"At 21, you haven't been familiar with death. [21], November 14, 2013, marked the first time that Marshall had played a road game on an anniversary of the disaster. I dont know what to call it.. Dawson came out of the shadows long ago to embrace Nov. 14. They became friends and fished together. Another plaque memorializing the 1970 Marshall football team was unveiled at East Carolina University on the same day and can be seen at the guest team entrance of DowdyFicklen Stadium. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. The two had breakfast together and talked for hours. All six players would later be put to rest underground at the Spring Hill Cemetery just near Marshall University. > Those were diplomas they never had a chance to receive. "Anniversaries are supposed to be happy," Slezak said . The House of Delegates passed the bill last month. "People still talk about that," Hamrick said. Former WSAZ-TV reporter Bob Brunner shared with CBS Sports, in disturbing detail, the sights and smells he experienced that night trudging up the hill and witnessing the wreckage. Please first navigate to a specific Image before printing. > They even won a couple of games. [4] The following Saturday, another memorial service was held at the outdoor, 18,000-seat Fairfield Stadium. "It was horrible because it was a non-ending funeral. Druid High School football players sign grants-in-aid with Marshall in the spring of 1969. The victims included 36 football players and 39 school administrators, coaches, fans, spouses and flight crew. To make matters worse, Marshall was placed on probation by the NCAA because of recruiting violations and alleged payments to its players, the Daily News reported at the time. Barry W. Nash, #35,1970 MU Football team, b&w. His body was not identified and he is buried with five other unidentified players in the Springhill Cemetery. She has made it her responsibility to track down pictures of all 75 victims for Saturday's memorial. Private. Memorial Fountain on the Marshall University campus, dedicated in 1972. _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); [23] The tribute was repeated for the rest of the season, including when Marshall met Rice in the 2013 Conference USA Football Championship game. But I already knew. [16], Every year, on the anniversary of the crash, the fountain is shut off during a commemorative ceremony and not activated again until the following spring. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. By JOHN RABY February 15, 2023. "Nobody did anything. Mom and her intuition won. People would come to the house and say this was meant to happen. [4], At the time, Marshall's athletic teams rarely traveled by plane, since most away games were within easy driving distance of the campus. She graduated from Marshall in 1971. Lucianne Call hasn't lost much of her cheerleading enthusiasm. Some who were left off the flight and did not make the trip or lost loved ones spent the next five decades with crippling questions that had no answers. "It was just a little school in the hills," Mary Jane said. The report additionally notes, "Most of the fuselage was melted or reduced to a powder-like substance; however, several large pieces were scattered throughout the burned area. The town died. The aircraft "dipped to the right, almost inverted, and had crashed into a hollow 'nose-first'". Marshall University. (JACK BURNETT/AP), "We carry on the legacy for them, but even after all those who were personally connected are gone, those guys still deserve to be remembered because it's just a travesty, what happened. The Tolleys were ingrained in the community. Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 domestic United States commercial jet flight from Stallings Field (ISO) in Kinston, North Carolina, to Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field (HTS) near Kenova and Ceredo, West Virginia. Marshall decided to continue the football program. [13][14], The Marshall University football team only won two games during the 1971 season, against Xavier and Bowling Green. On Saturday, it will be Middle Tennessee State. Accessibility Statement, Privacy The victims included 36 football players and 39 school administrators, coaches, fans, spouses and flight crew. The team finished the 1971 season with a 2-8 record, but just winning a single game was a miracle after what Marshall went through a season prior. On November 14, Southern Airways Flight 932, which was chartered by the school to fly the Thundering Herd football team, coaches, and fans to Kinston, North Carolina for a game against the East Carolina Pirates and back to Huntington, crashed on approach to Tri-State Airport after clipping trees just west of the runway and impacting nose-first into a hollow. In 2000, at age 50, Call became a flight attendant with USAir Express. Slezak, who lived in Passaic, New Jersey,at the time,could have been on the plane