Reader reaction to Marshall football memoir: 'incredibly enlightening and thought provoking'

Hey Craig,

“… Finished reading your book … I have to say that it’s incredibly enlightening and thought provoking! Needless to say that I'm still in the overall “processing” stage. However, I no longer feel like I walked into a movie that was halfway over. I now have insight as to what happened before I arrived on campus (1971), and I can put together the pieces a whole lot better.

I can better appreciate what you, Janice (Cooley), Ed (Carter), et al were dealing with amid all of the hope and hype concerning The Young Thundering Herd! I regret that you and I never sat and talked when we attended school together. I’m sure that I would have been a more “aware” young man – both socially and spiritually – than I was.”

Chuck Jackson

Houston, Texas

Chuck Jackson’s comment to one of my blog entries confirmed what I already knew about the value of the memoir November Ever After. It's a story that needed to be written. It's a story that’s worthy to be shared with the masses.

For people such as Chuck, who came to Marshall after the tragedy, the book provides a proper frame of reference for what campus life was like before the crash. For those, like me, who were there at the time of the disaster, the book opens the door for some level of closure on an event that none of us will ever forget.

1971 was a mixed bag for those who were left behind

Keep in mind that for those of us who were around on the night that Marshall’s plane went down, the football season of 1971 represented a truly a mixed bag. I can’t speak for everyone who suffered from the pain of losing their schoolmates. But I do feel safe in saying that most of us engaged in an emotional tug-of-war when it was time for the start of a new season with essentially a brand-new team – the “Young Thundering Herd”

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We will always remember the ’70 Marshall team that would never return. On the other hand, however, there was cause to rejoice and cause to cling to renewed hope. In spite of the heavy losses, Marshall opted to continue playing football.

A lasting tribute to those who perished

In my mind, the fact that the school refused to dump its football program says a whole lot about the university's decision makers at that point in time. Keeping Thundering Herd football going served as a most fitting tribute to the seventy-five people who died in a fiery plane crash on November 14, 1970.