We Are....Marshall!

"In the middle of Huntington, West Virginia, there's a river. Next to this river is a steel mill. And, next to this steel mill there is a school. In the middle of the school, there is a fountain. Each year on the exact same day, at the exact same hour, the water to this fountain is turned off. And in this moment, once every year through out the town, through out the school, time stands still". We Are Marshall

I grew up 2 hours south east of Huntington, West Virginia in Mingo County. Where I am from, you are either a Marshall football fan or a WVU football fan...except for one day...every November 14th, we are all Marshall fans.

It was always interesting in my family, as one of my uncles graduated from Marshall and my other uncle/grandfather are die hard WVU fans. (For those of you not familar, this rivalry can be pretty heated.) The Marshall football tragedy happened before I was born (1970) , but I have vivid memories of my grandfather talking about it, and my great aunt telling me the stories of looking from her front porch in Kenova, WV and seeing the hill on fire and feeling like the town would never be the same.

Had we this happened into today's time of technology/Facebook/Twitter, perhaps this would be a bigger story. But for those of us this has touched, we always remember the 75 lives that were lost on this day.

Many have seen the movie "We Are Marshall" and I can remember what chaos it caused when Matthew McConahey was in the area filming the movie.

It was so exciting to see WV on the big screen and to see this story done correctly. But walking away, and every time I have watched it since then, it jars me to remember, this really happened. This was not a Hollywood produced/created story. Please join me today, in remembering those lost November 14, 1970.

WE ARE MARSHALL!

If you would like to read more about the Marshall football tragedy, here are a few links:
http://www.marshall.edu/library/speccoll/virtual_museum/memorial/default.asp
http://www.wvculture.org/history/thisdayinwvhistory/1114.html
http://media.herald-dispatch.com/mucrash/index.php?p=4