Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Dawson, Jackson and others find inspiration in memory of the 75
11/14/2019 5:39:00 PM | Football, Word on the Herd
Marshall hosts Louisiana Tech on Friday night at 7
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Several days of temperatures in the teens and twenties created a thin layer of ice on the top of the water of the Memorial Student Center Fountain. Icicles formed on two sides of the sculpture.
During Thursday afternoon's annual ceremony in remembrance of the 75 people who lost their lives in the 1970 Marshall University football team plane crash, the water to the fountain was shut off. On a picturesque day with only a few clouds in sight, the sun beamed on those in attendance. As flowers were placed along the edge of the fountain, the warmth of the sunshine began to melt the ice that remained. In the moments of silence between each of the 75 names that were read, water continued to drip.
A day earlier, Mickey Jackson, a former Marshall football player and assistant coach for the 1970 team, talked about the sound of fountain. The 74-year-old, who was born in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, told a Huntington QB Club audience on Wednesday that the hardest part of the ceremony was when he heard the final drip.
"As soon as they turn that switch off and that last drop of water stops, the reflection that goes through my mind is that's when the plane stopped and our teams and family stopped," he said. "That's the toughest part of the ceremony I've ever experienced."
This isn't a stunning revelation by now, but no one has Marshall University's story. Red Dawson, also a former Marshall assistant football coach, shared a dais with Jackson on Wednesday inside the Big Green Room at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Dawson, Jackson, Bob Bronger and Bill Forbes spoke to a large gathering the week of the memorial game, which will be played Friday night against Louisiana Tech in a game with Conference USA divisional title implications.
But, as is often said, this is bigger than a game.
"This is bigger than all of us," Marshall starting quarterback Isaiah Green said.
"It rings a lot of bells for a lot of different people," starting running back Brenden Knox said.
"It's as emotional as anything you can ever be part of," Dawson said.
There's no denying that, Red. Dawson is 77 years old, and his voice cracks like a man who has lived twice as long. He's endured an immeasurable amount of heartbreak, but rather than retreat to a faraway land in search of respite and to heal his wounded heart, Dawson has lived his life in Huntington. He'll rest here eternally someday.
"I love Marshall; I love Huntington," Dawson said Wednesday. "This is my home. This is where my body will be – with the boys."
Dawson pointed in the direction of Spring Hill cemetery. Tears welled in the eyes of the people staring back at him.
Yes, Red, this is an emotional week. After nearly five decades, the memories of the 75 are kept alive by those they left behind.
Keith Morehouse, a longtime local broadcaster who lost his father, Gene, in the crash, lauded current MU coach Doc Holliday for implementing traditions in order to safeguard the memory of those lost in the crash 49 years ago.
"For Doc to do that and continue to do what he's done with the '75' game with the black uniforms and the 75 helmets and all of the pressure that's on the program to perform that night," he said, "to me, that's phenomenal. It's unlike anything else you see anywhere else in college football.
"It's hard enough to be a coach and go through your routine and try to win the game. But to have all of that on top of it during the weekend is a tremendous responsibility and I can't thank Doc enough."
Bronger, a high school football coach in Kentucky, said the fountain ceremony and traditions around the memorial game cause him to reflect on his own responsibility, "about what kind of person I have to be and what person I need to be to represent Marshall University and our family. That's what stays in my heart."
Forbes considers "the brevity of life," he said, and "how the fountain can be turned off, and our life can be turned off like that. We can be here today and gone tomorrow. I walk away from the ceremony challenging myself to make the most of my time and talents that God has given."
Dawson talked about living a life in the aftermath of tragedy, and considered that all people accrue a lifetime of pain from their experiences, but must continue to push forward.
"It's a hard job getting through life," Dawson said. "After you have happen what happened in your lifetime, after that's over, then you're trying to make things better. Sometimes you can't just snap your fingers and do it, but I've been trying."
