Friends remember Blake Thacker as brilliant, drumline leader and adventurer
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- Blake Thacker, 25, was one of 12 people who died in a Butler, Missouri plane crash.
- He had moved to the Kansas City area to work at Garmin and build an engineering career.
- He served as a University of Florida marching band bass drum section leader and skydiver.
Blake Thacker’s Instagram biography was only a few words long: He did “nerdy stuff” and jumped out of airplanes.
Thacker, 25, is one of the 12 people who died in Sunday’s skydiving plane crash in Butler, Missouri.
Two of his friends from the University of Florida said he was the rare person who seemed able to do everything.
He earned two degrees while helping lead the marching band’s drumline, was building his career as an engineer, and pursued a passion for skydiving that friends say fit his personality perfectly.
Every time his friend Lindsay Aumann looks through old photos of Thacker, she notices the same thing.
“We’re always smiling and laughing,” she said.
The Bates County coroner released the names of the 12 victims Tuesday. In addition to Thacker, the other victims are Jen Sharp, Marcus Miller, Matthew Cole Swope, Michael Shanahan, Dustin McKinney, Dane Cordes, Nick Nash, William Fischer, Sai Karthik Varma Datla, Kurt John Roy and David Hershberger.
He had recently moved to the Kansas City area for a job at Garmin after graduating from the University of Florida with his master’s degree, according to his LinkedIn.
Thacker played bass drum in the University of Florida marching band and served as a section leader in 2020, helping guide fellow students through a season disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He brought a ton of energy and happiness to every rehearsal and football game we did,” said Graham Jackson, who played alongside Thacker in the drumline. “You could just tell being around him he was highly intelligent, and you got the sense that no matter what he went on to do after college, he was going to be very successful at it.”
Jackson said the marching band’s bass drum section was more than just an extracurricular activity for Thacker.
It was a tight-knit group that spent countless hours together at rehearsals, football games and practices, Jackson said. Thacker was a central part of that community, Jackson said, helping create the close-knit atmosphere
“He loved marching band and loved being in the drumline,” Jackson said. “There was a shared love between all of us. He was just a great person.”
Aumann, who served as a section leader alongside Thacker, said Thacker balanced the demands of engineering coursework with marching band and later graduate school while remaining someone to whom people gravitated.
“He was always such a nice person. He cared about everybody,” she said. “Every time that he and I were together, I remember being very happy.”
Outside of academics and music, Thacker developed a passion for skydiving that eventually became a defining hobby.
Aumann said the sport seemed perfectly suited to his personality.
“It felt right for him,” she said. “He was that kind of person who would confidently jump out of a plane.”
After learning of the crash, Aumann found herself scrolling through old photos and text messages from their time at the University of Florida.
They were ordinary conversations about memories of college and moving on to the next chapter in life.
Now, she said, they serve as reminders of a friend whose intelligence, humor and enthusiasm left a lasting impression.
“He was just a great person,” Aumann said. “An amazing friend.”
