'The hurt is so tremendous, you can hardly stand it'

Editor’s Note: It’s quite revealing to take a retrospective look at history, especially when it involves history that you’re well-acquainted with. The article below represents an accurate summation of the deep grief felt by the Marshall University student body when most of the school’s football team died in a 1970 plane crash. It’s evident that Cathy Gibbs wrote from the depths of her heart. This piece appeared in the 1971 edition of the Chief Justice yearbook at MU. Gibbs was the yearbook’s co-managing editor for the 1970-71 school year.

       Sometimes life seems so unjust … God gives you friends through college and only a few months or years later, they’re taken away. Every time you remember them – the things they used to say or do – the hurt is so tremendous, you can hardly stand it.
       After times like these, one often wonders, ‘Why us? Why our school, our town, our people? Your mind keeps asking, ‘What purpose can this serve, why so much suffering? I have yet to find an adequate answer to the continual question, WHY?
       They were a proud team and staff with loyal supporters. In the football office a sign states, ‘Pride and Sacrifice.’ They showed that pride and made the sacrifice.
       Marshall football will continue, just as life must. A new staff will take their duties, but not their places; a new team will fight for victories, for themselves and lost teammates; more fans will fill the stadium, but not their homes. Marshall University is preparing a new beginning for a terrible end.
       We have hope.
       The stadium needs to be filled with cries of cheer, not woe. Every one of those guys loved football. They loved and needed to play. They enjoyed every triumph and learned from every defeat. They were on that field for a purpose and the purpose is still there.
       And when the Big Green plays this fall, their purpose and love will be with them … and so should we.
       Keep the faith.

Cathy Gibbs