View complete article and references at Commemorative Landscapes of North Carolina at: https://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/380

Description: The memorial is a bronze plaque, approximately two feet wide by three feet tall, commemorating the tragic loss of the Marshall University football team in a plane crash on November 14, 1970. The Marshall team were flying home following a game in Greenville against East Carolina University.
The memorial contains the bas-relief image of the Marshall University Football Team Memorial Fountain on the campus of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. The fountain at Marshall is a large abstract sculpture with elements that suggest the transformation of the torn hull of a plane's fusillage into the form of a flower. Water flows from the interior of the floral shape, evoking themes of both eternity and regeneration.

Inscription:
MARSHALL MEMORIAL / THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED IN MEMORY OF THE 1970 / MARSHALL UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL TEAM THAT VALIANTLY / PLAYED ITS FINAL GAME ON THIS VERY GRIDIRON. / THE TRAGEDY WILL BE REMEMBERED AND HONORED / THROUGH THIS MEMORIAL FOR A TEAM THAT GAVE ITS ALL. / THEIR FLIGHT TO ETERNITY FOREVER CHANGED THE LIVES / OF THOSE WHO DEARLY LOVED THEM. / WE HONOR THEIR DEDICATION, DISCIPLINE, AND / DEVOTION TO THE GAME OF FOOTBALL AS NO OTHER / TEAM IN HISTORY HAS GIVEN SO MUCH. / THEY SHALL LIVE ON IN THE HEARTS OF THEIR FAMILIES / AND FRIENDS FOREVER, AND THIS MEMORIAL RECORDS / THE LOSS TO THEIR UNIVERSITY AND THE ENTIRE / INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC COMMUNITY.

Dedication date: 11/11/2006

Materials & Techniques: Bronze

Sponsor: East Carolina University

Unveiling & Dedication: The memorial was dedicated and unveiled on Saturday November 11, 2006 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium at East Carolina University. The University observed a moment of silence. ECU Chancellor Dr. Steve Ballard and Marshal University President Dr. Stephen Kopp were the speakers. The dedication took place prior to a football contest between ECU and Marshall on that Saturday.

Subject notes: On November 14, 1970, the members of the Marshall University football team, "The Herd", were aboard a chartered airline flight to return home to Huntington, West Virginia following a game against the East Carolina University team. Flight 962, a Southern Airways DC-9, went down in poor visibility, a combination of rain, fog, and smoke, as the plane approached the runway at Tri-State Airport in Huntington. The plane crashed into a hillside some 5,500 feet west of the airport, killing all 75 on board.

Location: The memorial is installed on a brick wall, facing roughly east, at the entrance to Service Gate B of the Dowdy-Ficklen stadium at East Carolina University. The entrance is off West Berkeley Road. Elmhurst Elementary School is directly across the street.

Landscape: A cement plaza is adjacent to the stadium entrance with beds for evergreen and seasonal plantings, a number of larger shade trees, and several flag poles.

City: Greenville

County: Pitt

Subjects: Athletic Institutions,Historic Sports Figures,Tragedy