September 25, 2025 • 9 mins
Join us on Daily Sports History as we reflect on Marshall University's first football victory in 1971, just one year after the tragic 1970 plane crash that claimed the lives of 75 players, coaches, and staff. Explore the emotional journey of the team, the significance of the win, and how this moment became a symbol of hope and resilience in sports history.
Listen now! 👉 DailySportsHistory.com 📲 Follow for more daily sports history insights!Â
Email: dailysportshistory@gmail.com
YouTube: YouTube.com/@dailysportshistory
Twitter: twitter.com/dailysportshis
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551687917253&mibextid=ZbWKwL
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dailysportshistory.bsky.social
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/dailysportshis/profilecard/?igsh=OWl1MzIyYndqOGU2
Threads
https://www.threads.net/@dailysportshis
Listen now! 👉 DailySportsHistory.com 📲 Follow for more daily sports history insights!Â
Email: dailysportshistory@gmail.com
YouTube: YouTube.com/@dailysportshistory
Twitter: twitter.com/dailysportshis
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551687917253&mibextid=ZbWKwL
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dailysportshistory.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/dailysportshis/profilecard/?igsh=OWl1MzIyYndqOGU2
Threads
https://www.threads.net/@dailysportshis
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On September twenty fifth, nineteen seventy one, following the devastating
loss of over seventy football players, coaches, and administrators due
to a plane crash, the Marshall football team comes back
and brings hope to the Huntington area and the team
in the school, honoring those they lost by winning just
(00:21):
their second game back, the gas savier, showing that Marshall
may have been down, but they certainly were not out.
We're dive into how Marshall came back today on Daily
Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese,
(00:43):
your daily guide to sports history as you daily increase
your sports and knowledge. And today's trivia question is what
NCAA rule was changed following the nineteen seventy one Marshall season. Now,
Marshall had been around for a long time. Their first
(01:03):
football season was in eighteen ninety five. In nineteen fifteen,
they actually gained notoriety running the tower play, which is
a very unique play where one receiver lists another one
on his shoulders to complete a pass. It sounds like
something out of a Globetrotters game. But though they've been around,
they haven't always been the best team. Their overall winning
(01:25):
percentage is above fifty percent and they won a total
of six hundred and twenty nine games. And in nineteen
ninety two they actually won the one doublea national championship
and did the same thing in nineteen ninety six, and
this was the pinnacle of the team as the nineteen
ninety six team included future NFL players In Wade and
(01:47):
John Wade, Chris Hansen, Air Kesser, Doug Champion, Pro bowler
Chad Pennington, and Hall of Famer possible greatest receiver of
all time Randy Moss. But since the to the Football
Bowl Division and struggled at times, but have been adequate
in their pursuit of greatness. In the nineteen sixties and seventies,
(02:08):
the team was a lot different. In nineteen sixty nine,
Marshall hired Rick Tolly, coming in from Wake Forest. His
first season was a struggle as they went three and seven,
and the following year they were struggling as he went
three and six, but he didn't get to finish that year.
After a game against Eastern Carolina, the team took an
airplane back to West Virginia. The plane would crash on
(02:30):
the way home and all seventy five passengers would pass away,
including Rick and four other coaches in thirty seven players,
as well as administrators, family friends, and the whole flight crew.
It was a devastating moment for Marshall and really the nation.
Seeing how easy it is for a team to just
be lost in a moment was tough and it was
(02:52):
the single worst air tragedy in NINTAA sports history. And
despite the thought of just disbanding the team and no
longer having football at the university, but the team lost
their athletic director and head coach. So the first thing
I had to do was hire new aflet director, and
they hired Joe mccollin, who was actually a head football
(03:13):
coach before taking over the AD role at Marshall, as
he had struggled previously at San Diego State with the
record of three and ten, and the first thing he
had to do was figure out how to bring back
this team, and he actually initially hired Georgia Tech assistant
coach Dick Beswick to take over the role, but two
days after he actually returned back to Georgia Tech and
(03:35):
they actually named will Red Dawson as the acting head coach. Now,
if you've ever seen We Are Marshall. This was the
coach that did not go onto the plane, and that
part is true. He was one of the few members
not on the plane as he had a recruiting trip
to go on too, and that's where he really helped,
as he would go on to sign twenty one prospects
from five different states just this season alone. But he
(03:58):
didn't want to coach the team. He just was filling
in until they found a new replacement, and that replacement
was Jack ling Yell, who started coaching as an assistant
in nineteen seventy nine at Akron University with Joe McClellan,
the new ad at Marshall University, and he went on
to coach at Hingelberg, Cornell, and Worcester and would also
(04:20):
coach baseball and lacrosse during his coaching tenures before coming
to Marshall, where his former colleague was now the ad.
