51 Years Ago Today; Southern Airways Flight 932 crashes in WV. "We Are Marshall"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Sun Nov 14, 2021, 11:04 AM - Edit history (1)

I can't improve on the account given last year, on the 50th anniversary.

Sat Nov 14, 2020: 50 Years Ago Today; Southern Airways Flight 932 crashes in WV. "We Are Marshall"

[babylonsister]

1. I did not remember this, but

did see a movie that explained the whole situation. Devastating.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_Marshall

We Are Marshall is a 2006 American historical drama biopic film directed by McG. It depicts the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people: 37 players of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, five coaches, two athletic trainers, the athletic director, 25 boosters, and the airplane crew of five.

[appalachiablue]

2. I remember this tragedy too well and flew

in and out of Tri State Airport a number of times years ago. A school friend's uncle was with the MU alum group and among the 70 who perished. A horrific tragedy with severe impacts for the Big Green Team, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia and multiple communities.




- 'Old Main' is the oldest structure at Marshall University. A fine campus and school.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Main_(Marshall_University)
___________

- 'Marshall-Huntington Linked Forever By Plane Crash.' West Virginia Public Broadcasting | By Eric Douglas, Nov. 13, 2020. [Editors Note: The following article was also published in the Fall 2020 issue of GOLDENSEAL Magazine].

On the evening of November 14, 1970, 75 Marshall University football team members, coaches and community members lost their lives in a plane crash. Obviously, the crash changed the lives of the families forever. But the crash changed Huntington, West Virginia and Marshall University, too. In the late 1960s, Huntington was a typical city for the region. It had a thriving business sector with steel and glass making factories as well as a company that manufactured railroad cars.

Marshall University was located in the middle of Huntington, but it was separate. The community supported the football and basketball teams on game days, but there wasn’t much more of a connection. The relationship between the blue-collar town and the university wasn’t strained; they just had little to do with each other. That changed after the crash. About the same time, the city began going through economic changes of its own. The nation itself was in an economic slump in the late 1960s that entered an official recession in 1969 and 1970. The heavy industry that had propelled Huntington to prominence began to close.

Aftermath: Morris “Mac” McMillian was a student at Marshall when the plane crashed. He described the atmosphere on campus in those next few days as “devastated.” “Everything was closed, except for the old Shawkey Student Union. We sat there and stared at each other. We didn't know what to do. There were no announcements. The buildings were closed, there were no classes,” McMillian said. And there was only one subject on everyone’s mind. “People just walked around in a daze downtown. And then people would, if you would get engaged in conversation with someone, it would be ‘Did you know anybody on the plane?’,” he said... https://www.wvpublic.org/section/arts-culture/2020-11-13/marshall-huntington-linked-forever-by-plane-crash

[appalachiablue]

3. 'We Are Marshall' (2006) movie trailer:

- We Are Marshall is a 2006 American historical drama biopic film directed by McG. It depicts the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people: 37 players of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, five coaches, two athletic trainers, the athletic director, 25 boosters, and the airplane crew of five.

Matthew McConaughey stars as head coach Jack Lengyel, with Matthew Fox as assistant coach William "Red" Dawson, David Strathairn as university president Donald Dedmon, and Robert Patrick as ill-fated Marshall head coach Rick Tolley. Then-governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue has a cameo role as an East Carolina University football coach.

It was scored by Christophe Beck and written by Jamie Linden. The film addressed rebuilding the program and the healing that the community undergoes. Dr. H. Keith Spears was the Marshall University consultant..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_Marshall



- The memorial at Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington, West Virginia to the victims of the Southern Airways Flight 932 crash was the site of one of the film's pivotal scenes.

[Staph]

4. On this date in 1972, a Memorial Fountain was dedicated on the Marshall campus.

Every year on this date, the fountain is turned off, and then turned back on in the spring.





https://www.marshall.edu/history-and-traditions/sample-page/historic-buildings-and-monuments/memorial-fountain/