marshall plane crash victims list

"I asked her many, many times [why she urged him to stay] before she passed," Carter said. "The town immediately went into mourning. Saylor was killed in the plane crash. history.[6]. ", "This was a city, the largest in the state, that literally went into a four-day state of shock," Brunner said. > He became acting head coach in 1971, and formed the "Young Thundering Herd". Art Harris, #22, 1970 MU Football team, b&w. Dawson hopes it goes as well as last year. "Bobby got this corona[virus] thing and beat it.". DAntoni is now Marshalls basketball coach. "At 21, you haven't been familiar with death. The Flight Crew of Southern Airways Flight 932: Captain Frank H. Abbott, Jr. , aged 47, was employed by Southern Airways, Inc., on July 21, 1949. Among those in the fountain audience were four football players from East Carolina who played in that 1970 game. The trip took 20 hours. "God is your pilot. You see, out of the tragedy has come not a celebration but an annual realization that some good has been made out of the worst thing imaginable. This flight was the only flight that year for the Marshall University football team. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. 77 memorials. Charlie Kautz had lived long enough to give away Lucianne at her wedding only five months earlier. A travesty.". All 75 passengers on the team plane were killed in the crash, including 37 members of the Marshall University football team, eight football coaches, including head coach Rick Tolley, athletic director Charlie Kautz, 25 boosters and five flight crew members. They did care a lot about him. Im glad that were going to honor them for each year in this way from here on out.. 37 of them were members of the football team. Marshall Plane Crash Site Marker. He and the sycamore have aged well. After the plane crash, she became the only thing that I had.". 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]. "I didn't do anything except for fishing, hunting and construction work," he said. All six players would later be put to rest underground at the Spring Hill Cemetery just near Marshall University. 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. 1. Caption on back reads: "Saturday Nov. 14, 1970. Following a 17-14 loss, he was driving down with a graduate assistant to recruit a linebacker -- out of Ferrum of all places -- Billy Joe Mantooth. Artwork by Eugene Payne, Staff Artist, The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N.C.". Officials sift through wreckage at the Marshall plane crash site, 1970. Harris died in the 1970 plane crash. At 7:34pm, the airliner's crew reported passing Tri-State Airport's outer marker. The NCAA made an exception for the Thundering Herd. 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. We'll look at what happened to the Marshall University football program as a . 1970 aviation accident in West Virginia, United States, A Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident, Pinkston, Antwon. That begins to describe some of that enduring guilt. He hid because they met once a year at the Spring Hill Cemetery memorial that honors the 75 souls who perished in the crash of the Marshall University football team plane 50 years ago this Saturday. That game did not occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All were on the travel squad list before the plane crash. "I'm still wondering why.". HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) Marshall University commemorated the 50th anniversary of one of the worst sports disasters in U.S. history Saturday, a plane crash that killed most of the football team. He was well-liked by his teammates not a rah-rah kid, but one who led by example.". The House of Delegates passed the bill last month. Marshall University. It went beyond physical damage. We didn't have children, so she was like a child. "Where nobody could see me," Dawson said of his hiding spot. Three-and-a-half years after the crash in 1974, Carter was working with Carl Hewlett, a former Marshall pitcher. Ferrum won the national junior college championship his first year there in 1965. One John Marshall Drive, Memorial Fountain on the Marshall University campus, dedicated in 1972. I dont know what to call it.. Sometimes Gilbert -- Marshall's president -- comes over for a couple of beers. At age 78, there's a part of Dawson that questions whether fate is the lone reason he is not among those being memorialized rather than those observing it. Cemetery Visibility: Public. He wanted them to learn about the Frank Loria he admired so much. The Hokies were in town to play the Herd. What good is it going to do anybody?' She graduated from Marshall in 1971. He was the Athletic Director for MU. 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. 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. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. They couldn't see. Fifty-two years ago, Huntington, West Virginia, was home to what has been called the worst disaster in United States sports history. The airport was not properly equipped. longitude." By JOHN RABY February 15, 2023. The 1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football team was an American football team that represented Marshall University as an independent during the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. No one prepared her for what was next. The victims included 36 football players and 39 school administrators, coaches, fans, spouses and flight crew. It forever changed my life, Smith said. "As I listened to the scriptures," Carter said, "the Lord has purpose for each one of our lives.". As a memorial to the 75 victims, the Marshall players wore the number 75 on their helmets. Insurance agents were annoying. Unprepared, Dawson was named acting coach. Slezak originally agreedbut said it would mean breaking a date. Normally in that situation, the cheerleaders would draw straws to see who went. Beamer was at his wife-to-be's home that November night. "Oh sure, you ask yourself, 'Why did I miss it and all my friends and coaches were killed?' "God has a time for each one of us," Carter said. Mary Jane was the perfect coach's wife. 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. 