Any part of his agreement he had to help recruit
for baseball and basketball while he was at Marshall. But
one thing they had going is they had fought for
that season to be allowed to allow freshmen to play,
(04:43):
which up until nineteen seventy two, the NCAA did not
allow freshmen to play varsity sports, so you had to
at least be a sophomore to participate. The NCAA granted
them the chance to allow freshmen to play in order
to fulfill their team, and this gave them a huge
advantage as no other team in the country could allow
(05:03):
freshmen to play, so they had a unique recruiting pitch
that no other team could offer, and that really did
help them as they would get players who turned down
Notre Dame in West Virginia and other major colleges to
come play as they could play as freshmen. But the
problem was, even though they could get more talented players,
they still weren't as big as juniors and seniors in
(05:25):
college and it's especially hard on the offensive and defensive
lineman where you need big bodies to have success in
college football. But they didn't just only have freshmen on
the team. They actually were able to have three players
on the previous varsity team come back due to the
players missing the Eastern Carolina game due to injuries, and
they also had the freshman group from the nineteen seventy
(05:47):
season there as well, as they weren't allowed to play,
so they didn't go to the Eastern Carolina game, but
they did feature a lot of walk Ons, former military men,
three basketball players who used their fifth year of eligibility
to play on the football team, and fifty players would
end up trying out for the team and thirty five
of them would be accepted as Walkon's and Coach Jack
would label them as the Young Thuddering Herd, which to
(06:10):
this day is still used from the alumni from this
team as many of them are still in contact and
friends across the world, and they even received a letter
from President Richard Nixon saying, friends across the land are
rooting for you. But whatever this season brings, you have
already won the greatest victory by putting a team on
the field And this was read the first day of practice,
(06:32):
and the team was a difficult team to put together
as they only had five coaches, two on the defense,
two on the offense, and head coach. And as you
can imagine, having such a young team made up of
sophomores and freshmen meant there was a lot of growing pains,
and they changed the offense and the defense to make
it more simplified, and they had their first game on
September eighteenth against Morehead State, which is known as the
(06:55):
Oxy four rivalry, and they struggled in this game as
Morehead State dominated through a majority of the game, but
late in the game, the Herd was able to finally
score their first touchdown, which prompted a standing ovation even
though they were at Morehead State, as even though they
were competing, President Nixon was right as everyone was rooting
(07:17):
for them. The following game was their first home game
since the loss of their teammates and coaches, facing Xavier
on their home field. It truly makes sense why this
was the pivotal moment in the movie We Are Marshall,
because it was one of those moments where it goes
like it was written for the movies. As Marshall was
down nine to thirteen against Xavier on the final drive
(07:41):
and they had time for one more play and they
were just thirteen yards away from the end zone and
their quarterback Reggie Oliver tossed a thirteen yard touchdown pass
to fullback Terry Gardner as time ran out, giving them
the lead and the win fifteen to thirteen. As the
crowd of thirty eighteen thousand rushed the field. This really
(08:02):
showed that Marshall was back and truly one of the
most resilient stories in football history. But sadly they could
not continue the success as they would only win one
more game that year, finishing two and nine, and they
would struggle for the next couple of years under under
coach Jack as he would have a record of nine
(08:23):
and thirty three and it wouldn't be till the late
eighties early nineties when they would finally start to turn
things around, winning those two DOUBLEA championships and joining the FBS.
Marshall truly showed you can go from the bottom of
the barrel and still work your way back to the top.
