Almost every day, Dave Lewis comes out on his back cover, cautiously, as his left leg remains a medical manual after six surgeries and four knee replacements in general.
Lewis lives in Overland Park, Kansas, about 10 km south of Interstate 70, and will look toward I-70, which stretches west along 420 miles from Kansas, then denver and beyond.
Lewis takes a list to the bridge. A list of 31 other people who died in a football plane crash in Wichita state on October 2, 1970, fifty years ago.
“I honor his memory every day, ” said Lewis. ” I look up and think of them.
Lewis may have been on the list.
Rusty Featherstone, a retired Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent, Lewis’s teammate with those 1970 Wheatshockers. They are among the survivors who have spent part of a century honoring the memory of those who died.
“We had friends we lost in Vietnam, but no one expected a player organization to go on to play a football game on Saturday afternoon and come,” Featherstone said.
It’s been 50 years since the Shockers left for Logan, Utah, and a game opposed to the state of Utah. Fifty years since one of the planes took the classic Denver direction after a fuel stop, and the plane has taken a scenic direction.
The landscape ended at Mount Trelease Canyon, above the Eisenhower Tunnel below the structure around I-70, 60 miles west of Denver.
For 50 years, Featherstone remembered not only names and faces, but also people’s spirits, names, and faces. He collapses when he talks about his friends who never made it to Logan.
“I may communicate for hours about my memories,” Featherstone said. “The boys we lost and they may not live their lives. They weren’t just wonderful young men, friendly to everyone and amazing athletes, but they were also too young. “die when they had so much to offer.
Featherstone grew up in Oklahoma with Johnny Duren, who played as an open receiver for WSU. When Duren graduated from high school, he was “a superstar,” Featherstone said. “Class delegate. Member of the National Honor Society”.
As Wichita State’s sophomores, they had both made the initial lineup the week of the Utah State game. The Shockers traveled on two planes. Those who departed sometimes flew on the golden plane, however, Featherstone was mistakenly assigned to the black plane for the voyage.
When the planes stopped to load fuel in Denver, players stretched their legs on the asphalt. Durén told Featherstone there was an empty seat on the golden plane. But Featherstone won a hot and heavy sword game; he sought to see it through.
“I stayed at IArray,” Featherstone said. That was the last time I saw Johnny.
Lewis on the golden plane. It was a defensive ending in Duncan, Oklahoma, and he had aspirations in the NFL. Lewis and Donnie Christian had been Duncan’s most productive frifinishes.
“Donnie, the most powerful guy I’ve ever met, ” said Lewis. “It’s a magnet for girls. All the women enjoyed it. He’s a smart guy. There’s never been a crossword puzzle between us.
Lewis sat in the back of the golden plane, having migrated there in the hope that a flight attendant would sit next to him. Christian sat two rows ahead of Lewis. As the plane entered the canyon, and the Rocky Mountains suddenly approached, and the pilot began circling, desperately seeking to save time, Christian glanced at Lewis.
“He knew something bad, ” said Lewis.
Nine other people survived the accident. Lewis said all the dead were dressed in seat belts and were lying with their seats. Lewis took off his seat belt and threw a lot of mutilated disorder.
Lewis’ leg was so broken that his foot hung from his side and he started vomiting blood. Years later, Lewis learned that teammate Mike Bruce, another survivor, had driven him through a hole to get out of the hell of the accident. Lewis begging on the floor when he learned that all his garments were gone, cut between the trees. Like everyone else, he cut and burned.
Some of the survivors began to descend from the mountain for help. Lewis, dressed only in a tie and still in shock, tried to break free. The miners who were building the tunnel had noticed the accident and were on their way to help. know how far he’s gone until those miners locate him.
Lewis and teammate Glenn Kostal were placed in a miner’s cabin so they could just lie down and see a phone.
“I asked Glenn, ” do you think it works? Let’s see it, ” said Lewis.
Lewis called his mother in Duncan, she responded and his son explained what had happened. Her mother was hysterical, crying and screaming. He also asked a question.
“And Donnie?
For 50 years, those Shockers have accumulated in October to commemorate the lives lost. More than 30 people met Friday at Wichita State Campus with dozens of friends and family from victims and survivors.
“We thought the 50th would be the biggest meeting,” Featherstone said. “But, of course, no one has planned COVID.
“We [] honor our friends and reconnect with each other. As we mourn those we lost that day, we also focus on those who survived the accident. All those other people have replaced forever, but we have stayed very close all those years.
Many of the 1970s Shockers have visited the site of the turn of fate over the years, making the difficult ascent to shed tears, leave memories and offer prayers.
Dave Lewis dug up a small pine tree and replanted it in his overland park yard.
This may be the end of official survivors’ meetings in Wichita state. They’re getting old. Some of them are dead. Some are poorly healthy and know that at some point, monuments and memories will burn in their souls.
Team 70, those Shockers call their teammates.
“They’re a long way from today, ” said Featherstone.
You can contact Berry Tramel at 405-760-8080 or btramel@oklahoman. com.