The annual remembrance of Memorial ’70 is set for 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2 at the memorial sculpture at the university entrance at Alumni Drive and Hillside (18th and Hillside). The reception will be held immediately following the ceremony in the Shocker ’70 RSC (room 202). With potential rain in the forecast, there may be a change of location. Check https://wsu.news/memoriallocation for updates.
During an annual ceremony of remembrance, a wreath is placed at Wichita State’s Memorial ’70 each Oct. 2. The brief ceremony honors the Wichita State football players, administrators and supporters who died in a plane crash Oct. 2, 1970.
The WSU “Gold” plane, a Martin 404 carrying 36 passengers and a crew of four, crashed at approximately 3 p.m. on a mountain near Silver Plume, Colorado, while en route to Logan, Utah, for a game with Utah State University. Twenty-nine persons died at the scene, while two others died later after receiving medical attention for their injuries. The WSU “Black” plane landed safely in Utah.
The ceremony offers a time of remembrance to acknowledge the changes that the plane crash made in the lives of the victims, their families, their friends and the university.