They He recalls his teammates admiring the construction activity near the Eisenhower Wichita State University held a memorial service at Cessna Stadium on Friday honoring both the victims and survivors of a plane crash 50 years ago. Why? Oklahoma, The players helped each other stumble away from the wreckage, then collapsed some twenty feet away. of questions, while being ready to take the conversation in other directions. The Years drive a wedge between survivors linked She'd come through another long procedure at Johns Hopkins in time for an emotional senior night, when Emily would be on the court again. A memorial stands on the campus, and enhancements will be unveiled Friday. The crash killed 31 passengers, including 14 players. I think it helped that I was 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. 14 players, 17 others. "She had his hair. Emily's siblings called 911. The Wichita Eagle, pp A10, A12. 2 min read. And I understood, it was the same in Crash victims Players Marvin Brown, 19, Solomon, sophomore tailback Don Christian, 20, Duncan, Okla., junior defensive back John Duren, 19, Oklahoma. "Black and Gold Remembering the WSU Plane Crash", the tragedies at Wichita State and Marshall. 'Can we play just one game?' At 1:14 pm, highway workers saw the plane dip and strike the side of Mt. We really focused on the moments he knew the plane was going to crash, waking up and Others tried to rescue those trapped in the front part of the cabin, some of whom were screaming for help. Valory opened the door of the condo just as Emily lost consciousness. He walked from the former KMUW building on 17th Street to Morrison Hall. The fire deterred those looking to return for people still trapped in the plane. Kansas, Renner's leg was pinned beneath the that perished, said Bruce Haertl, a former sports anchor at KWCH-TV in Wichita. The search for corpses in the wreckage continued until midnight, then renewed on Sunday morning. I recall. It led to one of the more unlikely games in college football history. to realization that we had stopped, there was a kind of surrealness about the situation. After all the casualties were tallied in 1970, more than a dozen had lost a parent in the crash. "I went into the cockpit area," Stephens says. His family owned a bar in town called Palomino; maybe he could work there? Charles O. Miller, director of the Bureau of Aviation Safety, arrived at the scene Saturday, along with FAA representatives. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. They sent me over to the administration building to Likewise, the valley was too narrow to reverse direction, as Skipper had first attempted. . One plane crashed near Silver Plume, Colorado. Mike (Bruce) and Dave Lewis and Johnny (Taylor) were already there, and Mike started The scenery stopped in the canyon of Mount Trelease, above where the Eisenhower Tunnel was being constructed around I-70, 60 miles west of Denver. In Springfield, Missouri, she was set to undergo a battery of tests, but after her EKG, doctors there wouldn't even let her get on the treadmill. Sumner County, than any other media member, and personal connections ledhis story-telling. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Somehow, Stephens County, 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. to play baseball. A roadside memorial plaque listing the names of the victims is located near the Colorado crash site, adjacent to westbound Interstate 70, at Dry Gulch at milepost 217 ( 39.6965N 105.8736W ), about two miles (3 km) east of the Eisenhower Tunnel. As it turned out, the Oct. 2, 1970 plane crash killed 31 people 14 players, 14 staff, On May 3, 1968, Braniff Flight 352 crashed in the town of Dawson, about 80 miles southeast of Fort Worth. And he'd slip up every now and then," she recalls, "and say something very touching. Others, such as former KPTS production manager Gabe Juhnke the school eight years earlier. Pat Suellentrop, Remembering the 1970 Wichita State Football Plane Crash, The Wichita Eagle, October 1, 2015. After freeing Featherstone was on the plane that didnt crash. By Paul Suellentrop, Strategic Communications. He went to Evansville, Indiana, several times with Wichita Many "I felt the wings clipping the trees," Stephens says, and the aircraft began to vibrate, like "a boat slapping water.". Rick Stephens, sitting toward the front, was ejected. Emily had inherited it from her grandfather. Though she'd never shown any symptoms, Valory had the gene. "Hes been a part of our family," said John Yeros, a former Wichita State player who was on the plane that landed safely. hitting the trees. Black & Gold: Remembering The WSU Plane Crash. 1 NFL draft picks were like as college football recruits: Only how many five-stars?! 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. He was a defensive end from Duncan and had NFL aspirations. While working at a hospital there, she met a young surgeon named Chris Edwards. So Lewis called his mother at work back in Duncan. Others, such as former KPTS production manager Gabe Juhnke and recent Wichita State graduate Kaisha Batman, learned about the crash and its impact through their work. It became a rallying cry. APRIL 30 NEW KICKER PLAN The Cowboys had their eyes on kickers in this NFL Draft, maybe especially Jake Moody, the All-American from Michigan (naturally, given what Dallas did with its first two . The "Gold" plane, a Martin 404, carried 36 passengers and a crew of four. And when her father searched for a pulse, he couldn't find one. family. Could have been on Rusty Featherstones list. Phone calls started coming in to KMUW, many from other campus radio stations. 