Crash Victim Was On Way To Watch Son Play Basketball

PARK RIDGE, IL - A Park Ridge man who was on his way to see his son and nephew play in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day high school basketball tournament in western Illinois on Monday died in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 88, where 'white-out" conditions were reported at the time.

Thomas Gardiner, 56, the father of senior Tommy Gardiner and the uncle of junior John Gardiner, was the victim of the crash according to the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate. Both the younger Gardiners were in Galesburg on Monday as members of the Maine South High School basketball team playing in the tournament.

Gardiner was the lone occupant of a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban as it was travelling westbound on I-88, went into a median on the strip, crossed into eastbound lanes and ended up in a ditch. State Police said Gardiner was pronounced dead on the scene.

The road was reportedly snow-covered, and white-out conditions made visibility limited at the time for drivers in the Galesburg area.

Maine South's game against Peoria scheduled for 4 p.m. the day of the crash was cancelled as Head Coach Tony Lavorato returned the team to Park Ridge immediately after he learned of the tragedy.

More via the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate

Image via Shutterstock