For the 50th anniversary of Memorial '70, Wichita State Athletics will be republishing two stories from our archives by former SID Conrad Downing. Downing was on the Black plane and experienced the aftermath first-hand. He lost friends and colleagues, and these two stories reflect the events and the feelings of personal grief he felt. 

When Grantland Rice penned the lines, "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky…" one could hardly have imagined those words would be conjuring thoughts for many Wichita State University football fans that wouldn't pertain to the legendary Four Horsemen in the football sense.
 
It was against that type of "blue-gray October sky" that a plane load of WSU players, fans and officials flew out of the Denver, Colorado airport into what one might call immortality in the hearts of their comrades that were left behind and the many loved ones orphaned by that fatal flight.
 
October 2, 1970 was the date. Thirty-one people died on a mountainside in Colorado among the aspen leaves and rocky slopes outside of Denver.
 
How it happened, no one will ever really know, but fate took the lives of 13 football players and set in action one of the most tragic and yet uplifting responses the nation has ever known. Then, some months later while a regrouped unit of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and three seniors were in Memphis for a game in their second season, Marshall University lost their entire football team and staff in a second air tragedy.
 
So many letters, contributions end responses to the Wichita Fund were wade that it sent WSU staff members into overtime responding to all the letters. Yet, one contribution meant something special to the Shocker football team for they knew what a sacrifice it was to have given so freely of the money intended for praising their own athletes.
 
Texas A&M made a special trip to Wichita with their team captain, head coach, assistant AD and several other seniors to contribute $5,000 to the Wichita State football team. The money was that designated for the year end football banquet, a highlight of the Aggie season.
 
"This has to be one of the greatest moments of my life," head coach Bob Seaman said when he accepted the check. "Never in my coaching career and in my memory have I seen such a generous gift, it's like a small boy giving his life savings to help another. We know how much this meant to the players at Texas A&M and I don't know how I can express what we feel at the gift except to say, that's what football and life is all about… helping one another."
 
Somehow the Shockers survived all the tragic events that cost them a head coach, a trainer, an athletic director and a ticket manager in addition to the players and friends who lost their lives in the crash.
 
The Wichita Fund was established to take care of the human needs and immediately funds poured into Wichita State in response to the newspaper, radio and television requests for aid. The Wichita Fund brought in $127,699.99 at last count. The Football '70 Fund, a local contribution fund for Wichita and the area, netted the largest amount at $175,193.04.
 
A very gracious Monty Hall, emcee of the "Let's Make A Deal" television show, volunteered his services to emcee a NIGHT OF STARS. Bill Cosby, Kate Smith, Lou Rawls, Phil Ford and Mimi Hines, George Gobel, Minnie Pearl, Leif Erickson, Mac Davis, Marilyn Maye, The Young Americans and Gordon Jenkins responded to the plea for talent and provided a network show that raised $157,205.00 for WSU. The TV Memorial Fund, a secondary request for funds given during the show, accounted for $125,360.19. Part of the television show funds went to Marshall University in an effort to help rejuvenate their program.
 
It was indeed a NIGHT OF STARS.
 
Wichita State survived through soul-searching and the courage of the many fans across the nation to start the SECOND SEASON against Arkansas. The vote to continue was 76-1 with eight survivors voting and speaking for continuance.
 
Now, as the Shockers embark on the 1971 football season, the youthful appearance of the sophomores no longer is a mark of innocence but of distinction. For it was those baby-faced players who hitched up their belts and fought out six games against players that had them weight-wise, age-wise, but not in heart.
 
"These kids of ours have hearts as big as this room," a tearful head coach said as his players emptied the field at Little Rock, Arkansas. "This is our proudest moment."