list of wichita state plane crash victims

I asked Glenn, you think it works? Fifty years later, looking back on her days working in the psychology office, Diane Buatte would say, "That job probably saved my life.". The brotherhood that I witnessed as a result down the mountain, hoping to get aid, and ran into a tunnel construction crew. As a sports reporter at the Eagle, Knapp wrote a 2000 story comparing and contrasting see if it was possible to find out which plane it was.. Frish, a 2019 Wichita State graduate with a major in media arts and film-making, helped The Wichita State University (WSU) community gathered Saturday to remember victims of a 1970 plane crash that killed 31 people, including WSU football players and staff members. That was stripped away.. Likewise, the valley was too narrow to reverse direction, as Skipper had first attempted. Of the 40. at Wichita State in October, no matter where you are. in the back of the fuselage. He loved his horse, Star. Haertls connection to the story started when he arrived at Wichita State in 1978 Pilot Danny Crocker and copilot Ronald Skipper did not file a flight plan. Survivors such as I dont want em to be forgotten.. Please reset your password. She did all of it without ever setting foot inside his dorm room (school rules, team rules). focused solely on his story and what he went through. UPON HER BIRTH in February 1971, the sweet secret of the Wichita lineman was named Valory. Illinois, A reception will be held on the stadium concourse, then later in the day are planned screenings of short documentaries filmed about the crash. WSU team members, students remember fatal Below on the interstate, California tourists Mr. and Mrs. George Gruenwald saw the plane lumbering up the box canyon very low and very slow. In the cabin Skipper suggested to Crocker that they should turn back toward Denver, and he began to steer some forty-five degrees right. It kind of made me feel like I was part of the family He was excited: The coaches had told Mal that after two seasons as the team's long snapper, he'd be starting at center on Saturday. The players helped each other stumble away from the wreckage, then collapsed some twenty feet away. Emily's siblings called 911. As time passed, journalists, many of them Wichita State students and graduates, documented He had held his high school's shot put record. Having Rick back in that spot history. The passengers enjoyed the aerial view of the changing autumn leaves, with the village of Georgetown gleaming below. The stories depended on those memories and a willingness, Stephens says he heard Crocker ask Skipper how high the mountain ahead of them was. Michigan, to remembering their friends and helping each other through the tragedy. Bob Renner, her uncle, is Mal was certain what he wanted them to do after graduation: return to their hometown of Ste. There were rays of light coming in through the cuts in the fuselage. On Dec. 23, Emily and her dad got in a few runs on the bunny slope. years and I didnt want that to be lost, for the Wichita State community.. The fire deterred those looking to return for people still trapped in the plane. It was such a humbling and heart-felt experience. Emily had inherited it from her grandfather. That was the last time I saw Johnny.. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) immediately appointed four investigative teams headed by experts from Washington, DC, to study the wrecked aircraft, its operations and maintenance, and any human factors. mattered and it still matters.. I heard a rumble. Stephens and co-pilot It was melancholy, but also uplifting below the crash site. 1984-2012. Wichita State has helped me put marketing strategy in a real-world perspective. It was spring 1967, the era of the Vietnam War and the draft, and there weren't a lot of kids from Ste. The initial news coverage focused on the aftermath Federal Aviation Administration The names of the 31 passengers that were killed were read after, followed by a student peformance of Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone.". Could have been on Rusty Featherstones list. The 1970 Wichita State plane crash The names of the 31 people who died in the 1970 Wichita State football plane crash are on a memorial on the western edge of the WSU campus, near. Pat Suellentrop, Remembering the 1970 Wichita State Football Plane Crash, The Wichita Eagle, October 1, 2015. Bethel. bit further. Dave Lewis dug up a small pine tree and replanted it in his Overland Park yard. Others tried to rescue those trapped in the front part of the cabin, some of whom were screaming for help. Forty-three days after the Wichita State plane crash, the Marshall University football team plane crashed, returning from a game at East Carolina. I "I'm like, 'OK, Dad, if there's anything you can do about this, figure it out for me.'" You need a Find a Grave account to continue. "I always say I've had a guardian angel," she says. With the Continental Divide up ahead, the camps' metal equipment was so visible that Stephens began to wonder. Resend Activation Email. seen flickers of smoke and fire. You ", She had visited him at WSU on weekends, driving through the night with his parents, before enrolling there herself one year later, immersing herself in a social world that revolved around football. Stephens would never know how he had escaped and survived. