Appalachian History Series
A November evening that changed a town
On November 14, 1970, a chartered Southern Airways DC-9 carrying the Marshall University football team, coaches, staff, boosters, and crew struck trees on approach to Tri-State Airport near Huntington, West Virginia. All 75 aboard were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board later found that the jet descended below its minimum safe altitude during a nonprecision approach in poor weather, without the runway in sight.
From Greenville to the Ohio Valley
That afternoon Marshall had played East Carolina in Greenville, North Carolina. Surviving program materials and game film in East Carolina University’s collections document the contest and the 17-14 final. The chartered return flight departed Kinston early that evening bound for Huntington.
Weather and the approach at Tri-State
Near Huntington, conditions were marginal: mist and light rain with a broken ceiling reported around 500 feet. The crew contacted the tower at 7:23 p.m. and was cleared for the Runway 11 localizer approach, which did not provide an electronic glideslope in 1970. Minutes later the aircraft descended through the hills west of the field and hit trees about a mile from the threshold. Contemporary station records for Huntington Tri-State and the NTSB narrative support the poor-weather picture and the nonprecision approach in use that night.
What investigators determined
The NTSB’s final report concluded: the probable cause was descent below Minimum Descent Altitude on a nonprecision approach under adverse operating conditions, without visual contact with the runway environment. Investigators could not fix a single reason for the excessive descent, noting two likely explanations: improper use of cockpit instrumentation data or an altimetry system error. The report reproduces the Jeppesen approach information used at Tri-State and includes excerpts from the cockpit voice recorder that show the confusion common to nonprecision approaches in low visibility.
Safety recommendations that followed
As part of the investigation, the NTSB issued three safety recommendations, cataloged under A-72-034, A-72-035, and A-72-036, aimed at improving flight-operations surveillance and the tools available to flight crews during approaches in poor conditions. These recommendations are listed on the Board’s official case page for the accident.
A campus and a city in mourning
Huntington woke on November 15 to stark headlines and photographs in the local press. The Herald-Advertiser and the next day’s Herald-Dispatch documented the loss and the first details from the hills west of the runway. That evening, Acting President Donald N. Dedmon told a packed memorial service at the Veterans Memorial Field House that the university would carry the memory of the 75 lost, a theme that has anchored commemorations ever since.
How Huntington remembers
Marshall University’s Special Collections maintain a comprehensive memorial portal with scans of programs, photographs, and documents. Among them is a 1971 plot map of the Spring Hill Cemetery graves, including the six unidentified team members interred together. On November 12, 1972 the university dedicated the Memorial Student Center Fountain by sculptor Harry Bertoia. The fountain’s significance and design are detailed in the site’s history pages and in the 2024 National Register of Historic Places nomination, and the water is traditionally turned off each November 14 during the annual ceremony.
Why this story still matters
The Flight 932 crash is the worst sports-team air disaster in U.S. history and a defining event in Appalachian memory. It marked a turning point for Huntington and for Marshall’s community identity. It also became part of a broader national conversation about approach procedures, cockpit instrumentation, and flight-operations oversight that shaped the next generation of airline safety. The permanence of the Memorial Fountain and the yearly ritual around it show how a local tragedy has become a shared act of remembrance, binding campus and town.
Sources & Further Reading
National Transportation Safety Board, Aircraft Accident Report, Southern Airways, Inc., DC-9, N97S, Tri-State Airport, Huntington, West Virginia, November 14, 1970 (AAR-72-11). Official PDF; mirror available via Marshall University. NTSB+1
NTSB Investigation page DCA71AZ005 listing safety recommendations A-72-034, A-72-035, A-72-036. NTSB
The Herald-Advertiser (Huntington), November 15, 1970; The Herald-Dispatch (Huntington), November 16, 1970. Contemporary coverage. Marshall University+1
Acting President Donald N. Dedmon, Statement at the Memorial Service, November 15, 1970. Marshall University
East Carolina vs. Marshall game program, November 14, 1970; ECU-Marshall game film reels. ECU Digital Collections+1
Marshall University Special Collections, Plane Crash Memorial portal; Spring Hill Cemetery grave-plot map for unidentified players (1971). Marshall University+1
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Integrated Surface Database overview and station page for Huntington Tri-State. NCEI+1
National Register of Historic Places Nomination, Marshall University Memorial Fountain (2024), West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History. West Virginia Culture Center
West Virginia Encyclopedia (e-WV), “Marshall Plane Crash.” West Virginia Encyclopedia
West Virginia Public Broadcasting, feature coverage and 50th-anniversary retrospectives. West Virginia Public Broadcasting+1
Marshall University History and Traditions pages, Memorial Fountain. Marshall University
History.com, “Plane crash devastates Marshall University football team.” HISTORY