"We are all Marshall"

I have heard the phrase "We are Marshall" many times for years and have dismissed it as simple college pride. After seeing the film I will dismiss it no more. "We are all Marshall"
Danny Milner- Buford, Ga.

Young memory of the crash

Young memory of the crash:I was 8 years old and living in a suburb of Charleston when the news of the crash that evening came across the tv set,a plane had crash at tri-state airport. It was'nt until the next morning I awoke to find my mother reading the morning paper and weepingthat I learned it was the Marshall football team. Although we had no connection to Marshall, It was a sad time for us and I could'nt put the connection of our personal greif into perspective at that young age and even to this day the tragedy seems forever etched in my memory. Someone once spoke of the 1970 football team "THEY WILL ALWAYS BE SON'S OF MARSHALL" perhaps that explains the greif I saw in my mother the morning after the crash and yes of course that explains why... "We Are Marshall"

-Anonymous

"My heart goes out to those who lost a loved one"

I just watched We Are Marshall last night, and I will forever remember this movie, and the tragedy. My heart goes out to those who lost a loved one that day.
-Ashley

"Not just about football"

First off I'm a big Texas Longhorn fan. I never heard about the Marshall tragedy until recently mostly due in part because it happened before I was born. After watching the movie, I was just blown away. I've seen so many football movies, Rudy, The Program, Remember the Titans, the list goes on. But, I have to say, this movie tops the list. It had to have been the best football movie that I've ever seen. This movie was not just about football, it was about overcoming tragedy together as a "family", which is what We are Marshall entails, and overcoming that tragedy head on with strength, love, and compassion for all. I know that it had to be devastating to lose an entire football team, but most importantly to lose loved ones. After watching this movie, I was truly moved. This movie will always be one of my favorites of all time. The heart can be a big place if you have one, for me there will always be a place in my heart for Marshall. WE ARE MARSHALL!!!!!GOD BLESS

Jerry

"One of the most emotional movies that we have seen this year"

I was watching the Marshall vs WVU game on opening day of ncaa football when the commentater was talking about the movie. Me and my wife saw the movie last night,it was one of the most emotional movies that we have seen this year,the annoucer was right when he said if this film dosent bring tears to your eyes you better check to see if you have a heart beat..GO MARSHALL.

-Anonymous

'The best football movie'

This was an amazing movie!! Has to be the best football movie I have ever seen. I am from Kentucky when I was a kid I can remember visiting Huntington when I visited family in Ashland. We drove bye the college and my uncle told me of the tragedy that happened there. I can still remember the day we was going out to eat at Jim's I think it was called it served spaghetti I think it was a restaurant in town in Huntington. After seeing the movie I really wanna visit the memorial and pay my respects. Thanks for sharing your story with us younger generations.

Jeff Sexton- Whitesburg, Ky

In memory of Joe Hood

Hi my name is Monica Hood my uncle was #33 Joe Lee Hood he was a great player and a teriffic person and i love and miss him very much.

" it truely shows the strength and compassion of the human spirit"

My girls and i have just watched the movie WE ARE MARSHALL i had no knowledge of this dreadful tragedy until watching this movie.

I went through so many emotions in this movie that took me by surprise the movie was great it really took you to the place and time of these events. I can only imagine the utter grief saddness loss disbelief this community would have felt but it is truely amazing the way these tragedies tend to bring a community together under such difficult circumstances you all should be so proud of yourselves for what you have had to endure it truely shows the strength and compassion of the human spirit. God bless you all xoxo

-Catherine

'Never forget'

I grew up near Huntington. I was 12 when the plane crashed. For years, the crash haunted the town, the school and the area. When I attended Marshall from 1976 to 1980, there was always a hushed reverence for those who died so young, so needlessly. Over the years, the Crash still reveberates in my mind. In fact, I still wonder why the pain never really fades away. I live hundreds of miles away from Huntington and when I visit every year, the campus still reminds me of that terrible, foggy, fateful Saturday night in November 1970. We must never forget where we've been so that we know where we can go. Go Herd!

-Anonymous

"I remember"

I am a native of the state of West Virginia. Although I have lived 20+ years of my life in an larger Eastern city. I was only 7 when the Marshall accident happened but, I remember that night well. I remember mainly the SADNESS my parents felt. I remember the look on their faces to this day. I remember the news reports and people talking about this horrible accident. I still remember those who passed each year on the date. God bless those we lost and the families and friends they left behind. May your memory NEVER be forgotten. For WE ARE.....MARSHALL!!!

-Anonymous

'We are all Marshall'

I saw “We are MARSHALL” last night it was a toss up between it and “Norbit” I had seen the trailers but being from Jamaica, living in Jamaica American Football is not that important. We are a nation of Football (Soccer), Track and Field and Cricket. I saw the movie mainly for the two Matthew’s but I came away with so, so much more.

