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Topic: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Topic: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

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OhioCatFan
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
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OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/13/2015 3:24:04 PM

In a few minutes the wife and I will be heading to Huntington for the Marshall game tomorrow and for the ceremony in the morning shutting off the Memorial Fountain until spring. This ceremony occurs every year on November 14, the day of the crash. It's a moving ceremony which ends with a reading of all of the names of the victims. As each name is read, a co-ed walks to the front and lays a red rose on the wall surrounding the fountain. Then the fountain is turned off.

Here's a story about one special friend on mine who was on the flight. It appeared in today's The Parthenon, the student newspaper. It appeared last Sunday in the Parkersburg News-Sentinel.

http://tinyurl.com/nbx58oz

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

Casper71
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/13/2015 3:53:30 PM

OCF, like you, I remember that weekend vividly. What a tragic event. The sad thing is when you look back at it now so many people have no clue what happened OR that it even happened. I guess you have to live thru those kinds of things to really appreciate the moment. Good to hear that the Marshall folks will always remember the players, coaches and supporters who died on that day.

71 BOBCAT
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/13/2015 4:24:56 PM

I was a student at Ohio when this disaster occurred. It also just happened that the next Marshall game was at OHIO. We had a memorial service, that Saturday, at what was the scheduled start of the game.

GO BOBCATS

Last Edited: 11/13/2015 4:25:58 PM by 71 BOBCAT

LuckySparrow
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/13/2015 4:51:18 PM

When I was a student at Ohio, I wrote a paper about this event (and a little bit about the turnaround with Moss and MAC Championships).

The ties to Ohio certainly struck me... along with the great sense of community that Marshall has established.

What a day at the Convo.....Wow!

akroncat
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Location: Akron, OH
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/13/2015 5:41:45 PM

I also was a student in 1970. It is one of those occasions that you never forget where you were and and what happened, like Kennedy's assassination and 9/11. I was at a party on a rainy night and someone came in and said there was a tragedy and to turn on the TV. I remember it very well. Watching "We are Marshall" a few years ago certainly rekindled my memories of the tragedy.

SBH
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/13/2015 6:04:25 PM

Not widely publicized was the fact that the University of Akron's AD, Gordon Lsrson, and president, Dominic Gazetta, tried to use the tragedy as an opportunity to prove that their football team belonged in the MAC. They suggested that they play Ohio in Athens the following Saturday, since they had an open date. Bill Hess rejected it outright, saying it was inappropriate.

Pataskala
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/13/2015 7:34:45 PM

1970 seemed to be the year for it. Kent in the spring; the plane crash in the fall. We were partying (of course) in the dorm that night when word of the crash came through. You could hear a pin drop for hours.

We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

Ted Thompson
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/13/2015 10:20:08 PM

Maybe I'm wrong on this but wasn't there a picture of Ohio on the field with the ball on the tee at the Memorial Service? A few years ago I tried searching for the photo. I ended up finding a section in the Huntington Herald-Dispatch (I think) that has a lot of info about the crash. Part of it was the NTSB report. I ended up reading that. Very sad.

Follow Ohio Football recruiting on the BobcatAttack.com football recruiting database.

cbus cat fan
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/13/2015 11:31:22 PM

Very interesting remembrances. Got to know a guy in Columbus who was in the restaurant business and grew up in Huntington. Needless to say he was a huge Marshall fan and still regrets Marshall leaving the MAC. He has some amazing first hand accounts of the plane crash. He and some others drove to the crash scene, one of the others was a player who didn't make the trip (could have been Nate Ruffin or Dickie Carter not really sure on this one.) God Bless them all.

rpbobcat
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/14/2015 10:15:15 AM

I was a senior in high school the year of the crash.
I had just been accepted at O.U.
One of my wrestling teammates had been accepted at Marshall on a football scholarship.

We joked about being rivals after high school.

Then came the crash.
I remember it well because of my teammate, but there also several Marshall players from this area, including their Q.B.

My friend went on to be a member of the Young Thundering Herd.

