The 1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

as an independent during the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. In its second season under head coach

Rick Tolley Rickey Dale Tolley (January 6, 1940 – November 14, 1970) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Marshall University during the 1969 and 1970 seasons. He died in the Southern Airways Flight 932, 1970 plane crash t ...

, the team compiled a 3–6 record and was outscored by a total of 202 to 138. The team played its home games at

Fairfield Stadium Fairfield Stadium was a stadium in Huntington, West Virginia. It was primarily used for football, and was the home field of the Marshall University football team between 1928 and 1990, prior to the opening of Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Hist ...

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

. On November 14,

Southern Airways Flight 932 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 ...

, which was chartered by the school to fly the Thundering Herd football team, coaches, and fans to

Kinston, North Carolina Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 21,677 as of the 2010 census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the coastal plains region of e ...

for a game against the

East Carolina Pirates The East Carolina Pirates are the athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division ...

and back to Huntington, crashed on approach to

Tri-State Airport Tri-State Airport (Milton J. Ferguson Field) is a public airport in Wayne County, West Virginia, United States, three miles south of Huntington, West Virginia, near Ceredo and Kenova. Owned by the Tri-State Airport Authority, it serves Huntingt ...

after clipping trees just west of the runway and impacting nose-first into a hollow. All 75 people on board died. 37 of them were members of the football team. It was the worst single air tragedy in NCAA sports history. The tragedy was depicted in the movie '' We Are Marshall'' (2006) and the documentary film '' Marshall University: Ashes to Glory'' (2000).

Schedule

Roster

Coaching staff

– Head Coach * Jim Moss – Offensive Coordinator *

Red Dawson Lowell Potter "Red" Dawson (December 20, 1906 – June 10, 1983) was an American football coach for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the Tulane Green Wave at the collegiate level and the AAFC's Buffalo Bills at the professional level. ...

– Defensive Coordinator * Deke Brackett – Kicking Game * Al Carelli, Jr. – Offensive line * Mickey Jackson – Backfield * Carl Kokor – Defensive Line *

Frank Loria Frank Loria (1947 – November 14, 1970) was an American football defensive back. He was born in the town of Clarksburg, West Virginia in Harrison County and was a three sport athlete at Notre Dame Catholic High School. He played college foo ...

– Defensive Backs

References

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

Marshall Thundering Herd football seasons Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Accidental deaths in West Virginia

Marshall Thundering Herd football The Marshall Thundering Herd football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports program of Marshall University. The team represents the university as a member of the Sun Belt Conference East Division of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

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Schedule

Roster

Coaching staff

See also

References