Every year Marshall
University pays homage to those who
died in a fiery plane crash over four decades ago.
On the night of November
14, 1970, the school lost most of its varsity football team and
coaching staff, along with administrators and a good number prominent people
who were avid MU supporters. The Southern Airlines jet that crashed claimed the
lives of seventy-five people. There were no survivors.
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| Herd QB Bob Harris in 1970. |
Thursday of this week marks the 43rd year since
the plane crash. Even though this happened such a long time ago, the memories
remain and are just as clear today as they were on that dreadful night when a
school and community were forced to deal with a tragedy of the highest degree.
Given the amount of time that has passed, somebody will always ask this
question:
Does it still matter?
Yes.
It matters.
Very much.
Not only was I there at that time, but I wasn’t that far
removed from the tragedy. As a former Marshall U. defensive back, I knew most
of the players on that plane, which included my best friend Scottie Reese. I
played two seasons and decided to walk away from the game the year before the
crash. Looking back on it all, there’s a huge possibility that had I made a
different decision, I would’ve been on the plane too.
There are many of us who are still around from back in the
day. We remember the agony and confusion from those troubling days following
the crash. But we also remember how the Thundering Herd rose from the ashes of
devastation to eventually emerge as a highly successful program in the 1990s
and early 2000s.
The beauty of the Marshall
story is how the football program resurrected itself against seemingly
insurmountable odds. The crash is still considered to be the worst air disaster
in the history of American sports. Yet, from that tragedy, Marshall
became one of the greatest comeback stories in all of college sports.
This story needs to be told. That’s what eventually prompted
me to write the memoir November Ever
After. It’s a story that’s timeless. It’s story that should be shared with
future generations.
Since writing the memoir, I’ve learned how much this story
resonates with young and old and how it has developed an attraction to football
fans as well as those who have little or no interest in the game. The Marshall
story is still relevant. That’s what I’ve discovered in my interactions with
readers. It’s a story that’s worth preserving. In other words, it’s a story
that still matters.
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