Bobcats Co-Owner 'Skipper' Beck Dead After Plane Crash

William "Skipper" Beck, a 49-year-old businessman who helped bring an expansion team to Charlotte and owned a minority share in the Bobcats, died in a plane crash Friday morning, according to the Associated Press.

"Skipper loved basketball and was instrumental in bringing the Bobcats to Charlotte, and as an owner, he was without question the Bobcats greatest fan," Bobcats majority owner Robert Johnson said in a statement. "We will miss him at courtside."

The AP reports that Beck was flying a single-engine plane from New Jersey to South Carolina went the craft went down. There were no passengers. As a fellow co-owner of the Bobcats, Beck counts Hall of Fame inductee Michael Jordan as a friend. In 2007, Beck set up a threesome at the Wachovia pro-am matching himself, MJ and Tiger Woods (pictured right).