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Those Who Died That Others Might Be Free

Curly Kopp

Date and Place of Birth: November 25, 1919 Buffalo Center, Iowa
Date and Place of Death: July 21, 1943
Baseball Experience: Minor League
Position: Outfield
Rank: Ensign
Military Unit: US Navy
Area Served: United States

Carlyle J "Curly" Kopp was born on November 25, 1919 in Buffalo Center, Iowa – a small town in the northern part of the state. A four-sport athlete, Kopp starred in baseball, basketball, football and track at Buffalo Center High School. On May 13, 1937 he pitched a 4-0 no-hitter against Rake High School and also played for the Buffalo Center Junior Legion team. Kopp graduated in 1937, playing the summer months with the Forest City Collegians semi-pro baseball team.

He attended the University of Iowa form 1937 to 1938 and transferred to Worthington Junior College in Worthington, Minnesota, where he completed his degree in 1940. Following graduation, Kopp signed with the St Louis Cardinals and was assigned to the Worthington Cardinals of the Western League. The young outfielder and lead-off hitter batted .263 in 85 games that season.

He was with the Sioux City Soos of the same league in 1941 and batted .241 with 27 stolen bases. Kopp was to join Hamilton in the Kitty League for 1942. During the winter months he played basketball in his hometown of Buffalo Center, Iowa, and was called for military service before the baseball season began. 

Curly Kopp (front row, third from left) with the Buffalo Center basketball team in 1942

Kopp joined the Navy and trained as a pilot. After earning his wings he served as an instructor at the US Naval Air Station Minneapolis, located at Wold-Chamberlain Field (which later became Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport) – about 150 miles north of Buffalo Center. The airfield was used for educating naval aviation cadets in ground school and primary flight training. At 4pm on July 21, 1943, Ensign Kopp (who had gotten married on May 12, 1943) and Lieutenant (jg) Lyle Peters took off on a routine training flight from Wold-Chamberlain Field with Kopp at the controls. An hour later, the plane (probably a Stearman N2S Kaydet) crashed into the Mississippi River near St Paul Park – a suburb of St Paul about 15 miles east of Wold-Chamberlain Field. Both Kopp and Peters were killed instantly and the airplane was destroyed.

A Stearman N2S Kaydet. Probably the plane Kopp was flying the day he was killed.

Added November 11, 2006. Updated September 16, 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Gary Bedingfield (Baseball in Wartime). All Rights Reserved.