But it's not a quick fix and it takes time
and Herd fans know this. And if you want to
(08:45):
learn more about Marshall and the Thundering Herd, you can
listen to The Thundercast, a great podcast hosted by Kadi
and Russ, two huge Herd fans, there to give you
all the information you want to know about the Thundering
Herd through this season and beyond. We'll put a link
to their show in the description so you can check
them out. And if you enjoyed this episode of Daily
(09:07):
sports History. Please share this with a friend or share
on your social media Say hey, check out Daily Sports
History so we can continue to grow and give you
more great sports history every day. And the answer to
today's trivia question what in Cuba? Rule was changed following
the nineteen seventy one Marshall season. The rule to allow
(09:32):
freshman the chance to play was changed in nineteen seventy two,
following the success in the previous year of Marshall allowing
freshmen to play on their team. They now would allow
all in Cuba teams to allow freshmen to play
On September twenty fifth, nineteen seventy one, following the devastating
loss of over seventy football players, coaches, and administrators due
to a plane crash, the Marshall football team comes back
and brings hope to the Huntington area and the team
in the school, honoring those they lost by winning just
(00:21):
their second game back, the gas savier, showing that Marshall
may have been down, but they certainly were not out.
We're dive into how Marshall came back today on Daily
Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese,
(00:43):
your daily guide to sports history as you daily increase
your sports and knowledge. And today's trivia question is what
NCAA rule was changed following the nineteen seventy one Marshall season. Now,
Marshall had been around for a long time. Their first
(01:03):
football season was in eighteen ninety five. In nineteen fifteen,
they actually gained notoriety running the tower play, which is
a very unique play where one receiver lists another one
on his shoulders to complete a pass. It sounds like
something out of a Globetrotters game. But though they've been around,
they haven't always been the best team. Their overall winning
(01:25):
percentage is above fifty percent and they won a total
of six hundred and twenty nine games. And in nineteen
ninety two they actually won the one doublea national championship
and did the same thing in nineteen ninety six, and
this was the pinnacle of the team as the nineteen
ninety six team included future NFL players In Wade and
(01:47):
John Wade, Chris Hansen, Air Kesser, Doug Champion, Pro bowler
Chad Pennington, and Hall of Famer possible greatest receiver of
all time Randy Moss. But since the to the Football
Bowl Division and struggled at times, but have been adequate
in their pursuit of greatness. In the nineteen sixties and seventies,
(02:08):
the team was a lot different. In nineteen sixty nine,
Marshall hired Rick Tolly, coming in from Wake Forest. His
first season was a struggle as they went three and seven,
and the following year they were struggling as he went
three and six, but he didn't get to finish that year.
After a game against Eastern Carolina, the team took an
airplane back to West Virginia. The plane would crash on
(02:30):
the way home and all seventy five passengers would pass away,
including Rick and four other coaches in thirty seven players,
as well as administrators, family friends, and the whole flight crew.
It was a devastating moment for Marshall and really the nation.
Seeing how easy it is for a team to just
be lost in a moment was tough and it was
(02:52):
the single worst air tragedy in NINTAA sports history. And
despite the thought of just disbanding the team and no
longer having football at the university, but the team lost
their athletic director and head coach. So the first thing
I had to do was hire new aflet director, and
they hired Joe mccollin, who was actually a head football
(03:13):
coach before taking over the AD role at Marshall, as
he had struggled previously at San Diego State with the
record of three and ten, and the first thing he
had to do was figure out how to bring back
this team, and he actually initially hired Georgia Tech assistant
coach Dick Beswick to take over the role, but two
days after he actually returned back to Georgia Tech and
(03:35):
they actually named will Red Dawson as the acting head coach. Now,
if you've ever seen We Are Marshall. This was the
coach that did not go onto the plane, and that
part is true. He was one of the few members
not on the plane as he had a recruiting trip
to go on too, and that's where he really helped,
as he would go on to sign twenty one prospects
from five different states just this season alone. But he
(03:58):
didn't want to coach the team. He just was filling
in until they found a new replacement, and that replacement
was Jack ling Yell, who started coaching as an assistant
in nineteen seventy nine at Akron University with Joe McClellan,
the new ad at Marshall University, and he went on
to coach at Hingelberg, Cornell, and Worcester and would also
(04:20):
coach baseball and lacrosse during his coaching tenures before coming
to Marshall, where his former colleague was now the ad.