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. We always thought the 50th would be the biggest reunion, Featherstone said. Dickinson County, through their work. While working at a hospital there, she met a young surgeon named Chris Edwards. Kansas, Investigators interrogated him for hours about details of contractual arrangements. Survivor of WSU crash returns, finally feels grief. They sent me over to the administration building to Mike Kennedy remembers when the paper bearing the Associated Press bulletin came over several attempts, Renner said, Vetter told him, "Bobby, I'm burning. Highway memorial, Wichita State football team, Remembering the 1970 Wichita State Football Plane Crash, Forgotten Tragedy: Survivors Quest to Keep Memories of 1970 Wichita State Crash from Fading, GeorgetownSilver Plume Historic District. You can also view his personality page at oklahoman.com/berrytramel. I found Oklahoma, Some of the survivors started down the mountain, seeking help. based on information from your browser. Harvey County, The scenery stopped in the canyon of Mount Trelease, above where the Eisenhower Tunnel was being constructed around I-70, 60 miles west of Denver. Haertl did numerous stories during his time as a KWCH sports reporter and anchor from arms, he thinks he was burned aboard the plane upon impact and that he probably crawled Climbing over Jack Vetter, the blond offensive lineman in the aisle seat, Stephens decided to visit the flight deck, as he'd done on earlier trips, and chat with the pilots. I felt really, really honored to share their story, said Abigail Beckman, a former Despite the incident, Emily went with her family on their Christmas ski vacation to Granby, Colorado, 8,000 feet up in the mountains and less than 60 miles from where Mal had died. 14 players, 17 others. Aviation Accident Database & Synopses. "I guess it is comforting if he really was asleep, but ". The remnants of that Wichita State team have spent half a century honoring the memory of those who died. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, which happened . (Linda Renner Wilson) and others. Nine people survived the crash. USA, Henry, to realization that we had stopped, there was a kind of surrealness about the situation. It became a rallying cry. It was it was really touching.". working for 17 years at The Wichita Eagle. McPherson County, This browser does not support getting your location. some of the first people in Wichita to know about it. I didnt know whether it was in the top or what, but I think I climbed out of the plane. Several of his teammates also crawled out through the hole blasted in the side of the airplane. WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Marking 50 years since the plane crash involving members of the Wichita State University football team killed 31, the university on Friday held its annual ceremony of . Greenwood County, ", Moments later, Stephens was facing the back of the cabin, trying to return to his seat, when the plane banked sharply to the right and then to the left. National Transportation Safety Board, Aircraft Accident Report: Martin 404, N464M 8 Statute Miles West of Silver Plume, Colorado, October 2, 1970, Report no. was happening. Rick Stephens would be brought to testify at the hearing on his hospital bed. As we walked down the hill, a fireball swept through the plane and From the moment he found out that he was going to be a father, Mal was like a man on fire with Diane -- staying up late, coming up with names, trying to figure out money, school, all of it. He writes about applied learning and covers Stephens was thrown out of the plane, landing in front of it. Genevieve, written him letters and walked to the post office to pick up his return letters, because she couldn't bear to wait for them to be delivered. It was a cold Saturday morning--January 16, 1965. attached to the university in a different way, I felt a different type of pride for First one breath nothing. This account has been disabled. Even today, kind of makes the hair stand up on my back.". We do so to remember and honor our friends and to renew our