Forty-three days after the Wichita State plane crash, the Marshall University football team plane crashed, returning from a game at East Carolina. How much practice time did he get?" [18] A trail to the wreck site via Dry Gulch is 0.4 miles past the memorial off exit 216. Oklahoma County, Each year on Oct. 2 at 9 a.m., a wreath is placed at this memorial. Likewise, the valley was too narrow to reverse direction, as Skipper had first attempted. their teammates and friends. able to say, genuinely, that I was a fan of that program and I went to a lot of their By the time Duren graduated, he was a superstar, Featherstone said. I wish it had been a cathartic process for those guys, but I always felt their pain. to the media, always with the goal of honoring their teammates. Explore the most popular trails in my list plane crash trails with hand-curated trail maps and driving directions as well as detailed reviews and photos from hikers, campers and nature lovers like you. I think it helped that I was Illinois, who served as dean of students at the time of the crash, complimented Knapp on a story Piatt Plane Crash Memorial - Wichita, Kansas. USA, Plot info: Addition 1, Block 27, Lot 9, Space 5. Rick Stephens, then a 22-year old offensive guard, had gone forward in the plane to ask the pilots They had known Diane since her freshman year, and now, one professor after another told her, kindly, "No, that doesn't sound like your best decision." Stephens could see the topographical maps spread out, Crocker and Skipper "looking over things that you would expect them to have been familiar with before they ever took off," he says. All of the traveling I did at Wichita State it is never really far Because he had flash burns on his I didnt know whether it was in the top or what, but I think I climbed out of the plane. Several of his teammates also crawled out through the hole blasted in the side of the airplane. When the aircrafts stopped for fueling in Denver, the players stretched their legs on the tarmac. Stephens says he heard Crocker ask Skipper how high the mountain ahead of them was. He wrote more about the crash + Caption. down when we started hitting the trees. some of the first people in Wichita to know about it. The Gold Plane's first officer, Ronald Skipper, had a different idea. The Associated Press. McPherson County, There was such a sense of shock and disbelief, he said. Yet within the week, freshman recruits who'd stayed behind in Kansas, second-stringers who'd landed safely in Utah on the Black Plane, even a few on the mountainside who had somehow escaped with their lives, had voted to continue on with Wichita State's football season. Even today, kind of makes the hair stand up on my back.". The WSU tragedy prompted a thorough government investigation of FAA regulations for charter flights. one of the survivors. Mal Kimmel wouldn't see any of that. He heard people moaning from inside the plane, but it Photo by Travis Heying via Paul Harrison Please reset your password. Bethel. LOVELAND, Colo. It's been 50 years since a plane crashed near Loveland Pass claiming 31 lives of the 40 Wichita State University (WSU) football team . So instead of quitting school, Diane had Valory and returned to WSU, with one of her sisters helping her out with the baby. Wichita State University is experiencing some system outages, affecting our streaming services, e-mail and internet. By late afternoon, nineteen bodies had been taken to a temporary morgue in Idaho Springs for identification. wrote and reported The Pieces That Remain: Remembering the Wichita State Plane Crash in 2016 for KMUW. Survivors "We stopped at McDonald's for our Christmas Eve dinner -- we joke about this -- and they forgot our sauce!". I asked Glenn, you think it works? documentary, he knew not much more than the basics about the crash. Marshall County, Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. Nineteen-year-old Valory was describing her undergraduate studies at Missouri State to vice president of student affairs James J. Rhatigan when he floored her with an unexpected offer: Would she like to attend nursing school at WSU, all expenses paid? She wasn't done. One of the planes proceeded to Utah via southern Wyoming, avoiding Colorados high mountain wall. the school eight years earlier. As a sports reporter at the Eagle, Knapp wrote a 2000 story comparing and contrasting He recalls his teammates admiring the construction activity near the Eisenhower The crash killed 31 passengers, including 14 players. Highway memorial, Wichita State football team, Remembering the 1970 Wichita State Football Plane Crash, Forgotten Tragedy: Survivors Quest to Keep Memories of 1970 Wichita State Crash from Fading, GeorgetownSilver Plume Historic District. And there was another reason. All four of these guys were great young men, Featherstone said. With the Continental Divide up ahead, the camps' metal equipment was so visible that Stephens began to wonder. It was dark and somewhat Everyone Rick Stephens and Dave Lewis spoke about their ordeal and grief with the same intentions. There are several memorial objects, including a tombstone with the Wichita State football helmet and a few faded flags with the names of the victims. Diane Thomas Kimmel had known Mal since junior high, dated him all through high school in Ste. Grading big trades during the NFL draft: Who won the D'Andre Swift deal? They were bound for Logan, Utah, to play the Utah State University Aggies the following day. Arkansas, It was spring 1967, the era of the Vietnam War and the draft, and there weren't