Marshall tragedy helps us count our blessings

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 11/15/2006

Greenville , North Carolina — Over the years, covering sports stories and events has been my passion, and getting to the root of the winners and losers can sometimes be quite the challenge. Only on a few occasions over the last 29 years has the outcome of a game been rendered meaningless for me.

One such occasion was the death of Vikings offensive tackle Korey Stringer during training camp in August of 2001. Another was on September 11 that same year when those planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The death of Kirby Puckett this year is still hard to believe. But the single greatest sports tragedy in American history occurred on November 14, 1970. That’s why this game and column took on a whole new meaning.

 

That was when a Southern Airways chartered jet with the entire Marshall University football team aboard crashed on approach in Huntington , West Virginia , at the Tri-State Airport just hours after returning from Greenville , North Carolina , where the East Carolina Pirates had defeated the Marshall Thundering Herd 17-14. A total of 70 passengers and five crew members were all killed.

 

Take it from a man who flies into Huntington from time to time that I’m constantly reminded of that tragic event. My youngest son Marcus is a junior receiver on the current Marshall team, which last Saturday returned to Greenville for only the second time since that tragic day 36 years ago. The first-place Pirates (4-2) had a half-game lead over Marshall (3-2) in the East Division of the Conference USA standings.

 

Both teams were on three-game winning streaks, but before kickoff a ceremony with several thousand fans in attendance took place at the entrance for visiting teams just before the arrival of the Marshall team. A plaque commemorating the events of November 14 was unveiled; it was quite an emotional ceremony.

 

Both communities, Greenville and Huntington, have in many ways been joined at the hip since the events of November 14. Just before the chartered flight carrying this year’s Marshall team left Huntington , the flight was delayed because of smoke coming from the engine. The entire team had to de-board while the plane was re-checked — it was again another reminder of November 14, 1970, as national news outlets reported that there was a problem in Huntington with the team plane.

 

We Are Marshall, the movie, will be making its big-screen debut this year with a release on December 22. The movie is based on the true story of the Marshall University 1970 plane crash and the Huntington community’s recovery from the tragedy that took the lives of 75 members of the Marshall football team, coaches, administrators, university staff, community members, and crew members. It’s a Warner Brothers film in association with Thunder Road Pictures.

 

McG directed the film, which stars Matthew McConaughey as Coach Jack Lengyel and Matthew Fox (ABC’s Lost) as Coach Red Dawson. The film is based on actual events in the early 1970s as a determined football coach and a small group of surviving players plant the seeds of future success as they struggle to deal with the loss of their friends, mentors and teammates.

 

After Saturday’s game, won by East Carolina 33-20 and witnessed by the fifth-largest crowd in East Carolina history, 41,373, on a hot 86-degree day at Bagwell Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, I hugged my son Marcus. I told him he played well and to keep his head up, and I reminded him that I loved him. I told him to call me when the team plane arrives back in Huntington .

 

He called, and I was relieved when he said, “Dad, there will be no We Are Marshall II.” Marcus said that when the plane landed, the entire team cheered as the plane rolled down the runway.

 

Our family is We Are Marshall in more ways than one.

 

 

Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio, 89.9 FM, at 8:20 am, and Monday evenings 6-7 pm. He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.

Larry Fitzgerald Sr. with son Marcus