Well, let me tell you, that day, that Marshall flight crash, it was somethin’ else. November 14th, 1970, that’s a day you don’t just forget, no sir. It was rainin’, kinda foggy, not a good day for flyin’, that’s for sure. That plane, it was carryin’ the whole dang Marshall football team, the Thundering Herd. They was comin’ back from a game, see.
They was playin’ East Carolina, down in North Carolina. And that plane, a Southern Airways plane, it just… it crashed. Right near Huntington, West Virginia, near the airport. Lord have mercy, it was awful. Seventy-five people, gone, just like that. Players, coaches, even some folks from the town, boosters, they call ’em. All gone.
Marshall University, that’s where they was from. A college, you know. Used to be called Marshall Academy, way back when. Named after some big-shot judge, John Marshall. Then it was Marshall College. Became a university in ’61. But that don’t matter none now, does it? All them young boys, their lives just… snuffed out.
- 37 players, they say.
- Coaches, too.
- And some wives.
- And some folks from the town, just goin’ to support the team.
- Even the plane crew.
That day, it broke Huntington’s heart. Everybody knew somebody on that plane. Friend, family, neighbor… didn’t matter. That Marshall plane crash, it touched everybody. Nate Ruffin, he was a player, but he was hurt. Didn’t go on the trip. He had to help put the pieces back together, poor fella. Imagine that, losin’ all your friends like that. He had to help get a new team for ’71.
They made a movie about it, you know. Called “We Are Marshall”. It’s a sad one, but it shows how strong them folks were. How they came together after that Marshall flight crash. It’s somethin’, how a town can pull together like that. But you don’t want it to take somethin’ like that plane crash to make it happen, you know?
That day, it rained. It rained tears, I reckon. Seventy-five souls, gone too soon. It was the worst air crash in college sports, ever. They was just kids, most of ’em. And the coaches, tryin’ to teach ’em, guide ’em. And the folks from town, just lovin’ their team. It was a real tragedy, that Marshall flight crash.
You think about them boys, tryin’ to find their way after the crash. But there was nothin’ left to find, nothin’ but sorrow. That plane, it was shot down in the war, is what they say. Some say the plane was destroyed and crashed, but the boys were not hurt at first. They were tryin’ to find each other. But then the crash, when the plane came down near Huntington, that’s what did it.
That crash, it changed things. It changed Huntington. It changed Marshall University. It changed everybody who knew about it. You don’t just get over somethin’ like that. You carry it with you, like a heavy rock in your pocket. Every year, that day comes around, November 14th, and you remember.
You remember the boys. You remember the coaches. You remember the folks from town. You remember the crew. You remember the Marshall plane crash. And you pray it never happens again. Not to nobody. Not ever.
They say time heals all wounds. Maybe. But some wounds, they leave scars. Deep scars. And that Marshall flight crash, it left a scar on Huntington, on Marshall University, on the whole dang country. A scar that won’t ever really go away. Not completely, anyways. It’s a story that’ll be told, over and over, long as there’s breath in someone to tell it.
It is over fifty years now since that happened. But still, folks remember. The whole town of Huntington, they lived through that. Everyone knows someone who died in that Marshall flight crash. They have a memorial there, for the ones that died. It is important to remember those boys and their coaches and everyone on that plane.
