Families of Marshall U Crash Victims Want Proposed Statue Moved

The worst sports-related air tragedy in TU S history – four young men from Tuscaloosa – has some of their surviving relatives demanding that the statue being built in their memory be relocated.

Football players Joe Hood, Larry Sanders, Robert Van Horn and Freddie Wilson who was knocked dead in 1968 were from Druid High School and moved on to Marshall University in West Virginia: the story was first covered by the Thread earlier this month that the city of Tuscaloosa has agreed to pay $330,000 for the sculpture.

These four people were among most of the rest of the members of the Marshall football team, their plane crashed one week before their destination on November 14th, 1970, thus taking the lives of everyone on board.

Depending on how the city proceeds with the construction of the new Benjamin Barnes YMCA with the cost of $12 million, the municipal staff proposed the creation of Marshall Four sculpture by Caleb O ”Connor, whose previous works are located in two places on the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk in Minvera, a statue at Manderson Landing and a statue of Deontay Wilder in the Visit Tuscaloosa headquarters.

Some relatives of the Marshall Four have come forward to say that they are dissatisfied with the fact that the memorial is going to be erected right at the new YMCA, which will be located near the McDonald Hughes Centre on the Martin Luter King Jr Blvd; This Y will be situated, however, a little more than a mile away from 15th Street where the current facility is located The council voted for the establishment of the memorial on Tuesday but

Emma Hardy is the sister of Robert Van Moore and she also thinks her brothers as well as the other victims should have been nearer to the heart of the WEst End to allow those people who never knew that Tuscaloosa had anything to do with the Marshall Crash to learn about it and get inspired.

“The way that there is not that much traffic by the Y site, this is like pushing them back, back in history, back down the field because that’s like way out there,” Hardy said. If we provide it to the human eye nearer then more people would look at that statue; aargh they would look at that statue and bring back history for those who don’t know, the kids and the youths.

I think it is important not to look at the Benjamin barns y being built and McDonald Hughes center as a dump because they are new facilities and located in one of the sections in west Tuscaloosa that is experiencing rapid development. However, some of the family members who contacted this writer on the Thread this week claimed that they recall the time when the road was known as the Mood Swamp Road and while acknowledging the fact that the deceased deserved a befitting place of rest, noted that there are much better places to do that.

The former President of the Tuscaloosa chapter of the NAACP, Jerry Carter described the existence of a football field that has been enclosed by a fence and was located near Central Elementary School where Druid High football team used to rehearse.

Carter noted: ‘They stopped cars and people used to sit on the hoods of cars anywhere they practiced because they were such a great football team’. CUSTOMER THREE: They were untouched in 1969 and that particular high school was the uniying factor of the community.

Well, as for me, it is worth listening to words of cousins of Freddie Wilson, for instance, Gloria Mays, who said that corner would be better to be placed in honor of Tuscaloosa natives disposed in that tragic crash.

Although some people appreciated the performance and treat in PAS culture festival, Gloria Wilson, a participant in the parade, wished the statues could be placed near 15 Street near Martin Luther King Boulevard. “That field is where my brother perspired, frayed and fought for every week. ”

The proposed monument was to be erected in honor of a police officer called Attlee and Daphne Wilson, the niece to Freddie Wilson, said she wanted the monument removed and commented that if her father who is deceased but was Freddie’s brother would not want it to be there either.

The family members also said they could not find anything close to their character in photos of the first clay models of the statues and claimed the statues do not depict any player’s feature.

The two planned statues are meant to be set in the area of west Tuscaloosa, a place under representation of the City Councilwoman Raevan Howard; thus, sheI shared an official statement with the Thread concerning the memorial. Telling and without the Elevate Tuscaloosa requirement to place public art at the YMCA, it is unclear when the city ever would have had the capital to honor these four men at 15th and MLK or, indeed, anywhere else.

Williams added that she and other city officials have discussed the issue with Mays, Wilson and Hardy, as well as with other family members of the Marshall Four, including relatives who support the placing of the monument at the Y. Williams pointed out disagreements have arisen over such minutiae as the design of the monument itself, but everybody agreed that something had to be done.

“During these talks, several parties considered it about time that we actually pay homage to such people,” said Howard. The existence of the new Benjamin Barnes YMCA involves the expenditure of one percent of the $10 million to be used to pay for public artwork, more specifically, a total of 332,650. 00$ has been set as the total cost of the construction The following table sums up the above financial estimates.

When the idea was proposed to me to have the statue honoring “We Are Marshall” to be installed outside the BB YMCA we were delighted and they agreed that the YMCA was the best propriety for a number of reasons said Howard. Children can reach the YMCA in hundreds per week and the statue will be a symbol for our children meaning that role models can be found in the City and not only in social media or TV all the team members were actively participating in sports activities at the YMCA, The statue will not just be safely located between two public establishments because YMCA and the statue can benefit from City’s stimuli while the statue can benefit from YMCA’s maintenance which it will

‘And lastly if we do not choose to commemorate these extraordinary athletes through this budget at the BB YMCA there will not be funding to honor these individual{s} to this magnitude in the for see able future’, she suppositional summed. Thus, it is unimaginable that they could lose this opportunity which should not be a dishonor to the athletes themselves and to their families as well as to their community.

As Wilson of Daphne said this week, they were told that and they do not believe that.

She said: “It is not about the grant, it is not about the money it is about a heritage people have to pay respect to because those little ones are ours”. “This occurred in 1970…Our families have waited 54 years to be compensated for the injustices that was done to them and if it means that we also have to wait again that is quite alright. ”

Council approved $330,000 memorial at the YMCA site and that will need extra action to change it now Even though the change of plat has been made the surviving family members added that they are planning to present their appeal for a change at the next city council session this Tuesday.