November 14th is a date that will always be remembered throughout Huntington, West Virginia. Growing up in Poca, West Virginia there was only a handful of Marshall fans and very few connections to the city of Huntington. I am not sure the exact year that I learned of the crash. Although I do not know the year, I know I remember it from reading stories each year from Chuck Landon, at that time of the Charleston Daily Mail, or as we called it, the evening paper.
The tragedy has evolved over time. From rarely being mentioned, to now it being a bound into the fabric of our community, university, and sports programs. How has the story evolved over time within the football program over the last few decades? I was able to catch up with several Sons of Marshall from different generations. Rather than spinning their words into my own, this story will be told in their own words.
The Decade Following the Tragedy
The 1980’s was a decade that would see the Herd get their first winning season in twenty years. Marshall finally broke the .500 mark in 1984 for the first time since 1964. The wins were big, the moments were huge, but how was this seen in the program. First I met caught up with long time member of the Marshall football community, Bill Woodrum.
Aaron Perkins: Was November 14th mentioned much when you were here, in the locker room, by the coaches, etc?
Woodrum: Clearly everybody was aware. It was very different though. I actually never went to a fountain ceremony as an undergrad. It seems amazing now, but I think after the success of the late 80’s, many people were ready to move on from being, “the crash team.” I hope that doesn’t sound insensitive, but there was a prevailing sense of that. There was definitely no organized effort to take the team to he ceremony or any of that.
AP: What is the first story or moment that you remember about 11/14/1970 that put chills on your arms, that made you think, “Wow, I am actually a part of this now?”
Woodrum: I found out that one of the maintenance men was the former equipment manager for the 1970 team. He had to leave his job because he couldn’t handle coming back after unloading all the bags and personal effects. There is actually a picture of the students unloading that always struck me. Then JD Coffman died and we had to clean out his locker, sanitize everything, and dispose of a lot of it. It is still very vivid and a bad memory. I suddenly understood so much better how awful it would have been to do that 75 times, not just once. I can’t imagine the grief and wounds that it left on people.
AP: Do you like how the events have evolved over time?
Woodrum: For a long time, I thought we (as a university family) needed to move on. Remember the crash had occurred the year I was born and so much had changed. We needed to put the past behind us, so to say, it was where we had been but wasn’t where we were. I didn’t attend a service for a long time. I only went to my first memorial a few years ago. I think it is good that we remember. I think it is also good that we do not just honor the lives lost but that the members of the Young Thundering Herd have found their place in history. I can’t imagine what it was like to go through what they surviving teammates did and how they had to build up a new team from nothing. I get uncomfortable at times with some of the uses of “the 75” by people but have come to accept that we each understand and accept things in different ways. If it wasn’t for the people that put it back together, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Woodrum added, “sorry that last part was pretty muddled. I have a complex set of memories and emotions tied to this.”
The Winningest Team of the Decade of the 90's
Moving on a decade later, I was able to catch up with former Marshall wide receiver Tharen Todd. Todd played at Marshall in the mid 1990’s. He came to Marshall from California, in a time where the internet was non-existent and someone couldn’t simply google information about a school.
AP: Was 11/14/1970 mentioned much when you were playing here?
Todd: Yes, 11/14/1970 was a big deal back in the mid 90’s when I played at Marshall. The fountain in the middle of campus was something we all honored, and even more so on 11/14. We held it in high regards especially me since it was the main reason I attended Marshall. I heard the story during the Championship game in 1992 when we beat Youngstown State with the field goal.
I always pushed for the underdog as a young kid, so when the opportunity came about to play at Marshall I accepted it and it changed my life forever.
AP: Was there a moment in time that made you realize the importance of the day?
Todd: During my playing career I was always in awe of how the community supported our football team and still made reference to the team that perished in the crash. It felt amazing to have so much love from the Huntington area, the people, the alumni and the staff that endured those horrible, awful years following the crash.
AP: What has it meant throughout your life as you have continued your life back in California?
Todd: Today in my adult life, people often ask about the plane tragedy when learning about me attending Marshall University as a football player and how it makes me feel. I feel that I hold a great responsibility to those coaches, players, fans and staff that lost on that fateful night. They paved the way for a kid from Los Angeles to come experience a new culture, play quality college football at a high level for championships and earn a degree from a credible institution of higher learning.