that, on Nov. 14, 1970, crashed and took the lives of 75 passengers including 44 Marshall University football players and coaches, 26 fans and a crew of five. It is based upon ideas by John and Ann Krieger of Huntington. Among those in the fountain audience were four football players from East Carolina who played in that 1970 game. "He said: 'Your husband is in the plane, too.' var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; Marshall won just two games, and the first winning season didnt come for another 13 years. She feared for his safety. Frank Loria is third from left. "My mom got on the phone, and then she just passed out, said Carolyn Harris, the youngest daughter. He went recruiting. "The Lord has been good to me," he concluded. One John Marshall Drive, During the 1970 college football season, Marshall suffered a devastating loss to East Carolina in week 9 to drop the Thundering Herd to 3-6 on the year. And on Saturday, the 16th-ranked football team won, defeating Middle Tennessee 42-14. When Lengyel was hired as Tolley's replacement, Dawson stayed but only for a while. Following a 17-14 loss, he was driving down with a graduate assistant to recruit a linebacker -- out of Ferrum of all places -- Billy Joe Mantooth. At age 69, the former Marshall defender calls himself a "traveling preacher." Police reported a few hours after the crash that "15 bodies had been recovered," but the fire was so intense that they were unable to get into the plane to examine further, The News wrote that year. Home Lyndhurst's Tom Shoebridge, brother of crash victim Ted Shoebridge, and Elmwood Park's Keith Karl, a freshman on the 1970 Marshall team, join the show. "I was wondering when somebody is going to come up and say, 'You can't do that,' " Dawson said. Her flight made it safely back to that same Tri-State Airport the Marshall plane never reached. [4][9], The effects of the crash on Huntington went far beyond the Marshall campus. Dedication of Memorial Fountain to MU plane crash victims, Nov. 12, 1972. While Wichita State ended its football program in 1986, Marshall carried on. "I'm still wondering why.". He was a defensive end for Marshall in 1970, and was on the chartered plane when it crashed at Tri-State Airport on November 14, 1970. That's why, when a vet recommended Mary Jane stay home that weekend of Nov. 14 because a tumor had developed in Sturmisch's toe, there was no hesitation. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. Marshall University honors the 75 lives lost in the 1970 plane crash tragedy during the 48th Annual Memorial Service on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 . Huntington, WV 25755. She never could explain it other than saying God had spoken to her. He was well-liked by his teammates not a rah-rah kid, but one who led by example.". Center Dennis Foley (#55) centers ball to Bob Harris (#12) in a scrimmage,1970 MU Football team, b&w. Back then, Bowden was the wide receivers coach. Sort By. "She was wonderful," Mary Jane Tolley said of Sturmisch. She spoke of her husband's early days as an assistant at Ferrum Junior College in Virginia. Marshall coach Doc Holliday invited him to speak to the team. After an uneventful flight, the crew contacted Huntington Airport tower at 7:23 p.m. and were cleared for a localizer approach on runway 11. Things were going swimmingly two weeks before the East Carolina game. Red Dawson was admittedly bitter. David Debord, #76, 1970 MU Football team, b&w. That begins to describe some of that enduring guilt. Officials at the site of the Nov. 14, 1970, Marshall University plane crash at Tri-State Airport in Kenova, W.Va., secure a charred engine for removal to an airport hangar. The Harris family detailed thatevening in a 1995 article in The Record. [20], On December 11, 2006, a memorial plaque was dedicated at the plane crash site. I made a promise to Mrs. Harris that he would never be forgotten.. _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-16729709-1']); [3] The team was returning home after a 1714 loss to the East Carolina Pirates at Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina. There was room for only a few of them on the plane to Kinston, North Carolina. Lives were shattered. section: | slug: they-are-marshall-50-years-after-the-plane-crash-those-closest-to-the-tragedy-are-still-healing | sport: collegefootball | route: article_single.us | One of Dawson's greatest contributions may have been the recruiting of four African-American athletes out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Southern Airways Flight 932. Marshall football plane crash was 50 years ago, but victim's friend can't forget that day. Body unidentified and buried with five other unidentified players in Spring Hill Cemetery. At that time, I thought I was a pretty bad-ass man.". The 6500 lb, 13 ft-high (2900 kg, 4 m-high) sculpture was completed within a year and a half. Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Tolley gladly gave Carter time off -- even bought him the plane ticket -- to travel back to bury his father. Football seeped out of his life. There was no playbook, and nobody had been in that position before.". [7]:37, On November 15, 1970, a memorial service was held at the indoor, 8,500-seat Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse with moments of silence, remembrances, and prayers. The two played in the same defensive backfield for Virginia Tech in the late 1960s. But football quickly drained from him after the crash. Not only that, she happened to be on a flight during 9/11. And then, after the game, if Slezak had been there, would that have deterred Art Sr. from getting on the plane? The actual damage was incalculable. When he passed, Loria's wife was pregnant with Frank Loria Jr. Beamer guided the buses to the memorial. There are gravesites at Spring Hill Cemetery bearing the remains of six Marshall players from the crash who could never be identified. He was an incredible all-around athlete. No one prepared her for what was next. The pair were listening to country music when the bulletin came across that a plane had crashed in Huntington. Plymales mother attended a funeral in North Carolina, and her family became close friends with the victims family. But that begs the very human question of why God spared him and not those on the plane? 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. The Hokies were in town to play the Herd. He met with former Marshall coach Red Dawson, who gave away his seat on the plane that night. Beamer had brought a special Hokie Stone inscribed with Loria's name. Home Skeens was killed in the plane crash. Nepal's army and volunteers carry the body of a victim who died in a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara on January 17, 2023. Yes, we grieve. Wayne County Democratic Sen. Robert Plymale was 15 at the time and was with friends in Kenova, near the airport. 1970 Crash Victims. A memorial bell tower is being planned for a location on WV 75 near exit 1 along Interstate 64. Caption on back reads: "Saturday Nov. 14, 1970. As a 21-year-old newlywed senior cheerleader at Marshall, she read the news of the crash on the crawl at the bottom of a television screen. The decision had already been made regarding cheerleaders for that trip. The dog's name was Sturmisch. It slipped out from underneath him, according to Dawson, and Oliver hit his head. She traveled to Washington, D.C. for the hearings that were supposed to explain the crash. Roy Slezak refuses to call it an anniversary. The Thundering Herd upset Xavier, 15-13, in an emotional victory for the ages. His jersey hangs in Passaic High School. His life was spared that night a half century ago. "[7]:36 At least one source says that water that had seeped into the plane's altimeter could have thrown off its height readings, leading the pilots to believe the plane was higher than was actually the case. [5] The accident is the deadliest tragedy to have affected any sports team in U.S. Most of his teammates were gone, forever. Its not an anniversary, but its a day to remember. "I took the phone, but Mrs. Shoebridge was crying hysterically. Rick Tolley had helped him with the plane ticket to get back home. Every one of the 75 people on board died in the crash. The crash took the lives of everyone on board -- the pilot, the first officer, two flight attendants, the charter coordinator, 24 Marshall University football fans, nine coaches and 37 players. "For years, it was just a total devastating thing," Call said. Artwork by Eugene Payne, Staff Artist, The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N.C.". The aircraft began its normal descent after passing the outer marker, but did not arrest its descent and hold altitude at 1,240ft (380m), as required by the assigned instrument approach procedure. Roy Slezak refuses to call it an anniversary. He and the sycamore have aged well. "'The phrase is about respect, and it makes you realize you can't take anything for granted. He played Defensive end. Art could have played professional baseball or professional football.. Dawson was not on the plane when it crashed. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. Charles Kautz is third from right, with tie. Fifty-two years ago, Huntington, West Virginia, was home to what has been called the worst disaster in United States sports history. