November 14, 1970 ... Remembered

Memorial of the 1970 Marshall University Football Team Plane Crash

GAIL PARKER

Gail Parker, the Freshman Football Coach, had graduated from Old Dominion University. He had served as the assistant football coach at John Yeats High School, Suffolk, Virginia, and as its head coach before coming to Marshall University. He had flown with the team for the East Carolina game. After the game, however, he traded places with Deke Brackette, who had driven down with Red Dawson on a recruiting trip. Brackette was on the plane when it crashed. Parker and Dawson heard about the crash on the radio while driving to Ferrum, Virginia.

He was not on the airplane.

Team Photo