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. The five Southern Airlines employees also died in the crash. In the next second, though, the co-pilot quickly calls out new readings, "hundred and twenty-six hundred", and the sounds of impact immediately follow. That day nine years ago, "Frank Beamer became a very special person in my mind," Hamrick said. She never could explain it other than saying God had spoken to her. A bunch of her husband's former linemen were lining the walls of her living room. It has been so long that the tragedy has been memorialized that Marshall athletic director Mike Hamrick has calculated that the date falls on a Saturday every seven years. In the teams first home game since the plane crash, Marshall put together one of the most inspiring performances in sports history. That was the era before the color barrier had been broken in the SEC. The aircraft "dipped to the right, almost inverted, and had crashed into a hollow 'nose-first'". Lucianne Call hasn't lost much of her cheerleading enthusiasm. February 15, 2023, 10:43 AM. And on Saturday, the 16th-ranked football team won, defeating Middle Tennessee 42-14. At the time, freshmen couldnt play varsity sports in college. The flight shouldve been nothing more than a formality, but the team would never reach their destination back in Huntington. He was like a sounding board.". People would come to the house and say this was meant to happen. On the flight, were 37 members of the football team, several coaches, fans and crew members totaling 75. Marshall decided to continue the football program. Its an inspiring tribute to those fallen lives and the devoted men who led Marshall back to glory. Once again, on Saturday, Dawson will speak at the fountain ceremony. [4], At the time, Marshall's athletic teams rarely traveled by plane, since most away games were within easy driving distance of the campus. The aircraft was a 95-seat, twin-jet engine Douglas DC-9-30 with tail registration N97S. Art Shannon, #34, 1970 MU Football team, b&w. . > It was donated to the university by Marshall fans and is attached to Joan C. Edwards Stadium on the west faade. The NCAA granted Marshall permission to use freshmen on the varsity squad, something which was not allowed at the time. The Tolleys loved their German Shepherd. The airliner's crew was Captain Frank Abbot (47), First Officer Jerry Smith (28), plus two flight attendants. Her flight made it safely back to that same Tri-State Airport the Marshall plane never reached. [4][9], The effects of the crash on Huntington went far beyond the Marshall campus. The following offseason, Dawson went to a national coaching convention. They told the police they want to go to Spring Hill Cemetery. On Friday, the 36 players who died in the crash received degrees from Marshall in their fields of study. Coach, 1971 Young Thundering Herd, Al Carelli, Jr., Assistant coach, 1970 MU Football team, Allen Gene Skeens, #59,1970 MU Football team, Barry W. Nash, #35, 1970 MU Football team, Bobby Joe Hill, #41, 1970 MU Football team, Center Dennis Foley (#55) centers ball to Bob Harris (#12),1970 MU Football team, Charles A. [1] The team played its home games at Fairfield Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia. 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. For Slezak, a retired banker/computer engineer, Saturday's 50th anniversary of the crash is an emotional occasion. 1970 Crash Victims. Middle guard Ed Carter was back in Wichita Falls, Texas, that terrible day to bury his father. 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; We each lost one or more family members, said Call, the ceremonys keynote speaker. ". He met with former Marshall coach Red Dawson, who gave away his seat on the plane that night. On November 14, 1970 a DC-9 airliner carrying the Marshall University football team, coaches, and supporters crashed on final approach to Tri-State Airport n. Carelli was killed in the Mu plane crash. He went to work one day and didn't come home.". They couldn't take the tough routine. "I was wondering when somebody is going to come up and say, 'You can't do that,' " Dawson said. CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) A bill has won final legislative approval in West Virginia that would establish an annual day of recognition for the worst sports disaster in U.S. history, a plane crash that killed most of Marshall University's football team. "The Lord has been good to me," he concluded. "[7]:36 At least one source says that water that had seeped into the plane's altimeter could have thrown off its height readings, leading the pilots to believe the plane was higher than was actually the case. The crew established radio contact with air traffic controllers at 7:23 pm with instructions to descend to 5,000ft (1,500m). Shannon died in the plane crash. I told him, 'I'm afraid those guys are going to hate you because you're so hard on them.' "It was not a premonition. The actual damage was incalculable. The Thundering Herd upset Xavier, 15-13, in an emotional victory for the ages. Printing is not supported at the primary Gallery Thumbnail page. 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. Eventually, Rick won over their hearts and minds. Body unidentified and buried with five other unidentified players in Spring Hill Cemetery. As part of an annual rite, the fountain was turned off at the end of the service and will be turned back on in the spring. Marshall coach Doc Holliday invited him to speak to the team. 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. Smith became the football team's spokesperson at the annual ceremony, where he delivers an annual message to parents, siblings, friends and coworkers of the victims who are still heartbroken by the tragedy that takes them back in time. So were the religious types who were too numerous for their messages to get through. An Equal Opportunity University. Although the airport runway has since been lengthened past its original threshold, making historical measurements more difficult, the NTSB official report provides, "the accident occurred during hours of darkness at 38 22' 27" N. latitude and 82 34' 42" W. Rick Tolley had helped him with the plane ticket to get back home. The dog's name was Sturmisch. 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. Tolley gladly gave Carter time off -- even bought him the plane ticket -- to travel back to bury his father. [4] The following Saturday, another memorial service was held at the outdoor, 18,000-seat Fairfield Stadium. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. His body could not be identified, and with five other players, they were all buried. William Alfred "Red" Dawson was one of the best players Bobby Bowden ever saw. I don't think I believed it.. The plane descended below the Minimum Descent Altitude, striking trees on a hillside about one mile from the runway. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. "The Young Herd" that carried on in 1971 had a new coach, Jack Lengyel.