Inspiring a new generation
By Jessica Turner

Matthew McConaughey, who portrays Jack Lengyel, and Matthew Fox, who portrays Red Dawson, pose on the football field with their real-life counterparts, Jack Lengyel and Red Dawson during a break in filming Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ inspirational drama, “We Are Marshall,” distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo by Frank Masi Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ inspirational drama, “We Are Marshall,” distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.??Photo by Frank Masi

Terry and Donna Kimble at the filming of ‘We Are Marshall’ in Atlanta. Special photo

Kimble (L) and Red Dawson, portrayed by Matthew Fox in the film. Special photo

Scene: A dark, foggy miserable night in Huntington, W.V., Nov. 14, 1970. It’s a Saturday night on the Marshall University campus, but the town is still. The Marshall Thundering Herd lost a nail-biter of a game just hours earlier and the dreary night keeps many inside. Suddenly, the quiet night is cut by the sounds of sirens as fire engines, police and paramedics rush to the scene of a fiery plane crash. Soon it will be tragically clear who the occupants of the plane are: 75 passengers including the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, coaches and boosters.
And…cut.
It sounds like a script straight out of Hollywood. Too tragic to be believable. But Hollywood can’t create stories like these, only the tragic events of history can tell them. The town of Huntington, W.V. lost not only the young men of its football program, but men vital to their athletic department and prominent members of the Huntington community.
“I babysat for Dr. Ray Hagley and his wife Shirley,” Snellville resident and Marshall University graduate Lynda Summers says of the team physician and his wife, who were both killed in the crash. “They were a two person job and a friend and I would watch their six children. They were delightful people.”
“You have to remember that while 35 of the plane’s passengers were football players, the rest of the people were community leaders, doctors, lawyers and even a city councilman. The heart and influence of Huntington,” Jim Summers, also a Marshall alum and an instrumental member in the formation of the Atlanta MU Alumni Club, Atlanta Herd, says. “We had classmates whose parents were killed on that plane.”
The news of the tragedy spread quickly across the MU campus across television and radio.
“I remember I was on my way to see the 9:15 p.m. showing of ‘Kelly’s Heroes,’” Lynda, a Huntington native who was a junior on the MU campus in 1970, says. “We had the radio on and I remember thinking just what a miserable night it was, cold, rainy and foggy. We heard the announcement over the radio and turned right back around to go home.”
“We found out on the news that night,” Randi Ward, a teacher at Grayson High School and MU grad says. “I lived upstate, so that night I went home with a friend of mine. The campus was deserted. There were girls that lived in our dorm who were engaged to players on the team. Many of them went home and never came back.”
“I’ve never seen a town so quiet, not since President Kennedy was assassinated,” Charla Cebulski, an MU alum and Huntington native says.
Tri-State Airport was just a short drive from campus, so many people rushed from the town to the site of the wreckage. “You could hear the sirens and smell the smoke from the fire on campus,” Randi says.
“If you’ve ever flown into Tri-State before, you can see how easily a tragedy like this could happen,” Charla says. “The runway is on top of a mountain, surround by mountains and trees on either side. To this day I hate flying in there.”
News reports from the night, which can be found in books like “Real Tragedy, Real Triumph,” a collection of news clippings and articles from Huntington’s area newspapers, reported finding a gruesome scene of debris and human remains. Bodies were taken to the National Guard Armory at the airport where a temporary morgue was established with a cooling unit from a local packing company used to preserve the bodies while the waited to be identified.”
“It took a long time to identify the bodies, especially the players who were from out of town,” Lynda Summers says. “It’s not like it is today where you can have dental records e-mailed and on your computer in minutes. It took a long time and there were memorials and funeral for days following the crash. You would see hearse after hearse and funeral processions all over town.”
Six of the bodies were unable to be identified and were buried together at Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington where a monument honoring the victims stands, overlooking the Marshall football stadium.
