About this item

The inspiring story of how a small town in West Virginia, steeped in the rich tradition of college football, struggled to cope with a devastating loss and restore their community after one of the worst disasters in the history of American sports. On the evening of Saturday, November 14, 1970, a chartered jet carrying Marshall University's football team, coaches and fans, was on its way home from a hard-fought game in North Carolina. Less than a minute before its scheduled landing at Tri-State Airport, the plane crashed in the Appalachian Mountains, killing everyone aboard: 37 players, eight coaches and university staff, the flight crew, and 25 prominent Huntington citizens. They find hope and strength in the leadership of outsider Jack Lengyel, a young coach determined to rebuild Marshall's football program.