Real Tragedy, Real Triumph: True Stories and Images from the Crash and Rebirth of Marshall University Football

The Huntington, W.Va., newspapers have borne witness to the tragedy of the plane crash that claimed the lives of most of the 1970 Marshall University football team and many coaches and supporters, and to the triumphant rebirth of the football team through the next year’s “Young Herd.” The Herald-Dispatch and its former sister papers, the afternoon Huntington Advertiser and Sunday Herald-Advertiser, chronicled the shock and devastation of a community and its coming together to mourn, heal and remember. The Herald-Dispatch offers this collection of the true happenings, people and images of this story of real tragedy and real triumph. The Herald-Dispatch is pleased to donate a portion of the proceeds from sales of this book to the scholarship at Marshall University that bears the name of Nate Ruffin, who missed the tragic flight because of an injury and who was a leader and captain of the Young Herd. Later, Ruffin worked for The Herald-Dispatch as human resources director. He went on to positively influence not only this and other newspapers but also the greater cause of journalistic progress and freedom.