The stadium is still used by the schools track and field, soccer, and lacrosse programs. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. They met Wichita coming the other way. Wichita State cancelled its games against Utah State (Oct. 3) and Southern Illinois (Oct. 10) and moved its game against Cincinnati from Oct. 17 to Oct. 31. Rev. And for the next five minutes, players for both sides embraced, shook hands and talked about the football game.. www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/, Those left behind mourned and built new lives, A beautiful fall day then an ominous sound, Pilot steadfast in denying fault: Someone needed to be blamed, The years drive a wedge between survivors linked by tragedy, 1970 healing process began on a Saturday night in Little Rock, Former Utah State player still feels linked to Shockers, Former WSU player Rick Stephens rides to remember friends who died, Photos: Crash survivor and friends honor victims in Colorado, Bob Lutz: Bob Seaman kept Shocker football going in the wake of 1970s tragic plane crash, Payton Tolle delivers one of the best two-way games in Wichita State baseball history, About that bloody fetus picture you found on your car . Only nine people - including eight players - survived. 1969 Roster - By Number From the 1969 FSU Football Handbook, page 42. . I just knew he was going to be in trouble. Mary Lou Rutherford, witness, We just assumed thats the way it was when you fly in the mountains. school at this time. Its just something you live with all the time. [1] The team played its home games at Cessna Stadium in Wichita, Kansas. Fewer people are familiar with another football tragedy that happened the month before the crash of an airplane carrying Wichita State University football players. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. A memorial to Wichita State University football player John Taylor lies among the remains of the tragic plane clash Oct. 2, 1970, near the Loveland Ski Area that killed 31 people. Trainer Tom Reeves and athlete John Taylor died later in hospitals after suffering burns. Two planes carrying Wichita State University football players, coaches, administrators and fans refueled on Oct. 2, 1970, in Denver. Holly, NJ: Rancocas Valley Regional: . Join our linker program. It is also available at watch.kpts.org. The future of the 1970 football season was in doubt, with the decision lying in the Dorothy Harmon She served as interim athletic director after the crash. So I went out back and here was this big plane flying up the canyon really low. We present them here for purely educational purposes. players, athletic staff members and team boosters crashed at approximately 3 p.m. Q: Did the crash contribute to Wichita State dropping football after the 1986 season? All-Conference Center Is Among Dead in Football Plane Crash", "Former Buster Gene Robinson: Fund Established For Crash Victim", ESPN Classic Wichita State suffers tragic plane crash, "Remembering the 1970 Wichita State football plane crash", "Plane Crash Survivor Calls It 'A Miracle', "Survivor recalls horror of crash that killed team", "Fresh Start at Wichita: Rarely Mention 'Crash', "Surviving Oct 2nd: Remembering the Fallen with Rick Stephens", "Wichita, Marshall Aircraft Disasters Not Similar", "Wichita State Will Open 'Second Season' Saturday", "Competition Best Therapy For Saddened Shockers", "61 Hogs Play: Arkansas Fans Cheer Wichita", "Black & Gold: Remembering The WSU Plane Carsh", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1970_Wichita_State_Shockers_football_team&oldid=1134674669, Marvin Brown, sophomore, running back, Solomon, Kansas - age 18, John Dunren, sophomore, quarterback, Oklahoma City - age 19, Ron Johnson, senior, defensive back, Kansas City, Missouri - age 21, Randy Kieusau, junior, running back, Clinton, Oklahoma - age 20, Carl Krueger, sophomore, tackle, Chicago - age 19, Steve Moore, senior, linebacker, Derby, Kansas - age 21, Tom Shedden, junior, tackle, Oklahoma City - age 20, Rick Stines, guard, Kansas City, Kansas - age 19, John Taylor, back, Sherman, Texas - died later in the month from injuries sustained in the crash, Jack Vetter Jr., senior, lineman, McPherson, Kansas - age 22, Mike Bruce, tight end/offensive tackle, Sherman, Texas - He later recalled: "When we climbed out of the plane, I could tell I was in about the best condition. Q: How did the Black plane reach Utah safely? The visiting Shockers fumbled the football an incredible 17 times, with the Seminoles recovering 10 times. He died two days later. (What's happening with the Arkansas Razorbacks? It was shown that $24 million in improvements were needed. The NTSB said rain and poor visibility contributed to the . at the scene. I would be somewhere and someone would ask me where I went to school. The team was known as Fairmount from its first season in 1897 to 1925 and Wichita from 1926 through 1963. at Cessna Stadium. The 1970 Wichita Shockers football team was an American football team that represented Wichita State University as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference during the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. Loria was a former teammate of Beamer. . All 75 people aboard were killed. This is a weekly feature at Hawgs247. Taylor,. [10], On November 21, the Shockers lost to North Texas State by a 4124 score. On Oct. 2, 1970, two airplanes, dubbed Gold and Black for the colors of Wichita State University, were carrying players, boosters, coaches and others to Utah for a football game against Utah State. AP. