HUNTINGTON — The 39th anniversary of a plane crash that killed most of Marshall University’s football team has been marked by hundreds at a memorial service.
They gathered Saturday around the Marshall University Memorial Fountain to honor the 75 victims of the 1970 plane crash. The service was held a few hours before the Thundering Herd’s game against Southern Mississippi.
The keynote speaker was Joe Gillette, a 1973 Marshall graduate who would have been with the team had it not been for a shoulder injury. He called Nov. 14, 1970, a day “I will never forget.”
The chartered jet bringing the Thundering Herd back from a 17-14 loss at East Carolina crashed short of the runway at Tri-State Airport in Kenova.
The crash killed players, coaches, staff, supporters and the flight crew.
It was the subject of the 2006 film “We Are Marshall.”
