[8], The board made three recommendations as a result of this accident, including recommendations for heads-up displays, ground proximity warning devices, and surveillance and inspection of flight operations. "He had a great future in front of him. She traveled to Washington, D.C. for the hearings that were supposed to explain the crash. Hill died in the 1970 plane crash. In its second season under head coach Rick Tolley, the team compiled a 36 record and was outscored by a total of 202 to 138. Mary Jane Tolley didn't go because the local veterinarian recommended she stay because the couple's dog was sick. After the crash, Red Dawson helped bring together a group of players who were on the junior varsity football team during the 1970 season, as well as students and athletes from other sports, to form a 1971 football team.[12]. The opponent was scheduled to be East Carolinathe same team that defeated Marshall before the disaster took place. Loria became Marshall's defensive backs coach in 1970. Among the 75 who perished were 36 players. Holliday wants to make a date to come out and hunt turkeys on Dawson's 400 acres outside of town. If he had gone with Art Sr., would they have made the same mistake or would they have flown to the correct city? Eventually, Rick won over their hearts and minds. })(); (aka "The Marshall University Football Team Crash"). "I'm still wondering why.". David Debord, #76, 1970 MU Football team, b&w. It still stands as the most fatal sports-related accident in history. The team and residents of the town still gather together every year in memorial of the fallen fellows. The corresponding flight recorder shows that the craft descended another 220ft (67m) in elevation within these 12 seconds, and the co-pilot calls out "four hundred" and agrees with the pilot they are on the correct "approach." The solemn ceremony was held around a fountain dedicated to the crash victims on Marshall's Huntington campus. They couldn't take the tough routine. "The Young Herd" that carried on in 1971 had a new coach, Jack Lengyel. "Al" Saylor, #88,1970 MU Football team, Charles Kautz, MU A/D and coaches, 1970 MU football team, Dave Griffith, #81, 1970 MU Football team. [4], At the time, Marshall's athletic teams rarely traveled by plane, since most away games were within easy driving distance of the campus. He said,'Mrs. He was 37. He recalled talking at length with some of his counterparts at Wichita State, and how they leaned on each other for support. During the 1970 college football season, Marshall suffered a devastating loss to East Carolina in week 9 to drop the Thundering Herd to 3-6 on the year. | Among those in the fountain audience were four football players from East Carolina who played in that 1970 game. These are some of their stories, 50 years later. He played Defensive end. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. Report: Big 12 in recent contact with Pac-12 schools, Rules committee proposes change to speed up games, Saban unhappy over proposed permanent rivals, USC coach Lincoln Riley builds the perfect QB. Skeens was killed in the plane crash. Carter wants everyone to know God chose him to survive for that purpose. Harris died in the 1970 plane crash. There is already a plot there for one more. He was well-liked by his teammates not a rah-rah kid, but one who led by example.". Kenova native and Grammy-award winner Michael W. Smith opened the ceremony by singing Amazing Grace. He told the audience that he was 13 when the plane crashed eight minutes from his house. The rebuilding of the football program was the subject of the 2006 movie We are Marshall starting Matthew McConaughey. "My wonder was, 'Why? An Equal Opportunity University. That day nine years ago, "Frank Beamer became a very special person in my mind," Hamrick said. About Huntington, WV 25755. > There was no playbook, and nobody had been in that position before.". Rick Tolley is behind him. We Are Marshall.. It was the second college football team plane crash in a little over a month, after the October 2 crash that killed 31 (head coach, 14 Wichita State players, and 16 others). [2], The original proposal to charter the flight was refused because it would exceed "the takeoff limitations of their aircraft". The five Southern Airlines employees also died in the crash. There is still a hint of that strapping tight end's body. Normally in that situation, the cheerleaders would draw straws to see who went. He was the offensive tackle. Anniversaries are supposed to be happy, Slezak said from his home in New Mexico. The victims included 36 football players and 39 school administrators, coaches, fans, spouses and flight crew. Patient as an elementary school teacher but also unrelenting. I dont know what to call it.. The college town agreed with him. Sturmisch lived to be 13. This plaza and this fountain are the heart of Marshall University, university President Jerome Gilbert said. Its still considered the worst air disaster in American sports history. var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; There was room for only a few of them on the plane to Kinston, North Carolina. When he passed, Loria's wife was pregnant with Frank Loria Jr. Beamer guided the buses to the memorial. He never did try to preach to me. The late Jack Hardin, then a Huntington Herald-Dispatch reporter, once recalled stepping over a log on his way up the hill to cover the story. December 10, 2006 Herald-Dispatch [Huntington]. "It was something the Lord gave her to tell me," Carter said. [4][9], The effects of the crash on Huntington went far beyond the Marshall campus. It was an impression he put in her heart. Never defeated. When police needed a list of those on the plane, they came to the Kautzes' home. Carter will be thinking about "thanking the Lord for his grace and mercy, watching over me and sparing my life." He hid behind that sycamore each Nov. 14 for 20 years or so afterward because it hid him from the speeches, the families, the orphans, maybe his own remorse. The Thundering Herd upset Xavier, 15-13, in an emotional victory for the ages. ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? The airliner's crew was Captain Frank Abbot (47), First Officer Jerry Smith (28), plus two flight attendants. In the days before instant news, the fog of tragedy took time to lift. The movie details the tragic deaths of nearly the entire football program in 1970 and the rebuilding of a school and town all at once. ". They even won a couple of games. Joe Hood, Larry Sanders, Robert Van Horn and Freddy Wilson had come from Druid High School. "That was the biggest farce you've ever seen," she said. He was the center. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. An unfathomable 37 families were forced to mourn the death of their sons that fateful day. Artwork by Eugene Payne, Staff Artist, The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N.C. The bronze 1723 ft (57 m) statue was created by artist Burl Jones of Sissonville, West Virginia, and cost $150,000. Its an inspiring tribute to those fallen lives and the devoted men who led Marshall back to glory. On Nov 14, 1970, 75 people died in the worst sports related air tragedy in U.S. history, when a Southern Airways DC-9 crashed into the hillside nearby. 1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, 1970 NCAA University Division independents football records, 1970 NCAA University Division football season, "Memories of Marshall; ex-player says shock of crash never ends", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1970_Marshall_Thundering_Herd_football_team&oldid=1109112752, 1970 NCAA University Division independents football season, Marshall Thundering Herd football seasons, Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using CFB schedule with named parameters, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 8 September 2022, at 01:19. Loria had been a two-time All-American at Virginia Tech. Huntington, West Virginia: The four remaining starters from the 1970 first string team of Marshall University take time out to pause at flower arrangement placed at Marshall Field following the devastating plane crash that killed all 75 aboard. Slezak originally agreedbut said it would mean breaking a date. There was no reason to be around. Most of his teammates were gone, forever. Home We Are Marshall starred Matthew McConaughey as Jack Lengyel, the head coach who took over the program in 1971. "You sissy," Dawson said. "All these guys, about 50 of them, came out for football. They left behind six children who were being babysat by Dan DAntoni, a 23-year-old assistant with the Marshall basketball program in 1970. Woelfel, who had a speaking part in the movie, said it brought a lot of people back together to deal with the loss and they did it collectively. The crash took the lives of everyone on board -- the pilot, the first officer, two flight attendants, the charter coordinator, 24 Marshall University football fans, nine coaches and 37 players. "I didn't want anybody to see me crying. The aircraft was a 95-seat, twin-jet engine Douglas DC-9-30 with tail registration N97S. Officials at the site of the Nov. 14, 1970, Marshall University plane crash at Tri-State Airport in Kenova, W.Va., secure a charred engine for removal to an airport hangar. They turned around, headed back home and immediately got lost. 37 of them were members of the football team. > In 1968, Dawson was hired by new Marshall coach Perry Moss as defensive coordinator. They further stated, "The Board has been unable to determine the reason for this [greater] descent, although the two most likely explanations are (a) improper use of cockpit instrumentation data, or (b) an altimetry system error. He met with former Marshall coach Red Dawson, who gave away his seat on the plane that night. > "Oh sure, you ask yourself, 'Why did I miss it and all my friends and coaches were killed?' The inspiring story even made it to the big screen in 2006. They told the police they want to go to Spring Hill Cemetery. Another plaque memorializing the 1970 Marshall football team was unveiled at East Carolina University on the same day and can be seen at the guest team entrance of DowdyFicklen Stadium. "Bobby got this corona[virus] thing and beat it.". Roy Slezak refuses to call it an anniversary. "You're not supposed to let people see you cry.". "People still talk about that," Hamrick said. It was real big-time negligence. His close friend and neighbor, Art Harris Jr., was one of the Marshall players who died. It was the second college football team plane crash in a little over a month, after the October 2 crash that killed 31 (head coach, 14 Wichita State players, and 16 others). So I think this is another step along in that healing