On the evening of November 14 , 1970 , Southern Airways Flight 932 , a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 chartered by Marshall University to transport the Thundering Herd football team back to Huntington , West Virginia following their 17 – 14 defeat to the East Carolina University Pirates , clips trees on a ridge just one mile short of the runway at Tri-State Airport in Ceredo , West Virginia , and crashes into a nearby gully , killing all 75 people on board . The deceased include the 37 players ; head coach Rick Tolley and five members of his coaching staff ; Charles E. Kautz , Marshall 's athletic director ; team athletic trainer Jim Schroer and his assistant , Donald Tackett ; sports information director and radio play-by-play announcer Gene Morehouse ; 25 boosters ; and five crew members
Southern Airways Flight 932
Southern Airways Flight 932
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