Any part of his agreement he had to help recruit
for baseball and basketball while he was at Marshall. But
one thing they had going is they had fought for
that season to be allowed to allow freshmen to play,
(04:43):
which up until nineteen seventy two, the NCAA did not
allow freshmen to play varsity sports, so you had to
at least be a sophomore to participate. The NCAA granted
them the chance to allow freshmen to play in order
to fulfill their team, and this gave them a huge
advantage as no other team in the country could allow
(05:03):
freshmen to play, so they had a unique recruiting pitch
that no other team could offer, and that really did
help them as they would get players who turned down
Notre Dame in West Virginia and other major colleges to
come play as they could play as freshmen. But the
problem was, even though they could get more talented players,
they still weren't as big as juniors and seniors in
(05:25):
college and it's especially hard on the offensive and defensive
lineman where you need big bodies to have success in
college football. But they didn't just only have freshmen on
the team. They actually were able to have three players
on the previous varsity team come back due to the
players missing the Eastern Carolina game due to injuries, and
they also had the freshman group from the nineteen seventy
(05:47):
season there as well, as they weren't allowed to play,
so they didn't go to the Eastern Carolina game, but
they did feature a lot of walk Ons, former military men,
three basketball players who used their fifth year of eligibility
to play on the football team, and fifty players would
end up trying out for the team and thirty five
of them would be accepted as Walkon's and Coach Jack
would label them as the Young Thuddering Herd, which to
(06:10):
this day is still used from the alumni from this
team as many of them are still in contact and
friends across the world, and they even received a letter
from President Richard Nixon saying, friends across the land are
rooting for you. But whatever this season brings, you have
already won the greatest victory by putting a team on
the field And this was read the first day of practice,
(06:32):
and the team was a difficult team to put together
as they only had five coaches, two on the defense,
two on the offense, and head coach. And as you
can imagine, having such a young team made up of
sophomores and freshmen meant there was a lot of growing pains,
and they changed the offense and the defense to make
it more simplified, and they had their first game on
September eighteenth against Morehead State, which is known as the
(06:55):
Oxy four rivalry, and they struggled in this game as
Morehead State dominated through a majority of the game, but
late in the game, the Herd was able to finally
score their first touchdown, which prompted a standing ovation even
though they were at Morehead State, as even though they
were competing, President Nixon was right as everyone was rooting
(07:17):
for them. The following game was their first home game
since the loss of their teammates and coaches, facing Xavier
on their home field. It truly makes sense why this
was the pivotal moment in the movie We Are Marshall,
because it was one of those moments where it goes
like it was written for the movies. As Marshall was
down nine to thirteen against Xavier on the final drive
(07:41):
and they had time for one more play and they
were just thirteen yards away from the end zone and
their quarterback Reggie Oliver tossed a thirteen yard touchdown pass
to fullback Terry Gardner as time ran out, giving them
the lead and the win fifteen to thirteen. As the
crowd of thirty eighteen thousand rushed the field. This really
(08:02):
showed that Marshall was back and truly one of the
most resilient stories in football history. But sadly they could
not continue the success as they would only win one
more game that year, finishing two and nine, and they
would struggle for the next couple of years under under
coach Jack as he would have a record of nine
(08:23):
and thirty three and it wouldn't be till the late
eighties early nineties when they would finally start to turn
things around, winning those two DOUBLEA championships and joining the FBS.
Marshall truly showed you can go from the bottom of
the barrel and still work your way back to the top.
But it's not a quick fix and it takes time
and Herd fans know this. And if you want to
(08:45):
learn more about Marshall and the Thundering Herd, you can
listen to The Thundercast, a great podcast hosted by Kadi
and Russ, two huge Herd fans, there to give you
all the information you want to know about the Thundering
Herd through this season and beyond. We'll put a link
to their show in the description so you can check
them out. And if you enjoyed this episode of Daily
(09:07):
sports History. Please share this with a friend or share
on your social media Say hey, check out Daily Sports
History so we can continue to grow and give you
more great sports history every day. And the answer to
today's trivia question what in Cuba? Rule was changed following
the nineteen seventy one Marshall season. The rule to allow
(09:32):
freshman the chance to play was changed in nineteen seventy two,
following the success in the previous year of Marshall allowing
freshmen to play on their team. They now would allow
all in Cuba teams to allow freshmen to play
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.