a lot of kids from Ste. Valory would also hear about Diane's senior year in high school, the day she was riding in the homecoming parade through Ste. But after Consequently, lawsuits were filed against WSU and its intercollegiate athletics association. But of course, nobody planned on COVID.. State and went to Marshall University (in West Virginia) as part of the Kansas State based on information from your browser. The NTSB determined the cause of the crash to be Crocker and Skippers insufficient and improper flight planning, as well as their lack of understanding of the aircrafts abilities. He was a defensive end from Duncan and had NFL aspirations. That was stripped away.. Eventually, a movie was made. Maybe Valory really did have a guardian angel. "I honor their memory every day," Lewis said. Hoheisel couldn't see because of the smoke, but was able to get out through a hole working for 17 years at The Wichita Eagle. 200 | Wichita, KS 67202 | (316) 978-6789. Oklahoma, Paul and Kelly Harrison help plane crash survivor Rick Stephens hike up the steep Rocky Mountain grade to the site of the Wichita State University football team plane crash Stephens survived 50 years ago. "Sometimes we would tell him what we did that day," Diane remembers. Miners building the tunnel had seen the crash and were headed up to help. Others, such as former KPTS production manager Gabe Juhnke reporter for KMUW. Weve updated the security on the site. "So my whole family got tested." They are still greatly missed to this day, Featherstone said. The stories depended on those memories and a willingness, Army helicopters landed on the highway below the crash site, waiting to transport other survivors. Doctors at Johns Hopkins in Maryland implanted a battery-powered device in her chest to regulate her heartbeat. Some of them had their clothes burned off and were hurt and were just running like deer. The plane had sheared a swath through the trees 50 yards wide and 100 yards long, some 300 yards north of the interstate. The audience will be seated on the west side of the stadium. Minutes after the crash, with a compound fracture of his leg, he regained consciousness outside the burned airplane, roused by a rescuer who'd been working on the Eisenhower Tunnel less than 2 miles away. Guys we lost who didnt get to live their lives. Skipper was also president of Golden Eagle Aviation, and during the layover in Denver, he had decided to entertain his passengers -- boosters and college administrators, along with the starters, team trainers and the head coach -- by providing an in-flight tour of the Rockies and the Continental Divide; they'd be taking the "scenic route," he said. included a trip to the crash site, helped him understand the crash and its aftermath. Meet the NFL draft darling playing only once this fall, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. get choked up at moments and he held back tears.. "And they were they were frantic.". The inspection revealed sixteen distinct mechanical failures, including oil leaks in both engines, hydraulic fluid leaks, and an arcing battery cable. The tragedy remained fresh among people on campus and the annual ", Valory grew up strong, confident -- and, she says, fascinated by "everything, everything" about the man whose shirts her mother sometimes wore and whose photograph was in the living room. Even more than the grief and sadness and loss, what Diane felt most of all was fear: "What happens next? Genevieve, when he said he needed to show her where he wanted to be buried -- in the shade of some pines that dotted an open field. Just like Mal Kimmel, Jack Vetter was 21 years old. She also asked a question. Illinois, Sedgwick County, head coach at 38 after the crash, for a rare look into the memories of Seaman and his family. We started dividing up assignments. Genevieve. At first, recalls Valory, "she was like, 'Maybe I'm just not in shape like I thought I was.' The last thing John Hoheisel remembers before the crash is looking out the window and watching the plane's wing He was excited: The coaches had told Mal that after two seasons as the team's long snapper, he'd be starting at center on Saturday. Lewis leg was so badly damaged, his foot was hanging sideways. "I went into the cockpit area," Stephens says. Fifty years since one of the planes took the traditional route from Denver after a fuel stop, and the other plane took a scenic route. As he boarded the Gold Plane for the first time with the rest of the starting 22, Mal had a secret: His wife, Diane, was pregnant with the couple's first child. Then, just a few seconds later, it Bethel. A roadside memorial plaque listing the names of the victims is located near the Colorado crash site, adjacent to westbound Interstate 70. The Wichita State University (WSU) community gathered Saturday to remember victims of a 1970 plane crash that killed 31 people, including WSU football players and staff members. She wanted to more about the events and how they affected her . phone interviews with Plopa and Yeros, led to an interview with Stephens for WSU TV in 2018. (1995, October 3). After they married in the summer of 1970, when their dog, Joe Black, ate the wedding cake moments before the reception, at last "he could move out of the dorm and we could live together," she says. Eight players and the co-pilot survived. When everyone in her life was twisted with grief, they looked at this 20-year-old widow and saw a future for her. She looked north, down to the street below and there he was. The thirty-one victims of the Wichita State University plane crash in October 1970 are commemorated in this memorial near the Eisenhower Tunnel along Interstate 70. Maybe he's just stunned and they haven't found him yet, she thought. The search for corpses in the wreckage continued until midnight, then renewed on Sunday morning. Stephens County, Emily was heartbroken. Hell gaze in the direction of I-70, which stretches west through 420 miles of Kansas, then to Denver. USA, Duncan, Black & Gold: Remembering The WSU Plane Crash video by KPTS.The following victims of the plane crash are not included in this Virtual Cemetery as their burial locations are unknown.Judy Lane, flight attendantMallory Kimmel, WSU football playerBen and Helen Wilson, WSU head coach and his wife, Solomon, remember what happened.. 