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. Without any particular reason, Carter stayed. He never did try to preach to me. We didn't have children, so she was like a child. William Alfred "Red" Dawson was one of the best players Bobby Bowden ever saw. briefly mourned after the 17-14 defeat, but what happened after the game shook the school and the town to its core. It was the second college football team plane crash in a little over a month, after the October 2 crash that killed 31 (head coach, 14 Wichita State players, and 16 others). Not surprisingly, Call will be the keynote speaker at Saturday's memorial. Joe Hood, Larry Sanders, Robert Van Horn and Freddy Wilson had come from Druid High School. Sketch is matted and framed. In its second season under head coach Rick Tolley . The inspiring story even made it to the big screen in 2006. (aka "The Marshall University Football Team Crash") November 14th, 1970. Mary Jane Tolley didn't go because the local veterinarian recommended she stay because the couple's dog was sick. Smith became the football team's spokesperson at the annual ceremony, where he delivers an annual message to parents, siblings, friends and coworkers of the victims who are still heartbroken by the tragedy that takes them back in time. Carter maintains he was spared because of God's providence. The airport was not properly equipped. Near Huntington, West Virginia. . He was the offensive tackle. The Lord watched over me so that he could save me and put me in the ministry to serve him.". Among the losses were nearly the entire Marshall University football team, coaches, flight crew, numerous fans, and supporters. Marshall fans and residents of Huntington, W.V. So why would anyone living with all that baggage intentionally go up in the air? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Virginia Tech's coach had a plan for the pregame. Plymale said 64 children lost one or both of their parents in the crash. Before the trip, they were scheduled to go on a recruiting mission to Ferrum College after the ECUMarshall game, in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to recruit junior college linebacker Billy Joe Mantooth. "We'd always rode buses.". They all had said great things about him. Mary Jane was persistent. [4] By the time the plane came to a stop, it was 4,219ft (1,286m) short of the runway and 275ft (84m) south of the middle marker. It went beyond physical damage. I didn't know what to do. ", "I just generally felt we lost a great Hokie that day," Beamer said. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Commissioner.com is a registered trademark of CBS Interactive Inc. site: media | arena: collegefootball | pageType: stories | Rick, he ran them off. While in the air, the plane struck a tree on a tall hill and crashed to the ground. Marshall coach Rick Tolley demonstrating a move to team captain Dave Griffith, Mike Blake and Dave DeBord (left to right) in 1970. Vast amounts of funerals took place in the weeks and months following the tragedy, which had to be planned in accordance with each other so services wouldn't overlap. But for the university and the entire community, it left a huge void. DAntoni is now Marshalls basketball coach. Following its plane crash, Wichita State was granted similar permission to use freshmen on the varsity to resume its 1970 season. "You sissy," Dawson said. He wanted them to learn about the Frank Loria he admired so much. "In my case, it became clear four years later. The five Southern Airlines employees also died in the crash. That included 37 Marshall football players, 25 team boosters, multiple coaches and team doctors, and Marshalls athletic director. The movie details the tragic deaths of nearly the entire football program in 1970 and the rebuilding of a school and town all at once. Al Carelli, Jr., Assistant coach, 1970 MU Football team, b&w. "Kenova to dedicate crash memorial Monday." That's the unseen damage left a half century later after a Southern Airways DC- 9 carrying the Thundering Herd back from a game at East Carolina crashed into a hill a mile short of the Tri-State Airport in Huntington, West Virginia. Classes at Marshall, along with numerous events and shows by the Marshall Artists Series (and the football team's game against the Ohio Bobcats), were cancelled and government offices were closed. It was raining hard, and he remembered seeing ambulances speeding past the group. They told the police they want to go to Spring Hill Cemetery. Trademarked and copyrighted images and insignia are the exclusive property of Marshall University. Couldn't keep my voice straight. (JACK BURNETT/AP) "At 1 o'clock in the morning, a detective came to the door. All 75 passengers on the team plane were killed in the crash, including 37 members of the Marshall University football team, eight football coaches, including head coach Rick Tolley, athletic director Charlie Kautz, 25 boosters and five flight crew members. "For a long time, he couldn't handle it," Call said. This is believed to be a duplicate of the plane that crashed Nov. 14, 1970 carrying MU football team. The crew established radio contact with air traffic controllers at 7:23 pm with instructions to descend to 5,000ft (1,500m). "It was not a premonition. A bunch of her husband's former linemen were lining the walls of her living room. Marshall Thundering Herd cheerleaders react as a video saluting