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If you've never seen the "Silencing Ceremony" on November 14,you should make the trip.

I was always surprised by the fact that several of the players including their Q.B. and the radio announcer came from this part of North Jersey.
In fact I believe both the Q.B. and kicker came from Lyndhurst High School.

My wife and I were there in 2014 when the QB's brother was the Keynote Speaker.

Again,VERY moving ceremony.

One thing that was surprising was that the Student Body President kind of downplayed the importance of the ceremony.

He said the right words,but with the wrong tone.

A couple of people said he came across as "why are we still doing this ?"

I was in high school and remember the shocking announcement that evening on Huntington’s WSAZ (Channel 3 in those days) pretty well. I have been trying to recall the names of the evening newscasters on that station who provided the initial coverage, but can’t seem to come up with them. Perhaps some locals on here will remember who they were. We only had two other channels (8 and 13) but they (especially 8, the CBS affiliate out of Charleston) did not have as good of a reception as Channel 3. I do think “Mighty Minford Falcons” Bob Bowen was the sports director.

A tragic irony to this is that occurred less than three years after the Silver Bridge collapse. Two terrible tragedies about 40 miles apart.

Thanks OCF! That’s what I was after. I do remember Bos Johnson. Wore glasses and not a big guy as I recall.

I never realized that Gene Morehouse "The Voice of The Herd" was a native of Newark, NJ. He came to West Virginia in 1949.

http://www.marshall.edu/special-collections/memorial/staf...

This is very true, and if you are just a little bit older, you remember when WSAZ was Channel 2, and not 3, with an incredibly powerful signal that could be received in Athens, and much of Southeaster Ohio, with just rabbit ears, especially if you lived on a hill and not in a valley.

Well...per Merrimack-Webster.com, in their "What's Irony" section about the word, there appears the following: "The word irony has come to be applied to events that are merely curious or coincidental, and while some feel this is an incorrect use of the word, it is merely a new one."

And that's why I am defending irony. When irony is bastardized, we're doomed.

I am very familiar with the events since I was a student at Marshall during that period. Ted Shoebridge, the quarterback for the team was a fraternity brother of mine and he was from Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

With all due respect, I am not sure if I understand the part of your post concerning the movie. If you are taking about the block that lead to the winning touchdown. That block was made by Jack Crabtree. Jack was not on the plane that crashed and played the following year on the Young Thundering Herd. I ran into Jack at Marshall game watching parties in Richmond, VA. The player with number 53 is listed as a middle guard and is from New Jersey. I attended the Xavier game.

"When the Herd lined up there were eight seconds on the scoreboard clock and by the time MU tackle Jack Crabtree cut down Xavier's Leo Burby the game was over. Burby, a defensive tackle, was the only man with a shot at the sprinting Gardner, and Crabtree, a sophomore from Tazewell, Va., laid him low."

https://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/marshall_plane_cra...


Here is a link to The Young Thundering Herd roster.

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/herald-dispa...

I also have Ohio connections with a family member who was in the administration at Ohio, so I grew up attending Ohio games when I visited family in Athens. That is why I follow the Bobcats.

I don't know if you saw,but I'm from Rochelle Park,N.J.

Actually,the Roster you posted has the wrong name for #53.
As far as I know,his name is Bart Tarulli.
They did get his home town (Rochelle Park) correct.

Bart and I wrestled together in high school.

I knew he was supposed to go to Marshall to play football,but never spoke to him after we graduated in 1971.

So I didn't know if he went there or not.

I was told about Bart playing for the Young Thundering Herd and the block by Teddy Shoebridge's brother.

I spoke to him at the 2014 Silencing Ceremony,when he was the Keynote speaker.

I told him I was from northern N.J. too.
He asked where.
When I told him Rochelle Park,he said "you must know Bart Tarulli".

When I said I did,he told me the whole story.

I haven't seen the movie since.
But he said you can clearly see #53 making the block.