Marshall Plane Crash
Justin Wilbanks
Ms. Wallace
November 9, 2012
Word Count: 1,138
The Marshall University Plane Crash of 1970 Marshall University is an accredited college located in Huntington, West Virginia. Many significant events may have happened in the past that shaped the school and made it known for what it is, but one event is looked at as the most memorable and life-changing event today. The plane crash of November 14, 1970 involving the lives of seventy-five people, including the death of thirty-seven members of the Marshall Football team, along with the majority of its coaching staff and several of their fans impacted the entire town of Huntington, West Virginia in a life -changing way (Gorczyca). After the crash, the town was forced to move on and start anew. This consisted of a painful action of the victims’ parents of forming a new football team, remembering every member of the team accordingly, and remembering the haunting events of the horrible crash. Rebuilding the school’s football team was the last thing on the towns’ mind after the devastating accident, but the hot-headed injured members who did not attend the flight to East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina longed to carry on a football team the following year for their honor. One thing stood in their way, however. College teams in the NCAA were not allowed to legally start freshman students on the field to play (“Marshall University”). Marshall put together an all freshman team for the 1971 year from freshman athletes from other sports. The University was allowed to do this because the National Association of Athletes waived a ruling prohibiting it, but still putting together a new team was not easy (“Marshall University”). Finding a coaching staff was the hardest thing to do, which was the first thing that was needed to form the
Ms. Wallace
November 9, 2012
Word Count: 1,138
The Marshall University Plane Crash of 1970 Marshall University is an accredited college located in Huntington, West Virginia. Many significant events may have happened in the past that shaped the school and made it known for what it is, but one event is looked at as the most memorable and life-changing event today. The plane crash of November 14, 1970 involving the lives of seventy-five people, including the death of thirty-seven members of the Marshall Football team, along with the majority of its coaching staff and several of their fans impacted the entire town of Huntington, West Virginia in a life -changing way (Gorczyca). After the crash, the town was forced to move on and start anew. This consisted of a painful action of the victims’ parents of forming a new football team, remembering every member of the team accordingly, and remembering the haunting events of the horrible crash. Rebuilding the school’s football team was the last thing on the towns’ mind after the devastating accident, but the hot-headed injured members who did not attend the flight to East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina longed to carry on a football team the following year for their honor. One thing stood in their way, however. College teams in the NCAA were not allowed to legally start freshman students on the field to play (“Marshall University”). Marshall put together an all freshman team for the 1971 year from freshman athletes from other sports. The University was allowed to do this because the National Association of Athletes waived a ruling prohibiting it, but still putting together a new team was not easy (“Marshall University”). Finding a coaching staff was the hardest thing to do, which was the first thing that was needed to form the
Cited: Gorczyca, Beth. “The Crash: Community Still Feels the Pain of MU Plane Crash.” The Herald - Dispatch. 31. Dec. 1999. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. “Helmet Hut”. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. “Marshall University.” Wikipedia. 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. “The Crash of Southern Airways Flight 932.” Check-Six. 11 July 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. “The Fountain.” Marshall Library. 2006. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. Withers, Bob. “The Crash: The Story of the 1970 Marshall Plane Crash.” The Herald – Dispatch. Web. 29 Oct 2012.