Posted on 11/10/2006 7:15:21 PM PST by RedCell
KENOVA, W.Va. -- A charter plane carrying the Marshall University football team to a game against East Carolina was evacuated Friday after smoke was reported in an engine, emergency officials said.
No injuries were reported among the 200 people aboard, but the timing was eerie.
Almost 36 years ago, on Nov. 14, 1970, a plane carrying the Marshall football team home from a game against East Carolina crashed, killing 75 people, including most of the team. A movie about the rebuilding of Marshall's football program after that crash is scheduled to open nationwide on Dec. 22.
Marshall's sports information director at the time, Gene Morehouse, died in that crash.
On Friday, his son Keith Morehouse was aboard the plane headed for the game in Greenville, N.C.
Morehouse, now sports director of WSAZ-TV in Huntington, and the other passengers calmly left the plane Friday and walked into the terminal. The team's departure was delayed for more than an hour.
"I don't think it's as big a deal as some people are trying to make," Morehouse said.
Marshall's current sports information director, Randy Burnside, said it was a mechanical problem with the plane.
"It was a minor thing," Burnside said. "They should have this fixed. Everybody's fine."
A spokeswoman with the Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately return a telephone message.
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press
Me too. I can't wait to see the movie.
The coincidences are above the norm in this story. Is the airport haunted by any chance? ;) Hey, I'm just askin'.
I think the plane crash was before my time, at least as a college football fan. Was Marshall Division I at the time?
They were Division II when they came back (maybe even lower?), then moved up to I-AA, and now they're nominally Division I in the MAC.
"The coincidences are above the norm in this story."
And here's another sad one. Hubby read me this story from another source and it said that Morehouse's wife lost both her parents in that same plane crash. He was only 9 years old, she must have been a little kid too.
Extremely creepy with the movie coming out. We just saw an ad for it the other day.
Glad everyone was OK.
Me too. They used the building I lived in as one of the movie locations. It sucked having the street shut down for most of a week and having to argue with security guards to let me in and out of my apartment, but guess it will be cool to see my building on the big screen.
Marshall is C-USA now, Division I.
While they were filming in Huntington, they bought some things from our antique mall to use in the film - 70's stuff - vintage clothes, lamps, etc. I'll be looking for that stuff in the movie too.
I living in some loft apartments in downtown Atlanta when they filmed. It was kind of cool (at first) when they closed down the street and parked a bunch vintage cars all over the place, and seeing all the extras walking around in early 70's garb. Before the film crews came in, they converted the empty storefront on the ground floor into a diner. I was so disappointed when I found out it wasn't a real diner, but a film set. Having a diner in the building would have been very convenient...
Yeah, it was facinating to get a behind the scenes look at movie making. Every little detail is planned.
oops...will have to look at the standings more often....Temple's joining MAC though, eh?
The Mothman strikes again.
So how long was the time warp before the call got through? Thirty-six years?
Marshall wasn't Div II after the crash they spent a few years in the Southern Conference I-AA before moving back to Div I-A in 97. They were pretty much booted out of the MAC shortly after the crash for numerous violations. Marshall began a streak of winning seasons in 1984 that lasted until 2004, and had the highest winning percentage in the 90s of any Div. I school. The upcoming movie should be pretty inspirational in how the program rose from literally the ashes.
OK -- thanks -- I must have assumed they were promoted from Div II when I saw them in the standings....
It must be the ghost of Pactolus!! You would have to be an East Carolina graduate to understand. Glad everyone is OK.
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