I felt every pain and heartache every joy and triumph of this film in fact it is more than a film it’s a blueprint of overcoming adversity and carving out a successful future, this could have turned out so different had it not been for the people who were willing to fight, cry and stand up. In playing that first season they honoured those who loved the game and died still loving it. Marshall football had a future after the accident maybe it didn’t before. I know that if you love something you want it to live on, all the persons on that flight that night opened a door of togetherness of the fighting spirit in their loved ones and friends left behind to go on. and go on they did. I now feel like... we are all Marshall.

One love

Natalie Campbell,

Kingston, Jamaica W.I

Where is Frank Loria buried?

I live near Virginia Tech where Frank Loria is a hero. I was wondering if anyone could tel me where he is buried, the town and the cemetery? I would like to visit and pay my repects this summer. I saw the Marshall movie and it was very touching. I am now a Hokie/Thundering Herd Fan. You can email me at godrulz@valink.com

-thanks, Dylan

'Tradition and persistence'

I grew up outside Chapmanville W.Va on a farm, born in 1947 and I am a MU graduate of 1973 with a major in Physics.

In the summer of 1970 I went back to MU after getting out of the U.S. Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg and getting married to the young Mindi Ingram of Raleigh, N.C. I had previously attended MU before the Army, and being somewhat of a B-Ball Gym Rat I played basketball that summer in Gullickson Hall with some of the 1970 Football team members.

I remember Ted Shoebridge, the 1970 Football team QB as a nice guy. B-Ball can be pretty competitive but Ted was always good to everyone. We later attended the MU Branch at Logan because my mother was sick that fall and we lived at home.

After listening to the game that Saturday on a crackly radio, I remember going outside that night and noting that it was overcast, foggy and very still, telling my wife that something felt odd that night. We later learned that night of the plane crash.

I remember the memorial services and thinking of the players I had played basketball with and how hard that was for their families. It also made many of us realize our mortality and what a great gift that life was to all of us.

We later attended MU that Spring in Huntington and I remember playing b-ball at lunch with Red Dawson and some of the faculty members, one of the main characters in the movie. I remember watching the MU football players that spring running up and down the stairs in Gullickson Hall and I knew some of them from living off campus and playing b-ball.

I was tempted to play and Red brought it up a couple of times but never pushed. I was always impressed with Red and his friendliness. I remember how unassuming he was and his telling us of his football career at Florida State as a wide reciever, most likely the Bobby Bowden connection and why Red knew him.

There was always a sadness there though and it did not surprise many of us that he did not come back after the 71 season, but I was always impressed with the kind person he was, he never lost control in B-Ball, even though he was a competitor.

My wife remembers me talking about playing football but I passed on that, I graduated in less than 3 years after coming back and with a wife and a child one feels a responsibility to get a job.

I always went to the home games and I remember the Xavier game so well and what a "miracle" that seemed, Bill James and the James Gang (his family) and Reggie Oliver and his dogged determination, the team leader and Nate Ruffin. MU football in 1971 was more than football, it taught a lot of us what people, coaches and players could accomplish.

Although only winning 2 games that season MU football showed over the years how valuable persistence really is. If the school had not put a team on the field I really believe that a lot of us might not be the people we are today, at least in not having heros and realizing that tradition does affect our lives.

I am also a WVU grad with a major in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics or Mechanical Engineering. I was pleased to see the connection brought out in the movie between MU and WVU, I hope the fans of both schools realize the two universities are more friends than foe, it's always tough when they play each other, especially when you bleed Green and White and Blue and Gold.

When Mindi and I were married she remembers my nightmares of a plane crashing in the mountains of W. Va., dreams that I had ever since a kid. They stopped after the 1970 football team crash. I had reservations about seeing the movie but after going with my wife I remember all the good times at MU. I have seen it 4-5 times and I have not gotten tired of it. Yes, the film may be a bit hammy in places but it truly is inspirational, especially having known many of the people in it. Tradition and persistence. Those guys and coaches are still my heroes.

-Dr. Scott Lucas, Class of 73

'I would be proud for my kids to go to Marshall'

In 1970 I was only 7. I was and still am a big football being raised about 30 from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I remebering wondering just who the "Thundering Herd" was. Some years ago I remeber reading and article on the Plane Crash in Time magazine. I thought then this was such touching story of tragedy and overcoming adversity that I would have thought they would have made a movie about this. I am a big Crimson Tide fan but I would be proud for my kids to go to Marshll. God bless you all.

-Don - Atlanta GA

'God bless you, ma'am'

Mrs. Beiter, The AP story featuring you and your reaction to the "We Are Marshall" movie was featured in our Clarksburg, W.Va., Sunday paper yesterday.

