At 7:35 pm on November 14, 1970, an aircraft crashed into a hill just short of the Tri-State Airport, killing all 75 people on board. The plane was carrying 37 members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football squad, eight members of the coaching staff, 25 boosters, four flight crew members, and one employee of the charter company. The team was returning home after a 17–14 loss against the East Carolina Pirates in Greenville, North Carolina. At the time, Marshall's athletic teams rarely traveled by plane, with most away games within easy driving distance of the campus. The team had originally planned to cancel the flight, but changed plans and chartered the Southern Airways DC-9.
Many things touch our lives in many ways over the years. But I will never forget a dark November night 40 years ago today. One of our cousins was spending the night like they usually did. We were setting in the floor playing bingo and daddy was watching TV. They interrupted the normally scheduled programming to tell that a plane had crashed at the Tri-State Airport carrying the team, coaches and boosters of the 1970 Thundering Herd football team, killing everyone on board.
The Tri-State Airport was nestled snugly in the hills of Kenova. No one liked to fly in there because of the surrounding hills and difficult landing strip. The television showed horrific photos of fire being fought as it licked the trees and hillside surrounding the wreckage.
The area was in a state of shock. Marshall fans love their football. To lose the entire team including the coaches, was a monumental devastation. The loss of so many young lives was just to hard to understand.
Some wanted to shut down the football program completely. Some wanted to continue on in support of the memory of those who died.
Over the years, the football program grew and Marshall University once again became the unstoppable Thundering Herd. Documentaries have been done. Movies have been made. Many articles and blogs have been written. But when it all is said and done, 75 people lost their lives that day and a town was changed.
I had the privilege this past spring to visit Huntington. I drove down through campus and noted the changes made over the years. The games are no longer played at the old Huntington East High School field. Memorials stand as a reminder to those who have gone on before.
I went out to the cemetery to pay my respects to those souls that were lost that day. It was an emotional time, bringing back many memories from that night all those years ago. As I stood there looking at their gravesides and reading their names, it made me realize WE ARE MARSHALL and we always will be.
Many loved ones still remember that tragic night and many still relive it every November. The movie We ARE Marshall is not just another football movie. It is about a town and how it suffered a tremendous lost. It is about the lives that were changed forever that day. It is about a town torn apart that rebuilds to face a new era after experiencing a major devastation. It's not about football. It's about spirit and strength and community.
Today, my blog pays homage to those who lost their lives 40 years ago. May you each rest in peace.