1 (1998). 2023 www.oklahoman.com. Someone would always ask about the crash, he said. family. Haertl, as part of television duties for Wichita State basketball, took many road remembers staff members taking several calls from Ohio, home of several Shocker coaches Christian sat two rows ahead of Lewis. But there was a group of people who didn't agree: those in the psychology department. Pilot Danny Crocker and copilot Ronald Skipper did not file a flight plan. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Having Rick back in that spot The Wichita Eagle, pp. Her buzzer-beater off the glass drove the crowd into a frenzy. USA, Derby, Somehow, The two Martin 404s flying the Shockers to Utah left Wichita at 9:08 a.m.; the planes landed in Denver to refuel a little after 11, and around 12:30 p.m., each took off, engines emitting the throaty roar that had made the 404 popular with pilots in its aviation heyday. his way of sharing his testimony about the people he cared so much about. They noticed a phone. he ended up about 40 yards away from the aircraft. Featherstone spent 34 years in law enforcement but still breaks down when talking about his friends who never made it to Logan. what the university has gone through. Stadium and remembers answering questions about football. Lutz, a Wichita State graduate in general studies, worked at The Wichita Eagle from A memorial at 18th and Hillside, near the entrance of Wichita State University, honors those who died and survived a plane crash carrying the team WSU football team, management, donors and the . Just like her dad, Valory was being offered a scholarship by Wichita State. Her team wore the letter "E" for Emily on their jerseys. you never met.. We had friends we were losing in Vietnam, but nobody expected a bunch of guys to go play a Saturday afternoon football game not arriving.. And how Diane saw something she didn't expect: Mal, right there on the street corner, home from college to surprise her and to be her date for the homecoming dance. Pat Suellentrop, Remembering the 1970 Wichita State Football Plane Crash, The Wichita Eagle, October 1, 2015. A cardiac MRI showed that the right ventricle of Emily's heart had near-catastrophic scarring. nothing about it, Batman said. On May 3, 1968, Braniff Flight 352 crashed in the town of Dawson, about 80 miles southeast of Fort Worth. Because just six weeks later, a Southern Airways DC-9 carrying Marshall University's football team never made it to the runway during its final descent, killing all 75 passengers and crew on board and forming the basis for the 2006 feature film "We Are Marshall," starring Matthew McConaughey. The Pieces That Remain: Remembering the Wichita State Plane Crash, Randy Kiesau and his parents memories of their son, to interview the family of crash victim Mal Kimmel. All of these people were changed forever, but we have stayed very close all these years.. You want them to feel comfortable, you want them to feel respected, she said. The Marshall crash seemed to overshadow the Wichita State crash. The two would marry, move to Nixa, Missouri, and have four children. "I'm not sure my parents looked at me in the same way after watching me passed out like that. "Black and Gold Remembering the WSU Plane Crash", the tragedies at Wichita State and Marshall. Early reporting varied between all surviving and none surviving. We always thought the 50th would be the biggest reunion, Featherstone said. Lewis seat belt was off. A system error has occurred. Tunnel workers clambered up the hill and met Bruce, who told them to head to the crash site while he went for help. somber site with many memorials to the victims . It kind of made me feel like I was part of the family When Featherstone left John Marshall, Duren was a runt on the B team. After freeing With Rick, we Its been 50 years since the Shockers flew out for Logan, Utah, and a game against Utah State. Oklahoma, Tunnel before the plane made a rapid plunge. In mid-December, while shooting around at the gym, Emily fainted and spent a night in the ICU. Just before the crash, the FAA had adopted stricter rules for air taxi firms, mandating improved maintenance, training, and aircraft safety-check standards. of trees had fallen in. Some of the survivors started down the mountain, seeking help. After all the casualties were tallied in 1970, more than a dozen had lost a parent in the crash. And beyond. Players on both teams moved out of the way. USA, Ashdown, The sense of loss never really changed from within them. He was a chick magnet. "She had his hair. We really focused on the moments he knew the plane was going to crash, waking up and By junior year, Emily was on her way: all-everything in her region, with a college scholarship to a Division II school in Kansas City.
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