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS, Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer places a memorial stone in honor of former Va Tech players Frank Loria and Rick Tolley at the Marshall memorial site at Springhill Cemetery in Huntington, W.Va. on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011. The pilots of the doomed aircraft were blamed for the accident by the National Transportation Safety Board. Without football, the Shockers' basketball program has become a powerhouse. Q: How can I learn more about the plane crash? ABC televised the event with Monty Hall as host. It was - and still is - the largest shutout victory for Arkansas since 1947. hands of the football players, university officials and eligibility rules. 1970-71 Men, 1958-59 Men, 2008-09 Women, 1975-76 Men, 1995-96 . The 1970 Wichita Shockers football team was an American football team that represented Wichita State University as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference during the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. Tolley was Marshall's head football coach when the team's plane crashed in 1970 killing all 75 people aboard. Marvin Brown, 19, Solomon, sophomore tailback, Don Christian, 20, Duncan, Okla., junior defensive back, John Duren, 19, Oklahoma City, sophomore end, Ron Johnson, 21, Kansas City, Mo., senior safety, Randy Kiesau, 20, Clinton, Okla., junior defensive back, Mal Kimmel, 21, St. Genevieve, Mo., senior center, Carl Krueger, 19, Chicago, sophomore tackle, Steve Moore, 21, Derby, senior linebacker, Tom Owen, 20, Temple Terrace, Fla., junior running back, Gene Robinson, 21, Dayton, Ohio, junior end, Tom Shedden, 20, Oklahoma City, junior tackle, Richard Stines, 19, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore guard, John Taylor, 21, Sherman, Texas, senior cornerback, Jack Vetter, 21, McPherson, senior tackle. The tragedy-ridden Wichita State football squad looked for all the world like kids just out of high school as they warmed up Saturday night to face the nations No. Wichita Falls Coyotes State Champions: 1941 1949 1950 1958 1961 1969 1961 Schedule Record: 10-0-0 Head Coach: Joe Golding Vs Common Opponents (See All) Click on teams to see side-by-side scores. with Utah State University. KPTS will show its 2009 documentary Black & Gold: Remembering the WSU Plane Crash at 8 p.m. Friday. We will take a step back in time and look back at something that happened in Razorbacks history. Hugh McElroy, who that week became the . [5] Fairmount won the game 240.[6]. 1990 Roster # Player Position Birthday Hometown High School Height Weight; 1: . Learn more and register, College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. However, at that point on the flight path, the crew would have been unable to see that the valley ended at Loveland Pass, and thus they proceeded into an area from which an escape was not possible. NTSB report, I feel I did everything that I could have done in the situation. The "Gold" plane, a Martin 404, carried 36 passengers and a crew of four. The event was organized by former Wichita State player John Potts and former Arkansas player Chuck Dicus, according to The Wichita Eagle. The official 1970 Football Roster for the North Dakota State Bison But it was a team that hung together. John Yeros, The friendships and bonds forged have been a very important of all our lives. To read last week's Throwback Thursday on the previous nine times Arkansas and Texas A&M played when both were ranked, click here. The good news for the Wildcats is the increasing likelihood their entire offensive line will return, including junior left guard Cooper Beebe. The 1970 Wichita Shockers football team was an American football team that represented Wichita State University as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference during the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. I feel badly that we were even flying the team that day. 84 defensive end Pete Naputano was a junior from Altoona who was on the injured list and not on the plane. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Another 14 were university staff members and football boosters. [36] At the end of the season, a nationally televised fundraising program hosted by Monty Hall was aired to raise money for the victims of the two crashes. This years is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday. The site is accessible after a short hike and friends and family members still visit. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. 