Since your husband's face is the only one I personally can associate with the Marshall plane crash, I wanted to say hello and found this way to do just that.

My name is Drew Crislip, and the year your husband died I was a sophomore at Bridgeport High School, in the county where I now again live. Early that fall, all students were required to attend a college fair held one day at our school, and to select three colleges to "visit."

As a child of non-college parents who had never thought about going anywhere but WVU, I of course selected WVU and also Fairmont State, because it was close to home, and Marshall, because it was the 2nd largest school in W.Va.

Your husband was the M.U. representative that day. I don't recall much of what he said but I do remember, at least generally, what he looked like and that he was wearing a suit! My next memory is of seeing a small card posted on the bulletin board outside the school's main office in December, in memoriam to Dr. O'Connor.

After I graduated high school in 1973, I did go on to WVU, and earned a B.A. and then a law degree. While in high school, I became a Christian and started involvement that continues today with the W.Va. Baptist Camp at Cowen. Friends I met there, mostly from 5th Ave. Baptist Church, encouraged me to move to Huntington and I did and loved living and working there 1979-1991.

While there, I served for three years as an adjunct instructor at Marshall. Not surprisingly, I also met and became close with many people who were touched by the Marshall crash, although none as directly as you were. Still, the only face I personally could put on the tragedy was that of your husband, since his was the only one I had actually seen and had some memory of.

Since I left Huntington, I have lived in different places all in W.Va. and finally about 12 years ago returned to my home county, where I now serve as Family Court Judge. I keep close ties with my Huntington friends and even though I bleed blue and gold (WVU), was thrilled for them and our State when I heard about the planned "We Are Marshall" movie.

My wife and I had the chance to see it recently and it was as wonderful and moving as I hoped it would be. There is no way, of course, that I can understand what you went through that terrible night, or since. There is no way I can comprehend the range of emotions that the movie must have produced in you and your children.

Please know how terribly sorry I am for your ordeal but also how glad I am for you that you, like me, have come to know and find solace in the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I don't claim to have known your husband. Frankly, I probably wouldn't recall him at all, or what he looked like, if it weren't for that memory being reinforced and burned into my brain by the tragedy itself and by that "in memoriam" card on my high school's bulletin board. But, whenever I think of the tragedy, I think of him, and I wanted you to know.

God bless you, ma'am.

-M.D. CRISLIP

In memory of Stuart Cottrell

I knew Stuart very well. I lived on the 7TH floor of South Hall in 1970.

Stuart was a roommate of Rick Braudigan. I lived two doors down accross the hall from Stuart.

Stu ( Gator) had a great personality and to this day I can still see his smiling face. I have a few pictures of Stuart and of the other guys who lived on the 7Th floor. He is still 19 to me also. Always remember never forget.

-Charlie Gerry Woburn, Massachusetts
cgerry@comcast.net

'Let the healing continue'

Saw the movie finally this past weekend. Had to work up to it. I was a 13 year old Logan County resident at the time. Both my older brother and sister attended Marshall. I moved out west in the late 70s. I would mention the tragedy to people in conversation and they wouldn't know what I was talking about. This movie relays the devastating impact the tragedy had on the community. Let the healing continue...

-Tina C. Phx, AZ

'I will be following Marshall sports a lot closer'

My wife and I just watched this wonderful and haunting movie here in Salt Lake City. Needless to say, we did not sleep well last night. I knew of Marshall football, but little of the community. We are recommending this movie to all of our friends and family. Additionally, I will be following Marshall sports a lot closer with pride and excitement.

-Daveb

'It makes me consider my life'

We just returned from seeing this movie. We live in the southern US, and I'm 35 now, so before this movie came out, I had never heard of the tragedy. I experience feelings that I have never experienced in a movie theater before - grief for those who lost loved ones that horrible night, joy at the courage Nate showed in his commitment to uphold the honor of the team, and sadness for youth lost and dreams and hopes dashed. This movie and the story it tells will be with me forever. It makes me consider my life and the paths that each of us make for ourselves. It makes me want to continue to make my parents proud. It makes me want to live a good life for those who never had the chance to live theirs.

-Anonymous

'Sadness never goes away'

My husband and I saw the movie "We Are Marshall" this afternoon. This movie brought back painful memories that our community suffered almost 30 years ago when two of our local heroes, who were members of the University of Evansville Purple Aces were killed along with all their team members, coaches and other community members on a flight while enroute to a basketball game. This occurred on December 13, 1977 almost 7 years after the Marshall tragedy. The sadness never goes away and does affect a community forever. Time has passed and some of the pain has healed but this movie definitely depicted the feelings we who have lost those special to us will always feel. This movie will stay close to my heart for a long time. God bless all the families and friends of those lost in this tragedy.

-Anonymous