The Night It Rained Tears

Unless you are from Evansville, Indiana, you probably do not remember what happened 30 years ago today, December 13, 1977. I remember watching the news that evening with my family on the little black and white television that we usually used to play Pong. The news was bleak. I remember the snow falling around a broken up plane. I remember seeing gym bags scattered about on the cold ground. I remember seeing athletic shoes and other things as well. The University of Evansville was to play a basketball game in Murfreesboro, TN. The plane took off from Evansville's Dress Regional Airport and crashed shortly after take-off. There were no survivors.

I remember my parents were to leave the following day for Australia and being scared the plane would crash. I remember going to a game prior to the crash and sitting in the bleachers. I remember hearing Mike Duff was as good if not better than a player from French Lick (Larry Bird). One player failed to make the flight due to illness- he was killed in a car accident one week later. In my opinion the basketball program has never recovered from this tragedy. Please remember the families involved as I am sure this is a difficult time year after year.

Anyway, if you haven't seen We Are Marshall, I highly recommend it. It really brought back the memories of the Aces tragedy which is why I decided to blog about it today- so they would not be forgotten. Go Aces!