AUBURN — U.S. Air Force Maj. John “Alex” Klinner, a 2016 graduate of Auburn University, will be honored ahead of Auburn football's matchup with No. 17 LSU with a pregame flyover.
Four F-35 Lightning II fighter jets from the 187th Fighter Wing Alabama Air National Guard will be flown by Auburn graduates prior to the game, according to a release. During Saturday's game day festivities, the Klinner family will take part in the presentation scholarship established in Maj. Klinner's honor, supporting future mechanical engineering students at Auburn in Air Force ROTC who embody "the excellence, leadership and commitment to service that defined Maj. Klinner."
The contest is scheduled for an 11 a.m. CT kickoff Saturday, Oct. 24, and will air on ABC.
The 33-year-old Klinner, a mechanical engineering graduate, died in the line of duty when his KC-135 plane crashed March 30, 2026 in Iraq. He was one of six American service members killed in the early stages of Operation Epic Fury. At Auburn, Klinner joined the ROTC program, through which he was commissioned in the USAF in 2017.
He served as an Air Force pilot for eight years, flying KC-135, T-6 and T-1 aircrafts, eventually assigned to serve as Chief of Squadron Standardizations and Evaluations of the 99th Air Refueling Squadron in Birmingham, Alabama. He was deployed four different times over seven years.
An Auburn native, Klinner graduated from Auburn High School in 2011 and was a third-generation AU graduate. He is survived by his wife, Libby Klinner, and three young children, including 7-month-old twins at the time of his death.
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football to honor AU alumnus, Air Force Major Alex Klinner with flyover