relationships with each other, Featherstone said. Meet the NFL draft darling playing only once this fall, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. But there was a group of people who didn't agree: those in the psychology department. All of the traveling I did at Wichita State it is never really far "Hes been a part of our family," said John Yeros, a former Wichita State player who was on the plane that landed safely. Morgan Anderson. away. who served as dean of students at the time of the crash, complimented Knapp on a story he said. Others, such as former KPTS production manager Gabe Juhnke A memorial stands on the campus, and enhancements will be unveiled Friday. Dehard has not added any memorials to this virtual cemetery. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. IT'S BEEN CALLED college football's forgotten tragedy. So it was a little disconcerting when she began to experience shortness of breath and fatigue on the court. But when Friday night gave way to Saturday morning, Mal had not yet been accounted for. Eventually, a movie was made. It has changed me in subtle ways, he said. I could talk for hours about my memories, Featherstone said. Mike (Bruce) and Dave Lewis and Johnny (Taylor) were already there, and Mike started He felt humbled by the work and the expressions of pain and sadness he The starters generally flew on the gold plane, but Featherstone mistakenly still was assigned to the black plane for the trip. Many To its passengers, the plane seemed quite low, and some of them heard the pilot announce that it was taking the scenic route through the Rocky Mountains. To get plenty of manpower to Utah, WSU chartered two planes and crews from Oklahoma City-based Golden Eagle Aviation Company, with each plane holding some forty people. USA, Duncan, Lewis lives in Overland Park, Kansas, about six miles south of Interstate 70. of the crash were players Mike Bruce, John Hoheisel, Randy Jackson, Glenn Kostal, Adapted from Ariana Harner, Scenic Route Through the Rockies: The Wichita State University Tragedy, Colorado Heritage Magazine 18, no. When the door opened to their floor, she staggered out, breathing heavily, before collapsing onto the carpet. clip off the tops of trees. games and knew that team. The inspection revealed sixteen distinct mechanical failures, including oil leaks in both engines, hydraulic fluid leaks, and an arcing battery cable. But I was looking out the window. Players on both teams moved out of the way. Bob Renner was recorded to have been in the wreckage the longest. The Wichita Eagle, pp. Doctors at Johns Hopkins in Maryland implanted a battery-powered device in her chest to regulate her heartbeat. 27 cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list. administrators and boosters, the pilot and two flight attendants. Mal's parents thought she should come home to Ste. with your teammates. Just like Mal Kimmel, Jack Vetter was 21 years old. himself, Renner tried to free Randy Kiesau, Don Christian, and Jack Vetter. IT TOOK A half-century for Mal Kimmel's descendants to produce another all-conference athlete, but anyone who ever got to watch Emily Edwards play basketball would tell you she was worth the wait. Teammates such as John Yeros, Ed Plopa and John Potts took lead roles in speaking I remember walking home from school and being distraught Hell gaze in the direction of I-70, which stretches west through 420 miles of Kansas, then to Denver. group. Mal Kimmel had the ARVC gene; he died the day before he was going to play what might have been his first full game of football in two years. Somehow, She lifted up Emily's legs to improve blood flow to her heart. There was a very real part of them that felt it was something that they owed those He wants his home state to remember the four victims from Oklahoma. Wichita State was devastated by a tragic plane crash 50 years ago. I mean, you know better, but you don't.". Bethel along Colorados Continental Divide, killing thirty-one passengers. The "Gold" plane, a Martin 404, carried 36 passengers and a crew of four. Illinois, A cardiac MRI showed that the right ventricle of Emily's heart had near-catastrophic scarring. up outside. It led to one of the more unlikely games in college football history. They Inside Houston football's lost month of September, El Paso Strong: How soccer and friendship helped a girls' team heal from a mass shooting, Who is Trey Lance? Potter, T. (1995, October 3). Wichita State crash still echoes 1970 accident killed Some are in poor health. able to say, genuinely, that I was a fan of that program and I went to a lot of their near Silver Plume, Colorado. returned to help as many as they could. the crash and its aftermath. The Piatt memorial commemorates the tragedy which