“I had worked in the athletic department keeping score for Marshall basketball games and knew a lot of the football players,” Jim Summers, who graduated from Marshall in 1969 and known to many as the Thundering Herd mascot Marco the Buffalo, says. “Two of the six players who were unable to be identified were fraternity brothers of mine. Gene Morehouse, the ‘Voice of the Herd’ and sports information director had gotten me my job with the athletic department.”
“Two of my cousins died in the crash, Jim and Cynthia Jarrell,” Charla says. “You had to be very special to be invited to travel with the team. In fact, that was the first time the team had flown to a game. Their children were left orphaned, but thankfully were raised by their aunt.
“A girlfriend of mine had a crush on one of the team managers. She was absolutely devastated because of the crash, as he was originally listed as a passenger on the plane. She found out that he had ridden the bus home and ended up marrying him.”
You weren’t just losing athletes, you were losing brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, fiancés and friends.
“I don’t remember exactly if classes were officially cancelled that first Monday back, but if you showed up for an 8:00 a.m. class, you were dismissed at 8:05,” Lynda says.
“You went to class and would look around and see empty seats where the players had sat,” Charla, who is an English teacher and head golf coach at Central Gwinnett High School, says. “Even in the large classes, you knew who was missing.”
Funerals and memorials continued for days following the plane crash. But life had to go on.
“The campus was definitely in a slump, but by late spring we were trying to pull out of it,” Lynda says.
“Everyone was so devastated, but we had to move on,” Randi says, thumbing through the pages of the 1971 Chief Justice, Marshall’s yearbook, which had minimal mentions of the crash but was aptly titled, “A University in Crisis.”
“You have to remember, these were the tumultuous ‘70s,” Jim says. “You had the Vietnam War, sit-ins and small riots on campus and the Kent State shooting just six months before the crash. It was a much different time.
“As college students in that time, we had lost our ability to laugh. You had colleagues who were being sent to war, students shot on their campuses, but one thing that I noticed was that students tended to be more engaged at colleges with good football teams.”
But Marshall University’s football team had far from a glorious record. After snapping the country’s longest losing streak of 0-26-1 in 1969, Marshall’s program was slapped with sanctions from the NCAA following recruiting violations. MU was thrown out of the Mid-Atlantic Conference and their athletic department nearly completely overhauled. A new coaching staff was brought in, their stadium upgraded and field AstroTurfed.
“We were just turning the corner and were 3-6 after our ninth game in 1970,” Jim says. “Rick Tolley was one of the youngest NCAA head coaches and had a young staff with him. Our prospects were good.”
It would have been very easy to cut their loses and move on with no football program. There was no Athletics Director, no coach, hardly a coaching staff left after the crash.
“Marshall was known for their basketball, not football in 1970,” Charla says. “But it would have been such a disservice to the community had the program not continued.”
Through the support of surviving players who had not taken the ill-fated flight, like defensive back Nate Ruffin, acting President Dr. Donald Dedmon and the Huntington community, the Marshall University football program began to take shape, though many people had their doubts about the future of the program. The lone surviving coach was Red Dawson. Dawson and the newly hired coach Jack Lyngel set out to rebuild the Thundering Herd.
“I had been recruited by Marshall to play football, but chose West Virginia Tech instead,” Grayson resident Terry Kimble recalled. “We played against that the 1970 team in a scrimmage game. I remember when I heard the news of the crash, I was out with friends, I just got in my car and went home. The spring after the crash, I received a letter from Coach Red Dawson asking if I was interested in playing for the rebuilt team.”
Until recently, only the Marshall University community, Huntington faithful and sports history buffs knew the story of the tragic plane crash and rebirth of the football program. But with the Warner Brothers Pictures/Legendary Pictures release of the film “We Are Marshall,” a whole new generation is learning the story of the Young Thundering Herd.
“I graduated from Marshall University in 1986,” Greg Cordell, a West Virginia native who has lived in the Atlanta area since 1998, says. “I was only six years old when the plane crashed, but being on campus, you knew what had happened, but I didn’t know a lot about the events that occured after the crash.”
There are the reminders, such as the memorial fountain at the student center that was dedicated in November 1972 and the memorial that is held there every year to honor those who lost their lives in the plane crash. Every year on the anniversary of the crash, they turn the water off until spring.
