Captain John J Sax was part of the crew of a Marine V-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft operated by the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing that crashed last week. All five crew on board were killed in the accident. While much attention has been given to the fact that Captain Sax is the son of Steve Sax, a former major league baseball player, less attention has been given to his mother. According to locals, Captain Sax’s mother, Debbie Graham, was a 1976 FHS graduate. According to published sources, she and Steve Sax married in 1986. She and Sax subsequently had two children, Lauren Ashley Sax, born in July 1987, and John Jeremy Sax, in August 1988.
Steve was a second baseman, for the Yankees from 1989 to 1991. He had also been a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing on World Series winning teams in 1981 and 1988. Published sources suggest that the couple divorced by the mid-1990s.
No funeral arrangements have been made public.
The V-22 Osprey has had a troubled service life, with 13 of the 400 aircraft built suffering catastrophic crashes that have killed more than 50 people. Other less severe crashes have also resulted in deaths and injuries.