The NTSB website has information on plane crashes back to 1962. While they don't list the pilot's name, they do list the pilot's age, departure location, intended arrival location, etc. It also indicates the cause of the crash - including acrobatic maneuvers - if it applies. There may be enough clues in the report to give you some leads on which crash involves the individual you are looking for.

Try http://www.ntsb.gov and play around with the search feature and you will come up with some possiblities. Once you have some possible dates based on the information found in the report, you can then go to a newspaper search for the date and location of the crash that is noted in the report from the NTSB.