Like many Marshall supporters who are newcomers to Atlanta, Cordell became acquainted with the Atlanta Herd, who host game watching parties and trips to nearby Marshall athletic events. When the announcements were made that a large portion of “We Are Marshall” was to be filmed in Atlanta, the Atlanta Herd was on call hosting casting calls with the production company and even throwing a tailgate party prior to one Saturday of filming at Morris Brown’s Herndon Stadium in Atlanta. The Herd faithful gathered to enjoy one another’s company before acting as extras in one of the most exciting moments of the film: Marshall’s come from behind victory against Xavier for their first win since the crash.
“It was great to see old friends and the Marshall faithful,” Randi says. “The film has really brought about a renewal in the Marshall spirit.”
“This film provides a sense of unity for all Marshall alumni,” Keith Spears, VP for Communications and Marshall University consultant for the film says. “In many respects it is a worldwide ‘homecoming.’”
While some gathered only for the one day of shooting, others took the chance to participate as much as possible. Terry Kimble was selected to portray a City of Cereto policeman at the crash scene and a West Virginia State Trooper at the final football game, fitting considering Terry is a retired City of Atlanta policeman. Greg Cordell took part in seven days of filming and took on multiple roles on different days as a Wayne County Sheriff’s deputy, security guard, sideline reporter and even a fan in the stands.
The crash scenes were brutal to film, Terry and Greg concurred. “You filmed from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.,” Terry says.
“You could never have filmed that scene in West Virginia,” Jim says. “It’s still just too sensitive of a subject.” While the crash scene and many of the football game scenes were filmed in Atlanta, nearly all the scenery of Huntington was filmed in the in the city.
“We were so afraid that Huntington would be Hollywoodized,” Lynda says. “When my daughter Jessica and I watched the first trailer, it was the scene where Coach Lengyel comes out of his house to get his paper and Jessica and I were so happy to see the brick streets of Huntington. They really captured the city.”
“During the day, temperatures were 98 degrees and I was wearing a wool State Trooper costume, it was brutal,” Terry says. But it was worth it in the end as Terry was able to meet the man who 35 years earlier had asked him to join his football team. “I was able to meet Red Dawson and shake his hand.”
“Nearly 90 percent of the folks I met had a connection to Marshall or Huntington,” Greg says of his experiences on set. “It was one of the best experiences of my life. It taught me so much about the history of Marshall football that I had never know and I met some great people. There were some brutally hot days, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
While some Hollywood royalties were taken with the film, they were minimal in conveighing the true story.
“You have to remember that it was a movie, not a documentary,” Terry says. For a great documentary, view “Ashes to Glory” which was realized to correspond with the crash’s 30th anniversary in 2000.
“There was no Boone’s restaurant,” Randi says. “Everyone hung out either at Wiggins' or Stuart’s Hot Dogs.”
“The character of Annie [whose football star fiance was killed in the crash] was a composite for a number of players,” Jim says. “[Annie’s fiance] was the only player who wasn’t real.”
Other than the slight Hollywood liberties, the story that remains after viewing “We Are Marshall” is one of persaverance and triumph in the face of adversity.
“The key thing that the people of Marshall wanted to get across is shown perfectly in the scene in the chapel between Coach Lengyel and Coach Dawson,” Jim says. “The most important message of the film is not how many games were won, but that the game was played. The Marshall faithful, we were just proud to put a team on the field.”
“‘We Are Marshall’ is more than a movie, a cheer or a slogan,” MU President Stephen Kopp says. “It is a spirit that demonstrates that through perseverance and determination, people can overcome the greatest barriers. ‘We’ is the factor of togetherness that is the foundation of resiliency and fortitude that is characteristic of the Marshall University family.”
“I am just so proud of the fact that I’m from Marshall,” Charla says. “To me, the biggest point of the film was conveighing that you play the game for the honor of playing.”
Thank you to all the Marshall faithful who shared their memories and stories. Without you, this story would not have been possible. Go Herd!