The other day, I finally got the chance to see �We Are Marshall,� the story of the horrible plane crash and the aftermath that began the Thundering Herd�s revival from the ashes of that devastating night.

Anyone familiar with East Carolina football knows that the crash followed a 17-14 Pirate victory that November afternoon in 1970. Except for a few injured players left behind in Huntington, WV, the entire Marshall squad, along with most of the coaching staff, support staff and fans � all 75 aboard � perished when the plane clipped a tree on a mountainside just minutes from landing.

That night, I was at my post at The Daily Reflector working on getting Sunday morning�s sports section out, when the phone rang. It was a man from a Huntington area radio station, asking if Marshall had left to fly back home. He said that a plane had crashed at the airport and there were fears that it was the team�s flight.

I told him I thought the plane had left, but I would check with Kinston�s airport. A quick call revealed that the plane had left. The contact there told me the plane should have landed just a few minutes ago, and wanted to know why I was inquiring. When I told him, his only reply was �Oh, my God.�

I called the radio station back, but they had already confirmed that it was, indeed, the Marshall plane.

It was a night I would just as soon never recall, but it can�t be helped. I had to contact Pirate coaches and administrators to get their reactions, and the phone began to ring off the hook with media from across the country wanting those reactions.

I really didn�t know what to expect from the movie, but I thought it was an outstanding picture, very inspiring, despite the fact that I recognized several �dramatic effect� portions that were pure fiction.

The movie opened with the closing moments of the Pirate-Herd game, and showed Marshall failing to complete a pass into the end zone on the final play of the game.

At the climax of the movie, Marshall claimed a win in only the second game after the crash, completing a final-play touchdown pass.

Neither of these matched the actual endings of the game.

East Carolina�s Ficklen Stadium obviously wasn�t used in the filming of the game, but it was shown smaller than it actually was. And even though our press box of the time was dinky, it wasn�t as dinky as was shown. Marshall�s stadium � in the film � was shown larger than it was in those days.

Red Dawson, the coach who switched with another coach to drive on a recruiting trip after the ECU game, is shown calling from the airport in Greenville, and learning of the crash when he stopped at a rural filling station to gas up.

Dawson � whose name was on the plane�s manifest and believed among the dead � actually didn�t learn of the crash until the next morning when he was eating breakfast in a caf� in Virginia.

There were probably other such �dramatic moments� in the film, and it�s not surprising, knowing Hollywood�s penchant for that.

All that aside, however, the inspiration of Marshall�s return to the football field, eventually winning two Division I-AA championships, made for a fine story.

While little was said of East Carolina�s reactions to the accident, the worst in the history of sports, the ECU family did join in the mourning of those who died. Head coach Mike McGee, several players and, I believe, Chancellor Leo Jenkins flew to Huntington for a memorial service.

Over the years, there was a push for some sort of memorial at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, but it wasn�t until this past season that it was accomplished. A plaque memorializing those who died has been placed beside the gate where visiting teams enter the stadium.

There is a bond between the two schools because of the history between them, regardless of whether they are conference rivals. We Are Pirates, that�s for sure. But, forever together, We Are � also� Marshall.