• 1970 – Southern Airways Flight 932 crashes in the mountains near Huntington, West Virginia, killing 75, including almost all of the Marshall University football team.

Southern Airways Flight 932

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Coordinates: 38°22'27"N 82°34'42"W


A Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident

Accident
Date: November 14, 1970
Summary: Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
Site: On approach to runway 11 at Tri-State Airport in Huntington, West Virginia, United States
38°22'27"N 82°34'42"W

Aircraft
Aircraft type: Douglas DC-9-31
Operator: Southern Airways
Registration: N97S
Flight origin: Kinston Regional Jetport, Kinston, North Carolina
1st stopover: Tri-State Airport, Huntington, West Virginia
2nd stopover: Hopkinsville-Christian County Airport, Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Last stopover: Alexandria International Airport, Alexandria, Louisiana
Destination: Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Occupants: 75
Passengers: 71
Crew: 4
Fatalities: 75
Survivors: 0

Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 domestic United States commercial jet flight from Stallings Field (ISO) in Kinston, North Carolina, to Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field (HTS) near Kenova and Ceredo, West Virginia. At 7:36 pm on November 14, 1970, the aircraft crashed into a hill just short of the Tri-State Airport, killing all 75 people on board in what has been recognized as "the worst sports-related air tragedy in U.S. history".

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The only member of the Purple Aces who did not die in the crash was 18-year-old freshman David Furr; he was out for the season with an ankle injury and thus was not on the plane that day. But just two weeks after the crash, Furr and his younger brother Byron were killed in a car accident near Newton, Illinois, leaving the entire 1977 Evansville team dead.