Marshall Honors 75 Crash Victims on 56th Anniversary

Marshall University marked the 56th anniversary of the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 members of its football team, staff and supporters with its annual Memorial Fountain ceremony. Keynote speaker Jeff Heath, who was 19 when he lost both parents and his godparents, recalled taking responsibility for his younger siblings and credited Huntington residents with helping his family through the tragedy. The ceremony honored each victim by reading their name and placing a white rose at the fountain. The anniversary also brought together members of the 1971 Young Thundering Herd, whose team helped restart Marshall football after the crash; the university commemorated the fallen with a memorial game against Appalachian State.