Melvin Howard Becket, (1929 – December 9, 1956) was an American college football and professional Canadian football player, and was one of 62 people who died on Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, on December 9, 1956.
[2] Becket spurned the NFL and instead signed with the WIFU Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he starred for four years.
[1] Becket, along with Roughriders teammates, Mario DeMarco, Gordon Sturtridge, and Ray Syrnyk, were passengers on Flight 810 with another WIFU player, Calvin Jones, of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
[1] All five players were present at the 1956 All-Star game in Vancouver, British Columbia, and were headed back to their respective teams' home cities.
The five players were accompanied by 54 other passengers, which included 1 football official, and 3 crew members, who all lost their lives in Western Canada's worst aviation disaster on December 9, 1956, on Slesse Mountain (Mount Slesse) near Chilliwack, British Columbia.