Marshall memorial service set for 1970 plane crash

Published Nov. 14, 2011 9:36 a.m. ET

foxsports

Marshall University is holding its annual memorial service honoring the 75 victims of the 1970 plane crash.

Monday's service in West Virginia is at the Marshall Memorial Student Center plaza.

The Marshall football team's plane crashed just short of Huntington's Tri-State Airport returning from a game at East Carolina on Nov. 14, 1970. It was the worst disaster in U.S. sports history.

Rick Meckstroth, a freshman member of Marshall's 1970 football team, will be the keynote speaker Monday.

As a freshman, Rick Meckstroth was ineligible to play for Marshall that season. He became a three-year starter for what became known as the Young Thundering Herd.

The Cincinnati native says he lived on the same floor and practiced with the varsity players every day that season.