44 years after the October 2, 1970 crash, gnarled aluminum and crumpled metal gears are eerily unrusted. For the football team, the human toll was monumental. Sedgwick County, She raised money for Johns Hopkins and did interviews to promote awareness of ARVC in young athletes. Then suddenly at 9:34 a.m., terror rained from the sky. Dave Lewis dug up a small pine tree and replanted it in his Overland Park yard. I jumped off the top of the plane to the ground. All of the traveling I did at Wichita State it is never really far their teammates and friends. The two would marry, move to Nixa, Missouri, and have four children. The university on Friday unveiledtwo additions to the structure: one that lists the eight players who survived the crash, the other with the names of the 35 passengers on the second flight that landed safely. I stayed where I was, Featherstone said. First one breath nothing. But Featherstone was winning a hot and heavy game of spades; he wanted to see it through. Oconee Co plane crash victims identified. The great memories and friendships you develop with your teammates. Press, Kennedy recalls, embargoed the story until reporters learned more details. Even as the players in Wichita reviewed their scouting reports on the Razorbacks, the National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the crash was being held within walking distance of Cessna Stadium. I decided I better head back to my seat and when I turned around, I fell He loved his horse, Star. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. Our experts answer 6 portal questions, College football reporters' NFL draft takeaways, Badgers' Allen facing concealed weapon charge, USF RB facing charge for felony domestic battery, Deion 'ashamed' after only 1 HBCU player drafted, Spartans QB Thorne, WR Coleman enter portal, Philly Dawgs: Eagles add Ringo to UGA draft haul, Biden salutes Air Force for fall success over rivals, New Big Ten boss Petitti ready to lead 'new era', College football Future Power Rankings: Defenses, Ranking college football's 10 best running backs for 2023. It was such a humbling and heart-felt experience. His work, which his way of sharing his testimony about the people he cared so much about. Potter, T. (1995, October 3). The final score would be 62-0, but the game's defining moment would come during the coin toss: "When I looked across the field," Dicus says, "I seemed to focus in on one player that was not suited up but was on crutches." down when we started hitting the trees. Ronald Skipper were the only two survivors in the front of the plane. It was spring 1967, the era of the Vietnam War and the draft, and there weren't a lot of kids from Ste. football broadcast. arms, he thinks he was burned aboard the plane upon impact and that he probably crawled Army helicopters landed on the highway below the crash site, waiting to transport other survivors. She said yes. his 2005 interview with Lutz. FOX31's . and all we could think ", 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. 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 . "I wanted her to know what a wonderful person he was. Stories appear on Outside the Lines and E:60, as well as College GameDay and SportsCenter. Maybe Valory really did have a guardian angel. He started throwing up blood. Meet the NFL draft darling playing only once this fall, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Some of the greatest young men/athletes that ever came out of our state, Featherstone said. Lutz, a Wichita State graduate in general studies, worked at The Wichita Eagle from We wanted to do a story that was anything that was different from what we had read He felt humbled by the work and the expressions of pain and sadness he was thrown forward with the impact of the crash. Wichita State football is gone. reviewed Wichita State Plane Wreck. Bob Renner, her uncle, is you never met.. "She had the 'it' factor," says Jennifer Perryman, coach of the high school varsity team at Nixa. Emily was heartbroken. A cardiac MRI showed that the right ventricle of Emily's heart had near-catastrophic scarring. Each year on Oct. 2 at 9 a.m., a wreath is placed at this memorial. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. returned to help as many as they could. Being part of a "That is unheard of: No one that I am aware of has ever done something like that. It was melancholy, but also uplifting ", But Mal Kimmel would never get to tell anyone that he was going to be a father. of talking to a lot of them was really inspiring.. of the crash were players Mike Bruce, John Hoheisel, Randy Jackson, Glenn Kostal, Of the 40. I trust you.' Maybe that's why so many haven't heard about what happened to the Wichita State University Gold Plane, which crashed into Mount Trelease 10,750 feet above sea level and burned, claiming the lives of 31 of its 40 passengers and crew. Lewis was sitting in the back of the plane, having migrated there in hopes he might entice a flight attendant to sit by him. Knapp, a 1993 Wichita State graduate who majored in communication, remembers fondly what the university has gone through. 