Last year my wife and I scheduled our trip to Athens a day early so we could see the Marshall ceremony for the first time.
Very moving,and the key note speaker was the Q.B.'s brother who I knew as a coach for a local high school.

After the Ceremony my wife and I went to the cemetery to say a prayer at the players' memorial.

OhioCatFan
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/14/2015 12:38:32 PM

Thanks everybody for sharing your thoughts and remembrances. We've just come back to our hotel from the memorial ceremony, and I'm going to take a short nap before the game. Didn't sleep much last night. It's always an emotional time for me when the calendar rolls around to this part of November. Go Marshall!

colobobcat66
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/14/2015 2:17:56 PM

OhioCatFan wrote:

We can all support you in this really emotional time.

I've told this story before, my best man was the ticket manager at Marshall and was supposed to go to that game. Fortunately for him, his wife had scheduled some friends over for dinner and my friend had to cancel his trip plans. My doctor was the team doctor and he perished on that flight. It was totally a kick in the face for all the Huntington and Marshall people and has created a special bond for their fans that will probably never end. A really sad day for all concerned.

OhioCatFan
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/14/2015 7:24:48 PM

Great win for the Herd today: 52-0.

An OHIO trivia note. This was the first shutout for Marshall against an FBS foe since they shut out OHIO 28-0 in 2003. I guess you could say this game gets us off the hook, in sense.

1stInConvo
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/15/2015 9:16:34 PM

I think I have posted my history and the connection between my Bobcat years and my Marshall years. Hard to believe it has been 45 years. I get to see the Herd play here in FL but I just don't seem to time any trip for the Bobcats. Last Ohio game I saw in person was at UVA quite a few years ago.

I have so many memories from those years, many when Ohio and Marshall played. I think one of the smallest crowds I ever saw was in 1972 when Marshall played in Athens on the day after Thanksgiving. Very cold. It was one of Marshall's two wins that year. The last time I saw Ohio play in Athens.

No matter how hard you pull for one team or another, you realize that football is a game, and that the memories can last a lot longer than the final score.

I am always reminded of the stories about how Bo and Woody competed so hard against each other, but when they both were retired, they were close.

So about this time every year, I recall where I was that November night, and then think about our 10th win in 1968, the BG and Cincy games, and then back to the Herd-Xavier game, and on and on. I thank collegiate athletics for those unbreakable, never to be lost memories.

Long Train Runnin'
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/18/2015 3:48:47 PM

Pataskala wrote:

A lot of people forget that the Wichita State football team had a similar fatal plane crash only six weeks earlier.

OhioCatFan
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/18/2015 5:34:07 PM

Long Train Runnin' wrote:

Pataskala wrote:

A lot of people forget that the Wichita State football team had a similar fatal plane crash only six weeks earlier.

I haven't forgot.

http://tinyurl.com/nmwv454

About 31 people died in that crash. There were a few survivors. It was one of two planes carrying the WSU football team. The Marshall crash killed 75. There were no survivors. In the case of Marshall the whole team was killed except for those on the injured list or those who didn't make the traveling squad. All the coaches perished, except for those scouting OHIO at Penn State. Both tragedies were horrible events, and I'm sure had lasting effects on their respective communities. Marshall rebuilt its football program. WSU, eventually, disbanded theirs. I don't know enough about WSU to know how much the crash was a factor what happened to their program. I remember that in the spring of 1971 there was a nationally televised show that raised funds for the families of the victims of both crashes.

Bobcat-7.0
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/19/2015 8:56:12 AM

I'm sorry but how long are we going to have to hear about this?

OhioCatFan
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Location: Athens, OH
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/19/2015 10:26:26 AM

Bobcat-7.0 wrote:

I'm sorry but how long are we going to have to hear about this?

I clearly marked it "off topic." So, if you don't want to read it, it's easy to just skip it.

rpbobcat
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RE: OT: 45th Anniversary of the Marshall Plane Crash

Posted: 11/19/2015 2:24:41 PM

Bobcat-7.0 wrote:

I'm sorry but how long are we going to have to hear about this?

For those of us who had any personal "invlovement" with the Marshall crash,and I'll throw in Kent State too,it is nice to be able share memories.

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