, Heathman said.

The family attributed some of the increased attention over the past two decades to the Internet.

Many of the visitors have been Notre Dame alumni. Easter Heathman had been to Notre Dame to tell his story to a gathering of university alumni. He also met Rockne family members, his son said.

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