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. the wire in the KMUW radio newsroom on that October day in 1970. Cook County, "There was not a dry eye in the gym," Diane says. One of her sisters had it and had to stop playing competitive tennis. I do feel like its something that needs I saw him in her, and so did her family." "They gave me such good guidance," Diane would say. The Georgetown and Idaho Springs volunteer fire departments worked to control the fire. Lewis and teammate Glenn Kostal were placed in a miners shack so they could lay down. Two planes carried the team, but which crashed? He had waited for her to reach the top of the stairs. But Crocker seized the controls and began a left turn. Some of them, such as Kennedy and former Wichita Eagle columnist Bob Lutz, lived through the crash and its aftermath. To get plenty of manpower to Utah, WSU chartered two planes and crews from Oklahoma City-based Golden Eagle Aviation Company, with each plane holding some forty people. included a trip to the crash site, helped him understand the crash and its aftermath. Almost every day, Dave Lewis walks out onto his back deck, gingerly, because his left leg remains a medical textbook, after six surgeries and four total knee replacements. It was dark and somewhat Search above to list available cemeteries. Deleting this Virtual Cemetery cannot be undone. Months later, Valory's first spoken word would become a treasured part of Kimmel family lore: "Dada. Mike Kennedy remembers when the paper bearing the Associated Press bulletin came over at Wichita State in October, no matter where you are. Tom Shedden, offensive tackle, Putnam City High School. Survivors such as UPON HER BIRTH in February 1971, the sweet secret of the Wichita lineman was named Valory. A memorial on campus lists the names of those killed in the crash. Guys we lost who didnt get to live their lives. The annual ceremony of remembrance for those who died in the 1970 Wichita State University plane crash will be held at 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 2, at Cessna Stadium. "And they were they were frantic.". Kansas, Maybe he's hurt and they gotta keep looking. A dazed Hoheisel and a few of his teammates were met on the Wichita Eagle photographer Travis Heying in August visited the Colorado site where a plane that carried members of the Wichita State football team crashed on Oct. 2, 1970. Running back Randy Jackson would tell Stephens that in the maelstrom, he had spotted Jack Vetter, the blond offensive lineman whom Stephens had climbed over to get to the flight deck: "Randy said he tried to pull him out," Stephens recalls. He was a chick magnet. documentary, he knew not much more than the basics about the crash. Featherstone spent 34 years in law enforcement but still breaks down when talking about his friends who never made it to Logan. for KMUW, including a 2014 hike to the crash site with Stephens, Yeros, her mother and football players. Valory, who preferred cheerleading to competitive athletics, always wanted to know what Mal had been like: "Depending on what was happening in my life, it would kind of prompt a question, like, 'Did he play sports?'". to, but you also have to be very respectful of what hes feeling.. Rick Stephens and Dave Lewis spoke about their ordeal and grief with the same intentions. All of these people were changed forever, but we have stayed very close all these years.. Once I came 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. ", Moments later, Stephens was facing the back of the cabin, trying to return to his seat, when the plane banked sharply to the right and then to the left. "I was honestly kind of surprised she went," Perryman said, "but I get it.". Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. Mike Bruce, the offensive tackle for Wichita State University, was the least injured of the Lewis leg was so badly damaged, his foot was hanging sideways. There were rays of light coming in through the cuts in the fuselage. Illinois, Adapted from Ariana Harner, Scenic Route Through the Rockies: The Wichita State University Tragedy, Colorado Heritage Magazine 18, no. The audience will be seated on the west side of the stadium. You 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. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. what he remembered. Eight players and the co-pilot survived. When the plane entered the canyon, and the Rocky Mountains suddenly loomed near, and the pilot started banking, desperately trying to buy time, Christian looked back at Lewis. It was the Wichita lineman's last secret. After the plane crash, when so much about her life was in turmoil, everyone seemed certain what Diane should do. PublishedOctober 2, 2020 at 12:33 PM CDT, Korva Coleman Diversity in Journalism Internship, Addition To Wichita State Memorial Honors Survivors Of 1970 Plane Crash, KMUW 89.1 FM | 121 N. Mead, Ste. "It is a haunting experience to go up there," Stephens says. next day at Utah State. debris. Oklahoma, But after Her eyes are very much his," Diane says. Living A Miracle. Renner, a 21-year old quarterback, Grading big trades during the NFL draft: Who won the D'Andre Swift deal? few weeks later. Knapp, as a student, gave tours for the admissions department. Teammates such as John Yeros, Ed Plopa and John Potts took lead roles in speaking We started dividing up assignments. So she would try harder." Perryman had first spotted Emily's skills when she was in fifth grade; by ninth grade, Emily was the varsity starting point guard and Perryman was calling a last-second play for the 14-year-old to win the game against Branson. remember what happened.. The planes sudden bank to the left, and then immediately to the right, decreased its velocity to the point of a stall. "We had a fast break, and she was behind, like at half court," Perryman remembers. So it was a little disconcerting when she began to experience shortness of breath and fatigue on the court. Crash On Friday, October 2, 1970, a pair of Martin 404 twin-engine aircraft took off from Wichita, Kansas, carrying the Wichita State University (WSU) football team, coaches, and VIP supporters. . When he interviewed teammates, such as Yeros, he drew inspiration from their devotion 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. Wichita State players remember their 'second season' 50 years later (8:03) Wichita State was devastated by a tragic plane crash 50 years ago. And Featherstone specifically wants Oklahomans to remember four of the 31: Four Oklahomans among the 31 aboard an airplane that entered a Colorado canyon and never came out. Ahead stood the Continental Divide, nearly 13,000 feet above sea level. One of them, Emily Edwards, would have the same gap in her front teeth that Mal did. He writes about applied learning and covers On Friday, October 2, 1970, a pair of Martin 404 twin-engine aircraft took off from Wichita, Kansas, carrying the Wichita State University (WSU) football team, coaches, and VIP supporters. "Our lives were so intertwined. Because Wichita State ended its football program in 1986. USA, Hesston, Twenty-three others would follow shortly, most directed against Golden Eagle Aviation and the Jack Richards Aircraft Company. Because it took place 50 years ago. himself, Renner tried to free Randy Kiesau, Don Christian, and Jack Vetter. Some are in poor health. Mike Bruce John Hoheisel Randy Jackson Glenn Kostal David Lewis Keith Morrison Bob Renner Lewis was on the gold plane. Diane and Valory returned to Wichita State in 1990, 20 years after the crash, for a commemoration on campus. "I guess it is comforting if he really was asleep, but ". You walk in on eggshells, that I want to tell your story, and I want you to feel financial reasons and low attendance. It has changed me in subtle ways, he said. seen flickers of smoke and fire. As we walked down the hill, a fireball swept through the plane and The project workers were the first on the scene, discovering the remains of the Wichita State football team's plane, which had crashed into the mountain and melded into the dirt. "There were no announcements that we were in trouble that The plane followed the new Interstate 70, where a construction crew worked below on the Straight Creek (Eisenhower) Tunnel. ", What struck Valory was how her mother "knew him for so long -- even when he was young. touch me so much as that did. John, we thank you.". he ended up about 40 yards away from the aircraft. To most questions, he replied I dont recall. Eventually, it was determined that the plane was carrying more weight than it could handle and that the engines lacked sufficient power for a quick gain of altitude. years and I didnt want that to be lost, for the Wichita State community.. Tunnel before the plane made a rapid plunge. She wanted to more about the events and how they affected her for a rare look into the memories of Seaman and his family. '70 at 9 a.m. each Oct. 2. State and went to Marshall University (in West Virginia) as part of the Kansas State Traveling in . On Oct. 2, 1970, Wichita State sent its football team in two planes to a game at Utah State. The NTSB aviation accident database contains information from 1962 and later about civil aviation accidents and selected incidents within the United States, its territories and possessions, and in international waters. clip off the tops of trees. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. Valory, daughter of someone who had done just that, went into Emily's room to lie down beside her and reassure her. The story that we told was really a story of resilience.. I dont want em to be forgotten.. The slow speed resulted in eleven passengers surviving the crash, but twenty-nine died on impact and another two succumbed to wounds afterward. They hadn't even told their parents yet. USA, Henry, Featherstone grew up with Duren. She would finally retire as a professor in the MSU Education Department after the pandemic-altered spring semester in 2020, to the house in Nixa she shares with her husband, just across a horse pasture from Valory and her family. It was it was really touching.". With Rick, we The blazes finally died out several hours later.
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