process., FILE - A memorial plaque is displayed at the site of a 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people, including 36 Marshall football players, on Oct. 24, 2020, near Huntington, W.Va. A bill has won final legislative approval Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, in West Virginia, that would establish an annual day of recognition for the worst sports disaster in U.S. history. Mary Jane was persistent. His body was not identified and he is buried with five other unidentified players in the Springhill Cemetery. Officials sift through wreckage at the Marshall plane crash site, 1970. A fireman on Nov. 15, 1970, looks over the wreckage of a DC-9 jet that crashed the day before on approach near a mountaintop airport a few miles from Huntington, W.Va. Bobby East, driver of the #21 Ford during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, died Wednesday, July 13, 2022, after being fatally stabbed at a gas station in Westminster, Calif. ". ", "I just generally felt we lost a great Hokie that day," Beamer said. Digitized University Archives Collections. According to the official National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report, the accident was "unsurvivable". Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. Before the trip, they were scheduled to go on a recruiting mission to Ferrum College after the ECUMarshall game, in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to recruit junior college linebacker Billy Joe Mantooth. Allen Gene Skeens, #59, 1970 MU Football team, b&w. Skeens was killed in the plane crash. The Hokies were in town to play the Herd. [7]:37, On November 15, 1970, a memorial service was held at the indoor, 8,500-seat Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse with moments of silence, remembrances, and prayers. December 11, 2006, Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field, Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, 38 22' 27" N. latitude and 82 34' 42" W. longitude, 2013 Conference USA Football Championship game, 1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft, Wichita State University football team plane crash, "Marshall crash still looms after 36 years", "Plane crash devastates Marshall University", "The story of the 1970 Marshall Plane Crash", "Tragedy litters the sports landscape: Marshall remains the worst sports-related air disaster", "Reporter recalls memories from worst sports- related air tragedy in US history", "NTSB Aircraft Accident Report Southern Airways Inc. DC-9, N97S, Tri-State Airport, Huntington, West Virginia, November 14, 1970", "People have not forgotten Marshall Crash 30 years ago", "Emotions of tragedy drew Lengyel to Marshall", "Marshall football, 50 years after plane crash, carries on, and remembers", "Akron Alum Jack Lengyel to Receive AFCA's McLaughry Award", "Memorial Fountain designed to represent 'upward growth, immortality, eternality', "Marshall Memorial Bronze unveiled to mix of emotions", "Marker placed at site of crash, Dec. 11, 2006", "43 years later, Marshall still honors memory of fallen players", "Marshall Football to Don '75' Helmets for Remainder of Season", "ECU, Marshall game postponed due to pandemic", Aviation history synopsis of Southern Airways Flight 932 (with photographs), List of victims of Southern Airways Flight 932, PlaneCrashInfo.Com Southern Airways Flight 932 entry, Marshall University Forensic Science Graduate Program, Marshall University South Charleston Campus, Arthur Weisberg Family Engineering Laboratories, Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center, Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17, 1990 Wayne County Airport runway collision, Capitol International Airways Flight C2C3/26, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Southern_Airways_Flight_932&oldid=1142434206, Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1970, Airliner accidents and incidents in West Virginia, Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain, Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-9, November 1970 events in the United States, Aviation accidents and incidents involving sports teams, Articles with dead external links from May 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 10:15. 1. Carter read his own obituary the next day in the local newspaper. Vast amounts of funerals took place in the weeks and months following the tragedy, which had to be planned in accordance with each other so services wouldn't overlap. His football will didn't come back quickly, but something has changed over the years. Harris, I have bad news.' The flight shouldve been nothing more than a formality, but the team would never reach their destination back in Huntington. On the flight, were 37 members of the football team, several coaches, fans and crew members totaling 75. Dawson hopes it goes as well as last year. A number of the victims are buried in a grave site in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington; 20th Street between Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Marshall's current on-campus football stadium, and Spring Hill Cemetery was renamed Marshall Memorial Boulevard in honor of the crash victims. All three were killed in the plane crash. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. "At 1 o'clock in the morning, a detective came to the door. "The Lord has been good to me," he concluded. When Lengyel was hired as Tolley's replacement, Dawson stayed but only for a while. [21] The ceremony featured guest speakers Dawson and Hardin. "It made you wretch," Brunner said, "and I did several times.". "Straightforward, old time" is how Dawson described him. Marshall fans and residents of Huntington, W.V. In 2006, Hollywood turned that inspiring slogan into one of the greatest sports movies ever made. longitude." Rosanna Blake Library of Confederate History, Jim "Shorty" Moss (Offensive Coordinator), Ed Starling (Assistant Director of Athletics), Mark J. Smaha (Assistant Athletic Trainer), Louis A. Peake (Assistant Athletic Trainer), James H. Wilson (Assistant Athletic Trainer), Mervin G. Black (Assistant Equipment Manager), Eugene Jones (Assistant Football Manager), Gerald Sieber (Assistant Football Manager), David W. Byrd (Student Equipment Manager), Special Collections, Morrow Library, William Alfred "Red" Dawson, Acting Head Coach, 1971 Young Thundering Herd MU Football team, 1st spring practice, April 1971, b&w. Call is giddy talking about Marshall president Jerome Gilbert's initiative to award all 36 players their diplomas at a Friday afternoon ceremony. The tragedy shocked the town of Huntington in the worst way imaginable. Griffith died in the 1970 plane crash. Some who were left off the flight and did not make the trip or lost loved ones spent the next five decades with crippling questions that had no answers. Art Harris, #22, 1970 MU Football team, b&w. The Tolleys loved their German Shepherd. Bear Bryant called Dawson, recommending them. And then, after the game, if Slezak had been there, would that have deterred Art Sr. from getting on the plane? "At 21, you haven't been familiar with death. The report also noted that the craft approached the Catlettsburg Refinery in the final 30 seconds before impact, which "could haveaffecteda visual illusion produced by the difference in the elevation of the refinery and the airport," which was nearly 300ft (91m) higher than the refinery, with hills in between. He was also the offensive line coach. White roses are placed along the edge of the Memorial Fountain to honor the 75 lives lost in the 1970 plane crash during the 50th Annual Memorial Fountain Service Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, at the Memorial Student Center in Huntington, W.Va. Marshall commemorated the 50th anniversary of the worst disaster in U.S. sports history, when 75 people, including most of the football team, were killed in a Nov. 14, 1970, plane crash. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The crew established radio contact with air traffic controllers at 7:23 pm with instructions to descend to 5,000ft (1,500m). Largemouth bass were Tolley's favorite. He and the sycamore have aged well. "I kept thinking he [Arthur Sr.] would drive up in the car," said Maja Harris, Art Jr.s mother and Art Sr.s wife. From there, he could see them talk, cry, even reminisce about the largest air disaster in United States sports history. Authorities continually brought "old charred things" to her hoping to gain the identity of victims. "It was horrible because it was a non-ending funeral. "'The phrase is about respect, and it makes you realize you can't take anything for granted. Home Beamer had brought a special Hokie Stone inscribed with Loria's name. For Slezak, a retired banker/computer engineer, Saturday's 50th anniversary of the crash is an emotional occasion. ". The next day, Mary Jane was gone. He has traveled internationally and led huge congregations. Body unidentified and buried with five other unidentified players in Spring Hill Cemetery. She has all of them, including an image of offensive guard John "Jimo" Adams, whose daughter Patricia was born the day her father was buried. From that moment, we became one family.. Sketch is matted and framed. Hewlett gave Carter a pamphlet titled, "Steps To Peace With God." On Saturday, it will be Middle Tennessee State. | 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. He will speak at the annual memorial on Saturday like he has now for years. All Rights Reserved. If her husband was too hard-nosed or too tough, those notions were dispelled in the days after her world was turned upside down. [20], On December 11, 2006, a memorial plaque was dedicated at the plane crash site. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. Or would he have gotten on the plane himself? This goes deep, Plymale said. She spoke of her husband's early days as an assistant at Ferrum Junior College in Virginia. That was the era before the color barrier had been broken in the SEC. [25], The events of the crash are documented in an episode of Aircrash Confidential titled "Disastrous Descents".[27]. Those were diplomas they never had a chance to receive. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. No one prepared her for what was next. The two had breakfast together and talked for hours. They met once a year, Red Dawson and the sycamore tree he picked out that was large enough to hide behind. In the following weeks, Lengyel was aided in his attempts by receivers' coach Red Dawson. The 6500 lb, 13 ft-high (2900 kg, 4 m-high) sculpture was completed within a year and a half. No one could have imagined how deep a downward spiral Marshall University's football program would face in the late 1960's.