the 1970 team that was killed in a plane crash is shown on the scoreboard prior to. "I got a call from our operations guy. (Bettmann/Bettmann Archive), "'We Are Marshall' just stuck," Smith said. According to the official National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report, the accident was "unsurvivable". In the transcript of their cockpit communications in the final minutes, the pilots briefly debated that their autopilot had "captured" for a glide slope descent, although the airport was only equipped with a localizer. | White roses were laid by the fountain as each victims name was read at the ceremony. "Shoulda, coulda, woulda.". Page 1. CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) A bill has won final legislative approval in West Virginia that would establish an annual day of recognition for the worst sports disaster in U.S. history, a plane crash that killed most of Marshall Universitys football team. After the game, 37 members of the Marshall football team, its coaching staff, team doctors, University Athletic Director Charles E. Kautz, and some 25 team fans and boosters boarded Southern Airway Flight 932 and departed from Kinston, North Carolina at 6:38 p.m. en route to the Tri-State Airport outside Kenova, West Virginia. He was like a sounding board.". Marshall coach Rick Tolley demonstrating a move to team captain Dave Griffith, Mike Blake and Dave DeBord (left to right) in 1970. That day nine years ago, "Frank Beamer became a very special person in my mind," Hamrick said. It still stands as the most fatal sports-related accident in history. The ceremony was held by invitation-only due to the coronavirus pandemic and was made available online. Its an inspiring tribute to those fallen lives and the devoted men who led Marshall back to glory. Before the noon ET game, a crowd will gather at Spring Hill Cemetery once again to observe the past but also celebrate what they and the university have become. It has taken her more than a year. "All these guys, about 50 of them, came out for football. Marshall University, Varsity Aces Live: Marshall Football Plane Crash 50th Anniversary. One year later, the unthinkable happened. Allen Gene Skeens, #59, 1970 MU Football team, b&w. It was an impression he put in her heart. CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) A bill has won final legislative approval in West Virginia that would establish an annual day of recognition for the worst sports disaster in U.S. history, a plane crash that killed most of Marshall University's football team. Tolley's grave was moved up there a few years ago. One day, the wife of the head coach was in class. The NCAA repealed that prohibition at its annual convention in January 1972. 75 members, coaches, and fans were killed in November 1970 plane crash. It was real big-time negligence. Tri-State airport installed a glide slope using federal funds in 1972. December 11, 2006, Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field, Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, 38 22' 27" N. latitude and 82 34' 42" W. longitude, 2013 Conference USA Football Championship game, 1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football team, List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft, Wichita State University football team plane crash, "Marshall crash still looms after 36 years", "Plane crash devastates Marshall University", "The story of the 1970 Marshall Plane Crash", "Tragedy litters the sports landscape: Marshall remains the worst sports-related air disaster", "Reporter recalls memories from worst sports- related air tragedy in US history", "NTSB Aircraft Accident Report Southern Airways Inc. DC-9, N97S, Tri-State Airport, Huntington, West Virginia, November 14, 1970", "People have not forgotten Marshall Crash 30 years ago", "Emotions of tragedy drew Lengyel to Marshall", "Marshall football, 50 years after plane crash, carries on, and remembers", "Akron Alum Jack Lengyel to Receive AFCA's McLaughry Award", "Memorial Fountain designed to represent 'upward growth, immortality, eternality', "Marshall Memorial Bronze unveiled to mix of emotions", "Marker placed at site of crash, Dec. 11, 2006", "43 years later, Marshall still honors memory of fallen players", "Marshall Football to Don '75' Helmets for Remainder of Season", "ECU, Marshall game postponed due to pandemic", Aviation history synopsis of Southern Airways Flight 932 (with photographs), List of victims of Southern Airways Flight 932, PlaneCrashInfo.Com Southern Airways Flight 932 entry, Marshall University Forensic Science Graduate Program, Marshall University South Charleston Campus, Arthur Weisberg Family Engineering Laboratories, Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center, Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17, 1990 Wayne County Airport runway collision, Capitol International Airways Flight