9 in the country, Wichita lost by a 620 score. On October 2, 1970, airplane carrying Wichita State University football team crashed in Colorado Rocky Mountains killing 31 team members, supporters, coaches and airline personnel. That meant the Arkansas game was the beginning of what the Shockers were calling their "Second Season," in which they obtained special permission from the NCAA and Missouri Valley Conference to play freshmen, who were ineligible for varsity play back then. Caden Henderson NCAA Stats Splits: Stat Type: Pace Adjusted Season View In one of the worst tragedies of college sports history, a plane carrying WSU football However, the American has 11 football-playing schools, as Navy is an associate member for football only. and supporters who died in a plane crash Friday, October 2, 1970. On Friday, October 2, 1970, Wichita State traveled to Logan, Utah, in two chartered planes, designated as "Gold" and "Black" according to the school colors, for a game against Utah State. WSU lost to. Find out more. I headed down the mountain to get help and a pickup came and took me up to a construction site where we called for help.". "I honor their memory every day," Lewis said. On Saturday, Nov. 14, 1970, a plane carrying members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team and coaching staff crashed in West Virginia killing all 75 people on board and plunging the university and community into grief. It wasnt a great team to begin with. Preview pages of the 1970 yearbook from West High School from Wichita, Kansas online. Many of us are familiar with the Marshall University story from the 2006 movie We Are Marshall.. 9 Arkansas had the plane carrying their starters not crashed three weeks before, but it was even more pronounced with the young players they were forced to use. They reached the Final Four in 2013 and finished the 2013-14 regular season with a perfect 31-0 record. When the clock ticked off the final second, the Razorbacks exploded to midfield, Thompson wrote. Do you have a blog? Be sure to enjoy VIP access to Hawgs247 with our Buy 1 Month, Get 2 additional Months FREE promotional offer. ON THE MORNING of Oct. 2, 1970, 21-year-old Malory W. Kimmel drove away from Wichita State University's Jardine Hall, heading for the Field House nearby. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. The chartered Southern Airways DC-9 was returning from a game the team played earlier in the day against East Carolina University in North Carolina. In 1986, president Warren Armstrong said the football program lost $839,000. Register for free to see them all, or buy a printed copy of yearbooks from West High School from Wichita, Kansas today. The state of Kansas paid an out-of-court settlement of $1.56 million divided among the heirs of survivors and the eight players who survived, on the condition all lawsuits be dismissed. Learn more. Orville Henry of the Arkansas Gazette wrote that WSU entered the stadium in a single-file line to a minute-long standing ovation from the crowd of 40,000. [15], In 1997, the cost was cited at $11 million to restart the football program and three other women's sports. Steam floated off their sweat-drenched heads, and a holler could be heard for the water boy. Utah State placed a memorial wreath at the 50-yard line at its football stadium. The Gold aircraft carried the starting players, head coach and athletic director. At Wichita State, our students are the engine of innovation, with a collaborative infrastructure that helps develop new ideas, and get new projects and businesses off the ground. The Shockers voted 76-1 to continue the season against Arkansas in Little Rock. The National Transportation Safety Board issued this executive summary, The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the intentional operation of the aircraft over a mountain valley route at an altitude from which the aircraft could neither climb over the obstructing terrain ahead, nor execute a successful course reversal. Utah. We were even joking about being so close to the ground, saying things like, Look, you can see the rabbits down there. Wichita State player Glenn Kostal, When we climbed out of the plane, I could tell with one quick look that I was in about the best condition. On Saturday, Nov. 14, 1970, a plane carrying members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team and coaching staff crashed in West Virginia killing all 75 people on board and. (AP file photo) This Oct. 2, 1970, file photo shows wreckage of a plane that carried members of the Wichita State University football team, in Silver Plume, Colo. Rusted and ragged pieces of . Dubbed the "Second Season," Wichita State took 46 players 39 of them freshmen and sophomores to Little Rock to face No. And when I heard that airplane, I knew there was something different. [15] Thirty-one persons were killed in the crash, including the following 14 players:[16][17], The fatalities also included head coach Ben Wilson (and his wife Helen), athletic director Bert Katzenmeyer (and his wife Marian), team manager Marty Harrison (age 19), team trainer Tom Reeves, admissions director Carl Fahrbach, ticket manager Floyd Farmer, Shocker Club chairman Ray Coleman (and his wife Maxine), Kansas state representative Ray King (and his wife Yvonne), the plane's pilot Dan Crocker, and two stewardesses.[17][24]. Twenty-nine persons died Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction?