1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football team

The 1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football team was an American football team that represented Marshall University as an independent during the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. In its second season under head coach Rick Tolley, the team compiled a 3–6 record and was outscored by a total of 202 to 138.^[1] The team played its home games at Fairfield Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia.

1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football
Conference	Independent
Record	3–6
Head coach	Rick Tolley (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Jim "Shorty" Moss
Defensive coordinator	William "Red" Dawson (3rd season)
Captain	Dave Griffith
Home stadium	Fairfield Stadium
Seasons ← 1969 1971 →

1970 NCAA University Division independents football records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Notre Dame			–					10	–	1	–	0
Villanova			–					9	–	2	–	0
No. 16 Air Force			–					9	–	3	–	0
No. 13 Georgia Tech			–					9	–	3	–	0
Boston College			–					8	–	2	–	0
No. 19 Houston			–					8	–	3	–	0
West Virginia			–					8	–	3	–	0
No. 17 Tulane			–					8	–	4	–	0
No. 18 Penn State			–					7	–	3	–	0
West Texas State			–					7	–	3	–	0
Cincinnati			–					7	–	4	–	0
Florida State			–					7	–	4	–	0
Virginia Tech			–					5	–	6	–	0
Syracuse			–					6	–	4	–	0
Dayton			–					5	–	4	–	1
Pittsburgh			–					5	–	5	–	0
Rutgers			–					5	–	5	–	0
Utah State			–					5	–	5	–	0
Colgate			–					5	–	6	–	0
Southern Miss			–					5	–	6	–	0
New Mexico State			–					4	–	6	–	0
Miami (FL)			–					3	–	8	–	0
Northern Illinois			–					3	–	7	–	0
Marshall			–					3	–	6	–	0
Buffalo			–					2	–	9	–	0
Navy			–					2	–	9	–	0
Army			–					1	–	9	–	1
Xavier			–					1	–	9	–	0
Holy Cross			–					0	–	10	–	1
Rankings from AP Poll

Memorial at Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington, West Virginia to the victims of the 1970 plane crash.

On November 14, Southern Airways Flight 932, which was chartered by the school to fly the Thundering Herd football team, coaches, and fans to Kinston, North Carolina for a game against the East Carolina Pirates and back to Huntington, crashed on approach to Tri-State Airport after clipping trees just west of the runway and impacting nose-first into a hollow. All 75 people on board died, including 37 members of the football team, five coaches, and seven staff members. It was the worst single air tragedy in NCAA sports history. The tragedy was depicted in the movie We Are Marshall (2006) and the documentary film Marshall University: Ashes to Glory (2000).

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 19		Morehead State	Fairfield Stadium Huntington, WV	W 17–7	11,000
September 26	8:00 p.m.	at Toledo	Glass Bowl Toledo, OH	L 3–52	12,804
October 3	8:00 p.m.	at Xavier	Corcoran Stadium Cincinnati, OH	W 31–14	6,535	[2]
October 10		Miami (OH)	Fairfield Stadium Huntington, WV	L 12–19	7,000
October 17		Louisville	Fairfield Stadium Huntington, WV	L 14–16	6,500
October 24		Western Michigan	Fairfield Stadium Huntington, WV	L 3–34	10,000
October 31	1:30 p.m.	at Bowling Green	Doyt Perry Stadium Bowling Green, OH	L 24–26	16,073
November 7	1:30 p.m.	Kent State	Fairfield Stadium Huntington, WV	W 20–17	6,231
November 14	2:05 p.m.	at East Carolina	Ficklen Stadium Greenville, NC (rivalry)	L 14–17	8,711	[3]
November 21		at Ohio	Peden Stadium Athens, OH (rivalry)	Cancelled		[4][5]
All times are in Eastern time

^[6]

Roster

1970 Marshall Thundering Herd football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 12 Bob Harris Jr QB 14 Ted Shoebridge Jr QB 20 Rick Lech Jr RB 22 Art Harris So RB/KR 25 Kevin Gilmore Sr RB 30 Dickie Carter Sr TE 35 Barry Nash So OL 50 Rick Dardinger Sr OL 51 Jim Adams Sr OL 52 Mike Swartley So OL 53 Wes Hickman Jr OL 54 Jim Sly Jr C 55 Dennis Foley So C 59 Allen Skeens So G 60 Tom Howard Jr OL 61 Mark Andrews Jr OL 63 Jack Crabtree So OL 66 Pat Norell So G 67 Mike Blake So OT 71 Bob Patterson Jr OT 73 Jon Calvin So OT 76 David DeBord Sr WR 80 Dennis Blevins Jr WR 82 Jack Repasy Jr WR 86 John Young So TE 87 Freddy Wilson So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 21 Felix Jordan So DB 25 Nate Ruffin Jr DB 27 Roger Childers So DL 31 Willie Bluford Jr RB 33 Joe Hood So LB 34 Art Shannon Jr LB 35 Dave Cyrus Sr DB 40 Larry Sanders Jr DB 41 Bobby Hill So DB 42 Tony Barile So DB 43 Stuart Cottrell So DB 44 Richard Taglang Jr DB 45 Gary Morgan So LB 56 Jerry Stainback Sr DL 62 Tom Zborill Jr DL 64 Greg Finn Jr DL 65 Tom Brown Sr LB 68 Larry Brown Sr DL 70 Ed Deeds Jr DL 72 Fred Gaudet Jr DL 74 Paul Oden So DL 75 Robert Van Horn So DL 77 Eddie Carter So DL 79 David Withers So LB 81 Dave Griffith Sr LB 83 Scotty Reese Jr DE 84 Pete Naputano Jr DE 85 Roger Vanover Jr DE 88 Al Saylor So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class PK/P 23 Marcelo Lajterman So P 32 Richard Brautigan So	Head coach Rick Tolley Coordinators/assistant coaches Deke Brackett Al Carelli, Jr. Red Dawson Mickey Jackson Carl Kokor Frank Loria Jim "Shorty" Moss Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

People listed in bold italics died in the plane crash on November 14, 1970, along with student trainer Donald Tackett.^[7]

See also

• Southern Airways Flight 932