We are Marshall

The premiere of the movie We Are Marshall is tonight in Huntington, West Virginia.

The movie is about the 1970 plane crash that killed most of the football team and how the team and community struggled to overcome the tragedy.

I am a graduate of Marshall University. But I was not a resident of Huntington and didn't really know about the plane crash until I went to school there (I was only 7 when it happened). I knew there was a memorial fountain that mentioned it. I heard that the reason our football team never won any games at that time was because of the "curse" after the plane crash. Football games were not a big deal then, at least to me and my friends, because we really didn't have a good team while I was there. I come from a blue collar working class family from a coal mining town. They didn't go to college, must less college football games. As a student I went to an occasional game, but it was only for the drinking and we always left at half time.

I had one acquaintance who lost both of his parents in the crash. He was a friend of a friend. He was financially set for life; I don't know if it was from the life insurance or a lawsuit. He was my age or maybe a little younger, so he was a child when he lost them. He didn't have to work and had money to do pretty much what he wanted. But he seemed a little lost. He didn't have any direction in his life.

One of my current close friends has a brother-in-law with a connection. He is being portrayed in the movie but I don't remember his name. He caught the winning touchdown in the big game after the crash. He was living in Columbus when the movie was filmed and they had to track him down to get his okay to use his name in the film. Unfortunately, he died a few weeks after that and he'll never get to see the movie.

Anyway, that's all I know about it. I have friends who are from Huntington who are much closer to the story than I am. Some of them may be in the movie as extras, as it was filmed in Huntington. A couple of my friends were at the premiere last night.

So go see the movie. I probably won't until after Christmas but I'm anxious to see it.