If you look at the Flight Global article linked by green granite, you will see that there was over a year between the 3rd F-117 crash and the public unveiling (10 November 1988).
Three of the F-117s have crashed. The USAF did not reveal the date of the first accident, in which a Lockheed test pilot ejected safely. The second F-117 crashed on the night of July 11, 1986, at Bakersfield, California, and the third on October 14, 1987, on the Nellis Ranges.
The 2nd & 3rd crashes were fatals.