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1 Football Disasters

2 1903 Purdue Train Wreck • Two special trains operated by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (the "Big Four Railroad") were chartered to carry over 1,500 passengers from Lafayette to Indianapolis for the annual Indiana University / Purdue University rivalry football game • It was to be played for the first time at a "neutral" field at Washington Park in Indianapolis

3 1903 Purdue Train Wreck • Seventeen passengers in the first coach were killed when the lead special collided with a coal train after rounding a curve near 18th Street in Indianapolis • Thirteen of the dead were members of the Purdue football team ▫ A fourteenth player died of his injuries in November 1903

4 1903 Purdue Train Wreck • Due to a breakdown in communication, the crew of the coal train was never notified the specials were approaching • They backed their train onto the main line just before the lead special arrived

5 1903 Purdue Train Wreck • The engineer of the special was able to throw the engine into reverse, set the brake, and jump clear of his engine, but he was not able to prevent the collision • As survivors of the wreck, including Purdue University President Winthrop E. Stone, comforted the injured and dying, others ran back up the track to stop the next special 10 minutes behind, thereby preventing an even greater tragedy

6 1903 Purdue Train Wreck • One of the passengers was future Governor of Indiana Harry G. Leslie • While at Purdue, Leslie was captain of both the school's football and baseball teams and became one of the school's "immortal" players • As one of the school's star players, his team was on course to win the state championship in 1903

7 1903 Purdue Train Wreck • During the collision, one member of the team miraculously landed on his feet and was unharmed after being thrown out a window • The other eighteen boys, including Leslie, were pronounced dead at the scene and taken to the morgue

8 1903 Purdue Train Wreck • A few hours later at the morgue, as the morticians prepared to embalm his body, they discovered he still had a pulse and immediately rushed him to the hospital • Barely alive, he needed several operations and edged on death for several weeks

9 1903 Purdue Train Wreck • His recovery was slow, but he eventually regained his health, although he walked with the aid of a cane for the remainder of his life

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• He returned to school at the end of 1904 and after another year he graduated with a degree in law • His survival of the Purdue Wreck received significant attention across the state and he became a famous folk hero

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12 1960 Cal Poly Plane Crash • The Cal Poly football team plane crash occurred on October 29, 1960, at 22:02 EST, when a twin-engine C-46 propliner, operated as a domestic charter flight by Arctic Pacific, carrying the California Polytechnic State University football team, crashed on takeoff at the Toledo Express Airport in Toledo, Ohio

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14 1960 Cal Poly Plane Crash • The aircraft, a veteran of World War II, broke in two and caught fire on impact • Twenty-two of the forty-eight people on board were killed, including sixteen players, the team’s student manager and a Cal Poly football booster

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16 1960 Cal Poly Plane Crash • The pilot who made the decision to take off was flying on a license that had been revoked, but was allowed to fly pending an appeal • Following the crash, the Arctic-Pacific Company lost its certificate to charter airplanes

17 1960 Cal Poly Plane Crash • Among the survivors was quarterback Ted Tollner, who went on to become head football coach of the University of Southern California and San Diego State University • At the time of the crash, Bowling Green State had been the easternmost opposing school ever to play football against Cal Poly • The university canceled the final three games of the 1960 season •

18 1960 Cal Poly Plane Crash • Cal Poly alumnus and NFL Hall of Fame coach John Madden’s fear of flying is commonly attributed to the crash, although he has said it instead stems from claustrophobia • Madden, who played football for Cal Poly from 1957–58 and was coaching at the nearby Allan Hancock Junior College at the time of the crash, knew many passengers aboard the plane

19 1960 Cal Poly Plane Crash • As a result of the crash, Cal Poly did not play any road games outside California until 1969 (a 14-0 loss at the University of Montana-Missoula) • A bigger consequence was that Cal Poly did not play another road game east of the Rocky Mountains until 1978 (a 17-0 loss to Winston-Salem State University in the NCAA Division

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II playoffs) • They would not play another regular season game east of the Rockies until 1989 (a 45-20 loss to Angelo State University) •

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21 1970 Wichita State Plane Crash • On Friday October 2 1970, at 1:14 p.m., a Martin 4-0-4 aircraft flown by Golden Eagle Aviation crashed into a mountain eight miles west of Silver Plume, Colorado • The twin-engine propliner carried 36 passengers and a crew of four; 29 were killed at the scene and two later died of their injuries while under medical care

22 1970 Wichita State Plane Crash • It was one of a two-plane flight carrying the Wichita State University football team to Logan, Utah, for a game against Utah State University; the second aircraft flew a different route and arrived safely in Utah • Pilot errors, including poor in-flight decisions and inadequate pre-flight planning, were officially reported as leading to the crash

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27 1970 Wichita State Plane Crash • Upon arrival in Wichita, the two aircraft were loaded with luggage and the passengers were boarded • The planes took off and headed westward to a refueling stopover at Stapleton Airport in Denver; from there the planes would continue to Logan Airport, Utah

