Memorial '70 Home

WICHITA, Kan.  --  At 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 2, the annual ceremony of remembrance will be held at Wichita State University's Memorial '70, located on Alumni Drive near 18th and Hillside. The ceremony will honor the 31 WSU football players, administrators and supporters who died in a 1970 plane crash in the Rocky Mountains.

A wreath will be placed at the base of Memorial '70, and there will be a time of remembrance to acknowledge the changes that the plane crash made in the lives of the victims, their families, their friends and the university.

A continental breakfast reception will follow in the Shocker 70 Football Room at 202 Rhatigan Student Center.

Prior to this year's memorial, a group of Shocker football families and players will travel to Little Rock, Ark., site of the beginning of Football "Second Season," which began Oct. 24, 1970, 22 days after the tragedy. Details are below.

The Tragedy

In one of the worst tragedies of college sports history, a plane carrying WSU football players, athletic staff members and team boosters crashed at approximately 3 p.m., Oct. 2, 1970, on a mountain near Silver Plume, Colorado, while enroute to Logan, Utah, for a game against Utah State University.

The "Gold" plane, a Martin 404, carried 36 passengers and a crew of four. Twenty-nine persons died at the scene. Trainer Tom Reeves and player John Taylor died later in the hospital after receiving medical attention for their injuries.

Survivors of the crash were players Mike Bruce, John Hoheisel, Randy Jackson, Glenn Kostal, Dave Lewis, Keith Morrison, Bob Renner, Rick Stephens and co-pilot Ronald Skipper.

Football players and coaches on the "Black" plane were told of the crash by Bob Seaman, assistant coach, shortly after arrival in Logan, Utah. The game with Utah State was cancelled. WSU players spent the night in Logan and returned to Wichita by commercial plane Saturday.

A plane was made available by Governor Docking to take university officials and family of the survivors to Denver. Classes were cancelled Monday, October 5, and a memorial service was held Monday evening at Cessna Stadium.

The Utah State football team held a brief memorial service at the stadium where the game was to be played Saturday and placed a black and yellow wreath on the 50-yard line.

The future of the 1970 football season was in doubt, with the decision lying in the hands of the football players, university officials and eligibility rules. The NCAA had no objection of using freshman in the remaining games; neither did the Missouri Valley Conference.

The football players decided to continue the season, which was later designated as the "Second Season." The first game following the air tragedy was Sat., Oct. 24 with the University of Arkansas Razorbacks in Little Rock at the War Memorial Stadium.

2016 Wichita State-Arkansas Second-Season Reunion

On Oct. 1, 2016, a contingent of approximately 50 people associated with Wichita State and the crash will attend the University of Arkansas-Alcorn State football game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Ark., the site of the beginning of the "Second Season."

In 1970, then-seniors Bob Hays, John Hoheisel and Don Pankratz met Arkansas players Chuck Dicus, Ronnie Hammers and Bruce James at mid-field for the coin toss while a standing ovation from the 40,000 Razorback fans met the team with they appeared on the field at War Memorial Stadium on Oct. 24. After the game, the Arkansas team came across the field to hug the predominately freshman-sophomore Shocker players, and the crowd stood again and applauded.

Dicus, and former Shocker John Potts, arranged the reunion trip for the group to go to Little Rock for a social and football game. A social is planned Friday night, Sept. 30, and the group will tailgate prior to the game. Wichita State Athletic Director Darron Boatright, and members of the WSU Alumni Association will attend the events and will present Arkansas with a commemorative plaque.

As the second-season began in 1970, newly appointed Head Coach Bob Seaman, who led the Shockers to Arkansas with just 10 days of practice and two seniors, five juniors, 19 sophomores and 20 freshmen, said after the "Second Season" game, "There is just one team that is number one in my book, and that's Wichita. Now, there's another team that ranks right up there, and it's Arkansas."