from the Herald-Dispatch:
Anniversary of MU crash Wednesday
Nov 11, 2007 @ 07:30 AM
By BEN FIELDS
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON --
Marshall University will mark the tragic 1970 plane crash that killed most of its football team and 25 members of the community the way it always has, as the memorial fountain is shut off for the winter during an annual ceremony.
But the 37th anniversary of the crash that galvanized Huntington as a community may draw additional attention this week, coming just shy of a year after the story of the crash was told nationwide through the release of the film "We Are Marshall."
There is no question the film has increased interest in the story of the crash, and of the 1971 Young Thundering Herd, which took the first step in rebuilding a football program from scratch. At the same time, it has helped others touched by the event come to grips with what they experienced.
"I feel the best thing that happened with the movie was the number of people that were able to face the tragedy and be able to understand what they've been through and go through that healing process," said Parker Ward Jr., who lost his father, a Huntington businessman and avid Marshall supporter, in the crash. "That includes many members of the 1971 team who were freshmen in '70."
The crash occurred at 7:47 p.m. on Nov. 14 when a DC-9 jetliner flying from Greensboro, N.C., where the Herd had just lost to East Carolina University 17-14, hit the treetops short of the runway at Tri-State Airport. It was carrying the team, coaching staff, supporters and a crew of five.
The Huntington Area Convention and Visitors Bureau offers a tour of real sites that figure into the story, and sites that were part of making the movie.
Craig Warner, who heads up the bureau, said there were more than a dozen charter buses that took the tour in October, a month after the film was released on DVD. Warner said his office sends a copy of the movie to tour groups that are coming in, and the groups watch the film on their bus on the way to Huntington.
"We've had groups from Colorado, Illinois and Missouri come here, and really most of these people have little or no real connection with the community, other than some of the older ones say they remember the crash," he said. "Because of the storyline and the movie, they're just into it, and they want to come here and see what it's all about."
While the movie has helped tourism, it has performed an even greater service for many of the area residents who were personally affected by the tragedy of the crash itself, Ward said.
Ward, who will speak at this year's memorial service at noon Wednesday, was 12 when the crash occurred.
Over the years he has emerged as something of an unofficial spokesman for those who lost friends and relatives in the crash, and said his own feelings on the movie were somewhat mixed.
"You couldn't get away from the standard question of what you thought about the movie being made," Ward said. "And I had my canned answer, which was that I hoped they did a good job, but when you talk to close friends and family members, you get into how they're telling a story about the day that changed your life."
Ward said he "couldn't have asked for anything more" in the sense that the film respected the sensitivity of the issue and reflected Marshall in a positive light. He also felt that a Hollywood retelling of the story was simply a matter of time.
"However, from a local perspective, when you're talking with families here and around the country that had connections to this, it was a very difficult year," he said. "They say time heals, but in this film, they wanted to take you back to 1970. There was a lot of excitement that Hollywood brought. At the end of the day, it's a tragic story with a great theme of survival."
Perhaps there is no local person more closely linked with the real tragedy and its portrayal on film than WSAZ-TV sportscaster Keith Morehouse.
Morehouse lost his father, Gene Morehouse, who did the commentary for the Herd's games on radio, in the crash. His wife, Debbie, lost both of her parents in the incident -- team physician Dr. Ray Hagley and his wife, Shirley.
Morehouse has followed in his father's footsteps, covering the Herd on television and conducting a weekly coach's show.
"It meant a lot for me to get the opportunity to, in a way, follow up on a career that I don't think Dad got the opportunity to finish," he said.
Morehouse was actually portrayed in the film as a child, and personally appears at the end of the movie calling a game in the school's current press box.
He said the events of the past year have been emotional, but haven't necessarily changed the way he sees things.
"The anniversary really isn't any different for me this year, just because we've always looked at it the same way every year," he said. "I understand that there's more notoriety because of the movie. I think it's just an honor that the university still commemorates the tragedy."
As for his reaction to the film itself, "I don't know if cathartic is the right word," Morehouse said. "I think it was handled with sensitivity and respect, and that's what we wanted to have happen.
"It's a very personal thing to watch, to talk about and to think about. That has never changed."
and sidebar:
Remembering
The annual memorial service to honor the 75 victims of the 1970 Marshall University plane crash will begin at noon Wednesday on the Memorial Student Center Plaza.
SPEAKERS: Alumni board member Teddy Kluemper, football coach Mark Snyder, MU President Stephen Kopp, Parker Ward Jr. (who lost his father in the crash) and Student Government President Dominique Elmore.
WREATHS: Wreaths will be placed at the Memorial Fountain by the speakers, along with the football team captains and members of the Ceredo Fire Department Honor Guard.
FOUNTAIN: The fountain will then be turned off until spring.