28 1970 Wichita State Plane Crash • The two aircraft were dubbed "Gold" and "Black", after the team colors • "Gold", the plane that would crash, carried the starting players, coaches and boosters, while "Black" transported the backup players and other support personnel

29 1970 Wichita State Plane Crash • The President of Golden Eagle Aviation, Ronald G. Skipper, was the pilot flying "Gold“ • He was acting in the capacity of a First Officer because he did not have a type rating on the Martin 4-0-4 • During the flight to Denver he visited with passengers in the cabin, advising them that after refueling they would take a scenic route, near the Loveland ski resort

30 1970 Wichita Plane Crash • The crew flying the other team aircraft, "Black", would adhere to the original flight plan and take a more northerly route towards Wyoming after departing Denver, using a designated airway

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• This planned route allowed more time to gain altitude for the climb over the Rocky Mountains

31 1970 Wichita State Plane Crash • The game was canceled, and the Utah State football team held a memorial service at the stadium where the game was to be played and placed a wreath on the 50-yard line • Wichita State University officials and family of the survivors were flown to Denver on a plane made available by the Governor of Kansas

32 1970 Wichita State Plane Crash • Classes were canceled for Monday, October 5, and a memorial service was held that evening at the university stadium • The remaining Wichita team, with the NCAA and Missouri Valley Conference allowing freshman players to fill out the squad, decided to continue the 1970 season; it was later designated the "Second Season”

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38 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • At 7:35 pm on November 14, 1970, the aircraft crashed into a hill just short of the Tri-State Airport, killing all 75 people on board • The plane was carrying 37 members of the Thundering Herd football team, eight members of the coaching staff, 25 boosters, four flight crew members and one employee of the charter company • The team was returning home after a 17–14 loss to the East Carolina Pirates at Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina

39 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • At the time, Marshall's athletic teams rarely traveled by plane, since most away games were within easy driving distance of the campus • The team originally planned to cancel the flight, but changed plans and chartered the Southern Airways DC-9

40 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • The crew established radio contact with air traffic controllers at 7:23 pm with the announcement that they were to descend to 5,000 feet • The controllers advised the crew that there was "rain, fog, smoke and a ragged ceiling" making landing more difficult but not impossible • At 7:34 pm, the airliner's crew reported passing Tri-State Airport's outer marker • The controller gave them clearance to land

41 1970 Marshall Plane Crash

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• The airliner was on final approach to Tri-State Airport when it collided with the tops of trees on a hillside 5,543 feet west of runway 12 • As a result of the impact, the plane burst into flames and created a swath of charred ground 95 feet wide and 279 feet long • According to the official NTSB report, the accident was "unsurvivable“

42 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • The aircraft "dipped to the right, almost inverted and had crashed into a hollow 'nose- first'“ • By the time the plane came to a stop, it was 4,219 feet short of the runway and 275 feet south of the middle marker • The fire was very intense, the fuselage being described as a "powder-like substance" by the NTSB • The remains of six individuals on the plane were never identified

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45 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • The impact of the crash on Huntington went far beyond the Marshall campus • Because it was the Herd's only chartered flight of the season, many boosters and prominent citizens were on the plane, including a city councilman, a state legislator and four physicians • Seventy children lost at least one parent in the crash, with 18 of them left orphaned

46 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • The crash of Flight 932 almost led to the discontinuation of the university's football program • Head coach was among the crash victims • Jack Lengyel was named to take Tolley's place on March 12, 1971 after Dick Bestwick, the first choice for the job, backed out just after one week and returned to Georgia Tech

47 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • Lengyel, who came from a coaching job at the , was hired by recently- hired athletic director Joe McMullen • Lengyel played for McMullen at the in the 1950s

48 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • Jack Lengyel, Marshall University students, and Thundering Herd football fans convinced acting Marshall President Dr. Donald N. Dedmon to reconsider in late 1970 • In the weeks afterward, Lengyel was aided in his attempts by receivers coach Red Dawson

49 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • Dawson was a coach from the previous staff who had driven back from the East Carolina game along with Gail Parker, a Freshman coach • Parker was the only person who flew to the game, but didn't fly back • Dawson and Parker were buying boiled peanuts at a country store in rural Virginia when

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they heard the news over the radio

50 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • Before the trip, the two had been scheduled to go on a scouting mission to Ferrum College after the ECU vs. Marshall game • After the crash, Red Dawson helped bring together a group of players who were on the junior varsity football team during the 1970 season, as well as students and athletes from other sports, to form a 1971 football team

51 1970 Marshall Plane Crash • Many of these players had never played football before, and the team only won two games during the 1971 season, against Xavier and Bowling Green • Jack Lengyel led the Thundering Herd to a 9–33 record during his tenure, which ended after the 1974 season

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