I feel that I will forever be tied to the University as an alumni football player and I will always speak highly and give credit to how our program rebounded and became a legitimate nationally recognized power on the football field and I am so proud and filled with joy. We are…
So many powerful words as we see the story begin to evolve from being just a memory within the program and become a part of why players travel across the nation to play at Marshall.
Continued in Next Post
The tragedy has evolved over time. From rarely being mentioned, to now it being a bound into the fabric of our community, university, and sports programs. How has the story evolved over time within the football program over the last few decades? I was able to catch up with several Sons of Marshall from different generations. Rather than spinning their words into my own, this story will be told in their own words.
The Decade Following the Tragedy
The 1980’s was a decade that would see the Herd get their first winning season in twenty years. Marshall finally broke the .500 mark in 1984 for the first time since 1964. The wins were big, the moments were huge, but how was this seen in the program. First I met caught up with long time member of the Marshall football community, Bill Woodrum.
Aaron Perkins: Was November 14th mentioned much when you were here, in the locker room, by the coaches, etc?
Woodrum: Clearly everybody was aware. It was very different though. I actually never went to a fountain ceremony as an undergrad. It seems amazing now, but I think after the success of the late 80’s, many people were ready to move on from being, “the crash team.” I hope that doesn’t sound insensitive, but there was a prevailing sense of that. There was definitely no organized effort to take the team to he ceremony or any of that.
AP: What is the first story or moment that you remember about 11/14/1970 that put chills on your arms, that made you think, “Wow, I am actually a part of this now?”
Woodrum: I found out that one of the maintenance men was the former equipment manager for the 1970 team. He had to leave his job because he couldn’t handle coming back after unloading all the bags and personal effects. There is actually a picture of the students unloading that always struck me. Then JD Coffman died and we had to clean out his locker, sanitize everything, and dispose of a lot of it. It is still very vivid and a bad memory. I suddenly understood so much better how awful it would have been to do that 75 times, not just once. I can’t imagine the grief and wounds that it left on people.
AP: Do you like how the events have evolved over time?
Woodrum: For a long time, I thought we (as a university family) needed to move on. Remember the crash had occurred the year I was born and so much had changed. We needed to put the past behind us, so to say, it was where we had been but wasn’t where we were. I didn’t attend a service for a long time. I only went to my first memorial a few years ago. I think it is good that we remember. I think it is also good that we do not just honor the lives lost but that the members of the Young Thundering Herd have found their place in history. I can’t imagine what it was like to go through what they surviving teammates did and how they had to build up a new team from nothing. I get uncomfortable at times with some of the uses of “the 75” by people but have come to accept that we each understand and accept things in different ways. If it wasn’t for the people that put it back together, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Woodrum added, “sorry that last part was pretty muddled. I have a complex set of memories and emotions tied to this.”
The Winningest Team of the Decade of the 90's
Moving on a decade later, I was able to catch up with former Marshall wide receiver Tharen Todd. Todd played at Marshall in the mid 1990’s. He came to Marshall from California, in a time where the internet was non-existent and someone couldn’t simply google information about a school.
AP: Was 11/14/1970 mentioned much when you were playing here?
Todd: Yes, 11/14/1970 was a big deal back in the mid 90’s when I played at Marshall. The fountain in the middle of campus was something we all honored, and even more so on 11/14. We held it in high regards especially me since it was the main reason I attended Marshall. I heard the story during the Championship game in 1992 when we beat Youngstown State with the field goal.
I always pushed for the underdog as a young kid, so when the opportunity came about to play at Marshall I accepted it and it changed my life forever.
AP: Was there a moment in time that made you realize the importance of the day?
Todd: During my playing career I was always in awe of how the community supported our football team and still made reference to the team that perished in the crash. It felt amazing to have so much love from the Huntington area, the people, the alumni and the staff that endured those horrible, awful years following the crash.
AP: What has it meant throughout your life as you have continued your life back in California?
Todd: Today in my adult life, people often ask about the plane tragedy when learning about me attending Marshall University as a football player and how it makes me feel. I feel that I hold a great responsibility to those coaches, players, fans and staff that lost on that fateful night. They paved the way for a kid from Los Angeles to come experience a new culture, play quality college football at a high level for championships and earn a degree from a credible institution of higher learning.
I feel that I will forever be tied to the University as an alumni football player and I will always speak highly and give credit to how our program rebounded and became a legitimate nationally recognized power on the football field and I am so proud and filled with joy. We are…
So many powerful words as we see the story begin to evolve from being just a memory within the program and become a part of why players travel across the nation to play at Marshall.
Continued in Next Post