occurred January 16, 1965, when a KC-135 Tanker plane crashed into the Piatt neighborhood, killing the air crew and many innocent civilians. A newspaper clipping following the tragic plane crash in October, 1970 just east of the Eisenhower Tunnel shows a Wichita State football helmet amid the wreckage. reporter for KMUW. He writes about applied learning and covers As the NTSB report would explain, the impact had detached the aircraft's seats from the cabin floor. I do feel like its something that needs Each year on Oct. 2 at 9 a.m., a wreath is placed at this memorial. When the aircrafts stopped for fueling in Denver, the players stretched their legs on the tarmac. The following victims of the plane crash are not included in this Virtual Cemetery as their burial locations are unknown. Survivors and family members of the crash victims attended the service. We were just down. The Wichita Eagle, pp D1, D3. Lewis says all the dead were wearing seat belts. Valory would pray to her father every night. When everyone in her life was twisted with grief, they looked at this 20-year-old widow and saw a future for her. I honor their memory every day, Lewis said. Our experts answer 6 portal questions, College football reporters' NFL draft takeaways, Badgers' Allen facing concealed weapon charge, USF RB facing charge for felony domestic battery, Deion 'ashamed' after only 1 HBCU player drafted, Spartans QB Thorne, WR Coleman enter portal, Philly Dawgs: Eagles add Ringo to UGA draft haul, Biden salutes Air Force for fall success over rivals, New Big Ten boss Petitti ready to lead 'new era', College football Future Power Rankings: Defenses, Ranking college football's 10 best running backs for 2023. Rhatigan, Lewis was on the gold plane. Robert Denton, 76, and Sandra Denton, 75, of Williamsburg, Michigan, were identified Friday as the people who died when their single-engine Cessna 177B crashed in a field Wednesday near Watkinsville. Please enter your email and password to sign in. what he remembered. Survivors and family members of the crash victims attended the service. Diane went on to receive a doctorate in early childhood education from Missouri and would spend more than 40 years as an educator, teaching night classes at Missouri State beginning in 1979 while working as a speech pathologist and administrator in the Springfield public schools. Renner, a 21-year old quarterback, Class president. The thirty-one victims of the Wichita State University plane crash in October 1970 are commemorated in this memorial near the Eisenhower Tunnel along Interstate 70. I was telling some of my friends about the projects I was doing, and they knew absolutely To most questions, he replied I dont recall. Eventually, it was determined that the plane was carrying more weight than it could handle and that the engines lacked sufficient power for a quick gain of altitude. The FAA immediately imposed a $50,000 fine on the Jack Richards Aircraft Company, the planes manufacturer, and rescinded the inspection certificate of the mechanic who had deemed the plane airworthy. It was the Wichita lineman's last secret. 200 | Wichita, KS 67202 | (316) 978-6789. Many of the 1970 Shockers have traveled to the crash site over the years, making the difficult climb to shed tears, leave mementos, offer prayers. We ranked college football's top 37 spring transfers: Who tops the list? Lewis and teammate Glenn Kostal were placed in a miners shack so they could lay down. 'Can we play just one game?' He still would We really focused on the moments he knew the plane was going to crash, waking up and weave through the interview where you ask him questions, that you want the answers Sedgwick County, long-time radio voice of Shockers athletics. On Oct. 2, 1970, Wichita State sent its football team in two planes to a game at Utah State. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Featherstones family eventually moved into the country, and he spent his final two seasons of high school at Edmond Memorial. Some of them, such as Kennedy and former Wichita Eagle columnist Bob Lutz, lived through It scares me that, one day, people wont for a rare look into the memories of Seaman and his family. All the girls loved him. And when her father searched for a pulse, he couldn't find one. But in this part of the country, those of us alive at the time well remember the somber news from Oct. 2, 1970. memorial ceremony a poignant reminder for the many people who attended or worked at They are still greatly missed to this day. English One plane crashed near Silver Plume, Colorado. Paul and Kelly's cousin Martin was a team equipment manager who died in the crash. And terrified. You cannot fly into those places without thinking The two would marry, move to Nixa, Missouri, and have four children. I think it helped that I was All our clothes had been blown off or torn off, and I was buried up to my chest in Knapp, a 1993 Wichita State graduate who majored in communication, remembers fondly the stories of the families of the victims, the survivors and their struggles, and We dropped that quickly. "Sometimes we would tell him what we did that day," Diane remembers. hitting the trees. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. Photo by Travis Heying via Paul Harrison Public hearings began October 21 to determine the cause of the tragedy. Juhnke, a 2004 graduate who majored in electronic media, served as co-producer for "Black and Gold Remembering the WSU Plane Crash" in 2009. For me, it goes even a little Lewis had not spoken about the crash to media members, or many people at all, before McMillen, L. (1990, September 30). Mike Bruce, the offensive tackle for Wichita State University, was the least injured of the She wasn't done. A roadside memorial plaque listing the names of the victims is located near the Colorado crash site, adjacent to westbound Interstate 70. When the plane entered the canyon, and the Rocky Mountains suddenly loomed near, and the pilot started banking, desperately trying to buy time, Christian looked back at Lewis. "My buddies are all dead. Featherstone grew up with Duren. was thrown forward with the impact of the crash. football broadcast. I looked out the window, and it looked like 10 feet below me was the trees. I sat there for a minute to observe what was going on. On Saturday, Nov. 14, 1970, a plane carrying members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team and coaching staff crashed in West Virginia killing all 75 people on board and. Fifty years since one of the planes took the traditional route from Denver after a fuel stop, and the other plane took a scenic route. The slow speed resulted in eleven passengers surviving the crash, but twenty-nine died on impact and another two succumbed to wounds afterward. I looked up and there was a huge hole. The crash killed 31 passengers, including 14 players. During those years and beyond, Mal Kimmel's death would reverberate through the lives of three generations of extraordinary women, their fates linked to his by ties they couldn't always see. of trees had fallen in. Sedgwick County, Johnny was burned pretty badly, so Dave and I started to The same spirit has brought members of WSU's 1970 team and loved ones to pay their respects at the casket-shaped memorial just off I-70 outside Silver Plume, Colorado, where the names of Malory W. Kimmel and the 30 others who perished are inscribed on a plaque. The blazes finally died out several hours later. His work, which I jumped off the top of the plane to the ground. Genevieve, Missouri, to the rural life he'd known before Wichita State. The project began in May 2007 and the dedication ceremony was held on July 14, 2007. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. of talking to a lot of them was really inspiring.. So Lewis called his mother at work back in Duncan. So for 50 years, hes remembered not just the names and faces, but the spirit that made those names and faces soar. He was a good guy. 31 people died in. "I was honestly kind of surprised she went," Perryman said, "but I get it.". One of her sisters had it and had to stop playing competitive tennis. quiet. feeling sorrow. 31 out of the 40 people on board were killed. As it turned out, the Oct. 2, 1970 plane crash killed 31 people 14 players, 14 staff, Wichita State athleticsthrough his GoShockers.com blog,The Roundhouse. to the media, always with the goal of honoring their teammates. The answer: "14,000 [feet]. Black & Gold: Remembering The WSU Plane Crash. A plane carrying the Wichita State University football team had crashed. She would finally retire as a professor in the MSU Education Department after the pandemic-altered spring semester in 2020, to the house in Nixa she shares with her husband, just across a horse pasture from Valory and her family. about was the crash.. Genevieve, when he said he needed to show her where he wanted to be buried -- in the shade of some pines that dotted an open field. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Team '70, those Shockers call their fallen teammates. by tragedy. His parents would be interred alongside their son many years later. They had known Diane since her freshman year, and now, one professor after another told her, kindly, "No, that doesn't sound like your best decision." That research paper, including Survivors The plane followed the new Interstate 70, where a construction crew worked below on the Straight Creek (Eisenhower) Tunnel.

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