After decades of silence, former Marshall University football player Dennis Foley is talking about the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people, including 37 former teammates.
Foley played linebacker for the Thundering Herd in 1969 but an offseason ankle injury — suffered playing basketball in his hometown of Cartaret, N.J. — forced him from the team shortly before the start of the 1970 season. A few months later, on Nov. 14, 1970, the plane carrying from Greenville, N.C. — where they had just played East Carolina — to Huntington, W.V., crashed, killing everyone aboard.
"First there's anger," Foley told the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette last week. "And further, it's survivor's guilt. In the beginning, it's bad. And many, many of the survivors talk to me and tell me the same thing."
According to Jeff Baron of the Eagle-Gazette, Foley has turned down countless opportunities to share his story and be a consultant for TV or movies. He did speak last year at the annual memorial service for the victims and finally gave his first in-depth interview since the crash.
