50 Years After: Remembering Marshall University’s 1970 Plane Crash

Published Nov 14, 2020 by
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1970 Marshall University Thundering Herd Football team. Image from the 1971 Buccaneer. Image Source: The Buccaneer, Volume 49, 1971. East Carolina Yearbooks. UA50-01. University Archives, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

November 14, 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the November 14, 1970 football game between the Marshall University Thundering Herd and the East Carolina University Pirates. Directly following the game, on the return flight to West Virginia, tragedy befell the Marshall team as their plane crashed while attempting to land at the airport. 

The Marshall University Thundering Herd football team had lost a hard-fought game against the East Carolina University Pirates by a score of 17-14. ECU’s Tony Gurso scored what would be the game’s deciding points on a 24-yard field goal with 12:27 left in the game. Marshall had a chance to at least tie the game, but quarterback Ted Shoebridge was flagged for a controversial intentional grounding call with 30 seconds left. The loss proved to be another tough game in a season which saw Marshall post a 3-6 record. 

1970 East Carolina vs. Marshall Gameday Program. Records of East Carolina Football. UA40-01. University Archives, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

After the game, 37 members of the Marshall football team, its coaching staff, team doctors, University Athletic Director Charles E. Kautz, and some 25 team fans and boosters boarded Southern Airway Flight 932 and departed from Kinston, North Carolina at 6:38 p.m. en route to the Tri-State Airport outside Kenova, West Virginia. According to the official aircraft accident report filed by the National Transportation Safety Board, the flight crew contacted the Huntington Airport tower and received clearance for a landing on runway 11 at 7:23 p.m. However, poor weather conditions and visibility plagued the flight as it approached its landing and the plane descended below the Minimum Descent Altitude, striking the hillside roughly 1 mile from the runway at approximately 7:36 p.m. The crash proved fatal to all 75 passengers and crew members aboard.

Following the crash, Marshall University, the community of Huntington, West Virginia, and the rest of the nation grieved the unimaginable tragedy together. At ECU, students and administration were at a loss for words upon receiving news of the crash and the loss of those who had just spent a Saturday afternoon with them in Ficklen Stadium. In honor of those who lost their lives, ECU lowered the flag on campus to half-staff and held a memorial service on Sunday, November 15 that a large portion of the student body and campus administrators, faculty, and staff attended in order to pay their respects. During the service, Chancellor Leo Jenkins delivered an emotional speech, expressing compassion and sympathy on behalf of the ECU community. Jenkins remarked that “the tragedy that silenced the ‘Thundering Herd’ has left us mute, sick at heart, depressed, and is beyond our comprehension.” When reflecting on the loss of those who had just shared an exciting Saturday afternoon with the ECU community, Jenkins commented “perhaps they have taught us in some measure that what counts most is not how long we live but how well.” The following spring, ECU again honored those lost in the crash with an “In Memoriam” page in the 1971 Buccaneer yearbook.

After the 1970 game, ECU and Marshall would not meet on the football field again until 1978 and then again in the 2001 GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation) Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. The two teams renewed their annual historic rivalry in 2005 when Marshall University joined ECU as members of the C-USA East Division, and they played yearly from 2005 until ECU left the conference following the 2013 season.  At the 2006 matchup, ECU again honored those who perished in the 1970 plane crash with a memorial plaque at the visitor’s gate of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. ECU and Marshall were scheduled to play on August 29, 2020, in a game that would commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1970 plane crash, but the game was ultimately delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and has not been rescheduled at this time.

ECU Marshall Memorial located outside of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

ECU Academic Library Services would like to honor the team members, coaches, families, friends, and communities that were affected by remembering.  In addition to the items linked above, our Digital Collections contain two video recordings that can help you pause and remember too:

Additionally, Marshall University’s Special Collections has created a Plane Crash Memorial website providing information about those who lost their lives in the crash and documentation of the event and its aftermath. Marshall University’s 50th Annual Memorial Fountain Ceremony can be viewed here.

 

University Archives would like to extend a special thank you to Joe Barricella and Joyner Library’s Digital Team for their help with this post.

 

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