Memoir offers unique look at Marshall football

Compared to other media projects, the memoir November Ever After takes a far different approach in its treatment of the November 14, 1970 plane crash that killed most of Marshall University’s varsity football team. The well-known story gained some national attention several years ago with the release of the movie We Are Marshall.

• November Ever After delves into areas that the movie didn’t deal with. Defensive back Felix Jordan (ankle injury) and offensive lineman Ed Carter (death in the family) missed the trip and their lives were spared as a result. The memoir reveals the details of the hows and the whys for them not being on the ill-fated flight.
• The true story about the tragedy and its aftermath is amazing in and of itself. But viewers would never know that by what they see in the movie. The memoir is chock-full of real-life recollections from those who were left behind. Readers are taken back in time to the night of the disaster when girlfriends shrieked in anguish after learning that their football-playing boyfriends had died. For those who have little or no familiarity with the story, it sounds too much like fiction – but it isn’t.
• Football is the anchor for this story, but there’s so much more to it than football. The story line is provocative with all the requisite elements that make for compelling reading – romance, premonition, prophecy, denial, depression, relief and ecstasy.

       I give a tip of the hat to the movie and the previously-produced books and documentaries. But those projects are really appetizers. 
       By comparison, November Ever After is the full-course meal. It tells an old story with a twist that’s new and true.