Forty-five years ago (Sept. 27, 1975), the Buffaloes defeated Wichita State in Boulder, 52-0. It was just Wichita's fourth road trip traveling west after one of its two charter airplanes crashed near Loveland Pass, killing 31 members of the travel party. Those who perished included 14 players, the head coach and athletic director (and their wives), staff, guests and three members of the flight crew; nine survived the impact. Previously, WSU played twice at New Mexico State but crossed the Rockies just once, traveling to Fresno State in late 1974.
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.
The planes, dubbed "Black" and "Gold" after the school's colors, were on their way to Logan, Utah for a Saturday, Oct. 3 game against Utah State. The "Gold" plane always carried the starting 22 players. The planes stopped to refuel at Stapleton Airport in Denver around Noon on the Friday before. The "Black" plane took a more northerly route to Utah, but the "Gold" one headed directly west; the team's pilots often took scenic routes to show the travel party scenic and majestic views and America in general. But the plane was low and struggled to gain altitude, clipped several trees before crashing near Silver Plume, a few miles short of the Continental Divide. Nine on the plane survived, eight players and the co-pilot. (Two weeks earlier, most don't recall that one of the team's charters skidded off the runway in Oklahoma City after a game against Oklahoma State.)
There was a vote among those associated with the program on all levels whether or not to resume the season; it was 76-1 to do so and the Shockers returned to action three weeks later at Arkansas. In must have been an incredibly emotional moment, as the Wichita State players took the field in single file to a standing ovation from over 40,000 Razorback fans. The NCAA granted special permission for WSU to play freshmen the remainder of that season (and would do so the following year for Marshall University, well documented in the movie, We Are Marshall. It's team plane, carrying 75 people in all, crashed 43 days later). The surviving Shocker coaches and players would later say resuming the season was a rallying point for the program and the school in general, though Arkansas won 62-0 and WSU went on to finish 0-9.
CU's late head coach and athletic director, Eddie Crowder, arranged with Wichita State officials in 1972 for the Buffaloes to host the Shockers two years later to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the accident (I couldn't find any documentation or witnesses about who approached who for the game.) Many members of the school's travel party visited the crash site, where to this day, some of the wreckage remains intact. There are assorted memorials in the area including a plaque just off Interstate 70, one that lists the names of those who died. There is also a permanent memorial on the WSU campus.
The Shockers would make an entry on the positive side of college football history, as in 1979, Wichita State became the first Division I school to hire an African-American head coach, Willie Jeffries. He would coach the school to its last winning season (8-3 in 1982) before the school eliminated the program for several reasons following the 1986 season.
THIS WEEK'S OBSCURE HISTORICAL NOTE
Our record books tend to be more expansive than most – research is one of my work "loves." I know for a fact we have more records than any other entity for football and golf, which is why when someone's career is over, often they depart with records that number as high as 101 (Sefo Liufau, for example). In-between my freshman and sophomore years, then-S.I.D. Tim Simmons knew I loved research and digging into old files or newspaper microfilm (I had created record books for football and basketball for my high school in suburban NYC, Woodlands), and gave me a green light to expand ours. So I went at it, and through the years, keep adding unique records whenever I can. Two of my favorites include:
Longest Punt With Non-Kicking Foot: Against Oklahoma State in Boulder on Nov. 2, 1985, our two-time, first-team All-American was in his sophomore season, having converted to punter full-time from quarterback. He opened the game with a 66-yard boot, and had to punt again from CU's own 18 late in the first quarter. His protection collapsed and Helton was sent scurrying to his left; he managed to get a kick off with his left foot. It was a low line drive, hit a little over 25 yards downfield and rolled to a stop at OSU 31 – 51 yards in all. He had five punts on the afternoon for a 52.2-yard average, four with his right foot, his natural leg, for a 52.3 average, and the 51-yarder with his "non-kicking" foot.
Seasons In Which First Reception Was A Touchdown: Sometimes records are discovered purely by accident like this one. When James Kidd caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Koy Detmer against Washington State in the '96 season opener, it dawned on me that he always seemed to score a quick TD out of the gate. Sure enough, his first career reception against Baylor in the second game of the 1993 season went for a 25-yard score (Vance Joseph was the quarterback); then in the season openers of his sophomore (against NE Louisiana) and junior (at Wisconsin), his first receptions of those games went for scores (44 yards from Kordell Stewart against NELA, 6 yards from Detmer at UW). To this day, he is the only known player in the NCAA to have that occur and it is recognized in the national record book.
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