FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, Nov. 9, 2009
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, 304-696-7153
 

75 crash victims to be remembered on 39^th anniversary of tragedy

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall University’s Student Government Association will conduct the annual memorial service honoring the 75 victims of the 1970 Marshall University plane crash at noon Saturday, Nov. 14 on the Huntington campus.

This year’s service, on the 39^th anniversary of the crash, will take place on the Memorial Student Center plaza. Marshall’s next football game, a home encounter with Southern Mississippi, kicks off at 4:30 p.m. that same day.

The crash on Saturday, Nov. 14, 1970 occurred at about 7:47 p.m. when a DC-9 jetliner, returning Marshall home from its football game at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., clipped some treetops just short of Tri-State Airport and went down. Victims included Marshall football players, coaches, staff and supporters, along with the crew of five.

“Even though it has been 39 years since the tragic crash, the students at Marshall University are well aware of what a tremendous loss the university and the community suffered on November 14^th, 1970,” said Sean Hornbuckle, president of Marshall’s student body. “It is our duty and our honor to remember the victims each year on November 14^th and we are proud to do so again this year. Once again, the memories of those who died will resurface and the sad story of their loss retold as we conduct this important memorial service.”

Joe Gillette, a 1973 Marshall graduate now living in Atlanta, will be the keynote speaker. Gillette was a freshman in 1969 and would have been a member of the 1970 team had he not suffered a severe shoulder injury in the summer of ’69. He tried to rehabilitate the shoulder during winter conditioning, but later realized during spring practice in 1970 that he could not take the contact.

“I found out pretty quick during spring ball that I could not take a sustained hit on that shoulder,” Gillette said. “So, I quit the team in March or April, then in November just a few months later the plane crashed.”

Gillette said it took him many years to be able to talk about the crash, even to his own family.

“The movie, ‘We Are Marshall,’ and the time since the movie has allowed me to heal and to be able to talk about my experience on the team and staying at Marshall after the crash,” he said. “It is a distinct honor for me to be able to finally speak openly about how I feel about all the kids and coaches that perished.”

Gillette and his wife, Pam, have supported Marshall for many years. In addition to generous financial support, Joe Gillette has provided dedicated leadership by serving on many boards of directors, including the Society of Yeager Scholars, the MU Alumni Association, and the Marshall Foundation and as president of the Thunder Club. He currently is president of the Society of Yeager Scholars board of directors and vice president of the Foundation board of directors.

Last spring, Gillette received the Distinguished Alumni Award during the Marshall University Alumni Weekend 2009 activities.

In addition to Hornbuckle and Gillette, other speakers at the memorial service include Marshall President Dr. Stephen J. Kopp, Marshall Athletic Director Mike Hamrick, Marshall Alumni Association President Nancy Campbell, Student Body Vice President Lashawna Sampson and Maurice Cooley, director of Marshall’s Center for African American Students’ Programs.

The service will conclude with the traditional placing of the memorial wreath at the Memorial Fountain. The fountain will be silenced after the laying of the wreath, and remain silent until next spring.

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