I had never heard of this story before reading the following article on how a new memorial for the tragedy will be dedicated this Sunday.
The deaths were 3 runners, 2 coaches, 1manager and a pilot.
So sad.
I had never heard of this story before reading the following article on how a new memorial for the tragedy will be dedicated this Sunday.
The deaths were 3 runners, 2 coaches, 1manager and a pilot.
So sad.
Thanks for sharing.
Anyone else find the memorial distasteful. 7 people died in the crash but the memorial is a hexagon - to honor the 6 with ties to Iowa State - ignoring the pilot.
just read it wrote:
Thanks for sharing.
Anyone else find the memorial distasteful. 7 people died in the crash but the memorial is a hexagon - to honor the 6 with ties to Iowa State - ignoring the pilot.
The whole point of these kinds of memorials is to honor specific people. There were probably others who died in car crashes and other accidents that day. Why shouldn't they be remembered too? I suppose because the point is to honor these specific people.
From the article: "The crash pained the running community, and many stepped forward to donate money for the $10,000 memorial, said Lane, a one-time avid runner and public health official."
Maybe the pilot community was not similarly pained.
I was a student at ISU at the time and remember hearing the first reports of the crash on the radio. There was a memorial service at Hilton Coliseum and I remember them playing "Ain't Nothin' Gonna Break My Stride" which was kind of a theme song for the team that season. I'm happy to hear of the memorial and will stop and visit and remember some great young people.
The pilot's name is engraved on the plaque.
just read it wrote:
Thanks for sharing.
Anyone else find the memorial distasteful. 7 people died in the crash but the memorial is a hexagon - to honor the 6 with ties to Iowa State - ignoring the pilot.
"A boulder will carry a plaque engraved with their names, as well as pilot Burton Watkins’, and a stick-figure running girl that became a symbol for the 1985 team. "
Longer article from a few years ago.
I am surprised that people in the running community are unfamiliar with the story. Mike Jay and ISU put something out every year but I guess I am closer to the story than most. It was sort of eerie this year when the articles and the announcers kept bringing up the last time that there was snow and that the meet was also in WIsconsin that year. I thought they should have mentioned the Iowa State team.
My HS coach was on that team (Greta beilke at the time) so I heard about this story from her on the way to a meet one day. Only reason she wasn't on the plane was that she was from Wisconsin and so just went right home from the meet for thanksgiving. Truly a sad and tragic story that was still difficult for her to talk about even 20 years after the fact.
ROJO How about a story on Dan McClimon and what happened after the 82 championship season.
here is the NTSB report on the crash if anyone is interested.
He died in a plane crash too
ISU was hit prior to '85 with another loss due to a plane crash. Jeff Myers, Brian Vincent, and Laura Vernon were killed in a plane crash in '78. Jeff was an outstanding distance runner specializing in the mile. Brian was still developing but had some great times and races-if I remember right he was about a 4:12 miler. Laura I didn't know, but if I remember she was Jeff's girl friend. I ran against Brian several times during our HS careers and he tried his very best to recruit me to ISU, but I decided to go elsewhere. Jeff was an inspiration to me as he qualified for the '76 trials in the 1500 and was instrumental in bringing a new crop of distance runners to ISU. Let's not forget them.
RIP: D3 All-American Frank Csorba - who ran 13:56 in March - dead
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
Running for Bowerman Track Club used to be cool now its embarrassing
Great interview with Steve Cram - says Jakob has no chance of WRs this year
Hats off to my dad. He just ran a 1:42 Half Marathon and turns 75 in 2 months!