A monument to the 1970 plane crash that claimed the lives of all 75 on board.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Stephen Ward was only five years-old when he saw his father for the final time. His dad, Parker Ward owned Hez Ward Buick in Huntington and was on the DC-9 jetliner that crashed near Tri-State Airport, killing all 75 Marshall football players, coaches, administrators, and crew on board.
“I remember a rainy day and a rainy evening and people converging on our house,” recalled Ward. “Just being five or five-and-a-half years old and probably not understanding the magnitude of it.”
Ward will speak on behalf of the families during Saturday’s annual Memorial Service at the student center plaza.
Parker Ward owned Hez Ward Buick in Huntington and was a former swimmer at the University of North Carolina. He, like everybody else, was excited at the rare opportunity to take a charter flight to Greenville, N.C. for the Nov. 14 game against East Carolina.
“Back then this was a big deal to take a charter flight down to Greenville,” Ward emphasized.
For Ward it was several years before he released how far-reaching the tragedy really was.
“A friend of mine, Karen Hagley, who lost not only her dad, Dr. Ray Hagley, lost her mother Shirley. I think as I started to grow up, especially in the ’80’s, in middle school at Camack, I started understanding what it meant to everybody. It’s not like we went through it alone, there were so many folks involved.”
Ward, now 50, lives in Louisville where he works for Boehriner-Ingelheim Oncology where he manages nine representatives covering eight states. He admittedly doesn’t remember much about his father, who was just 36 when he died, but Ward said there is one memory that sticks out.
“I had a memory of him taking us down to Fairfield Stadium and throwing the ball around a little bit,” Ward fondly remember.
Saturday’s ceremony begins at 10 a.m. The service will be livestreamed at www.marshall.edu/it/livestream.
- Source: http://wvmetronews.com
NTSB Identification: DCA71AZ005
14 CFR Part 121 Nonscheduled operation of SOUTHERN AIRWAYS INC
Aircraft: DOUGLAS DC-9, registration: N97S
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FILE DATE LOCATION AIRCRAFT DATA INJURIES FLIGHT PILOT DATA
F S M/N PURPOSE
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1-0023 70/11/14 HUNTINGTON,W VA DOUGLAS DC-9 CR- 5 0 0 NS/CTR REVENUE PASSG DOM ATP,FLIGHT INSTR., AGE
TIME - 1936 N97S PX- 70 0 0 47, 18557 TOTAL HOURS,
DAMAGE-DESTROYED OT- 0 0 0 2194 IN TYPE, INSTRUMENT
RATED.
NAME OF AIRPORT - TRI-STATE
OPERATOR - SOUTHERN AIRWAYS,INC.
DEPARTURE POINT INTENDED DESTINATION
KINSTON,NC HUNTINGTON,W VA
TYPE OF ACCIDENT PHASE OF OPERATION
COLLIDED WITH: TREES LANDING: FINAL APPROACH
PROBABLE CAUSE(S)
MISCELLANEOUS - UNDETERMINED
FIRE AFTER IMPACT
REMARKS- DSCNT BLO MDA.UN DTRM IF DSCNT DUE IMPROPER COCKPIT INSTRUMENTATION DATA USE OR ALTM SYSTEM ERROR.
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