C2C3/26, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Southern_Airways_Flight_932&oldid=1142434206, Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1970, Airliner accidents and incidents in West Virginia, Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain, Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-9, November 1970 events in the United States, Aviation accidents and incidents involving sports teams, Articles with dead external links from May 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 10:15. Beamer was at his wife-to-be's home that November night. The Druid Four did and were all killed in the crash. College Football Player, Plane Crash Victim. Slezak originally agreedbut said it would mean breaking a date. "Where nobody could see me," Dawson said of his hiding spot. He was the center. "The town immediately went into mourning. Memorial newspaper page from The Herald-Advertiser. Scott Jenkins. The Mid-American Conference also expelled the team for similar offenses. Plymale said his mother was a professor at Marshall. On Nov. 14, 1970, the chartered jet crashed in fog and rain into a hillside upon approach to an airport near Huntington as the team was returning from a game at East Carolina, killing all 75 on board. Carter will be thinking about "thanking the Lord for his grace and mercy, watching over me and sparing my life." "It made you wretch," Brunner said, "and I did several times.". Dawson's brother had been recruited by Bryant, so there was a relationship. I told him, 'I'm afraid those guys are going to hate you because you're so hard on them.' "We got her when she was 6 weeks old. Southern Airways DC-9, similiar to plane that crashed with MU footballt team, col. (low-res digital image only). "Happy" Heath, of Huntington, West Virginia, Elaine Lois Heath, of Huntington, West Virginia, James Jarrell, of Huntington, West Virginia, Cynthia Scott Leslie Jarrell, of Huntington, West Virginia, Kenneth Jones, of Huntington, West Virginia - WHTN-TV sports director, Charles E. Kautz - Athletic director of Marshall University, Eugene J. Morehouse - sports information director, Jeffrey P. Nathan, of Parksburg, West Virginia - sports editor of MU's student newspaper, Dr. Brian R. O'Connor, of Huntington, West Virginia - admissions director of Marshall University, Michael R. Prestera, delegate-elect to the West Virginia Legislature, Dr. Glenn Preston, of Huntington, West Virginia - Local dentist, Phyllis Jean Charles Preston, of Huntington, West Virginia, Dr. Herbert D. Proctor, of Huntington, West Virginia, Courtney Phillips Proctor, of Huntington, West Virginia, Murrill Ralsten, of Huntington, West Virginia - City councilman, Helen Ralsten, of Huntington, West Virginia, Parker Ward, of Huntington, West Virginia, Danny Deese, of Atlanta, Georgia - Charter coordinator, Copyright 2002 Check SixThis page last updated Saturday, August 25, 2018. with questions or comments about this web site. ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? Art was All-State, he was sought out by every major college on the East Coast, Slezak remembered. Six weeks before the Marshall tragedy, a plane carrying members of the Wichita State football team crashed in Colorado, killing 31 people. Special Collections New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, USA . Never forget. My Account Frank Loria was one of Beamer's best friends. The airliner's crew was Captain Frank Abbot (47), First Officer Jerry Smith (28), plus two flight attendants. We Are Marshall.. Spring Hill Cemetery, site of the Marshall Memorial for the 75 plane crash victims. "Apparently, it was time God saw fit to call them.". A number of the victims are buried in a grave site in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington; 20th Street between Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Marshall's current on-campus football stadium, and Spring Hill Cemetery was renamed Marshall Memorial Boulevard in honor of the crash victims. The controller gave them clearance to land. [4], The NTSB investigated the accident and its final report was issued on April 14, 1972. He recalled talking at length with some of his counterparts at Wichita State, and how they leaned on each other for support. Because it was the Herd's only charter flight of the season, boosters and prominent citizens were on the plane, including a city councilman, a state legislator, and four physicians. [2][7] The plane burst into flames and created a swath of charred ground 95ft (29m) wide and 279ft (85m) long. In the following weeks, Lengyel was aided in his attempts by receivers' coach Red Dawson. The event marked a boundary by which an entire community would forever measure time before or after The Crash. Or would he have gotten on the plane himself? Pure chance, some cases. FAQ At age 78, there's a part of Dawson that questions whether fate is the lone reason he is not among those being memorialized rather than those observing it.