Riding an emotional wave of 36 years worth of tears and heartbreak, the tragic tale of the worst disaster in American sports history hit movie theaters nationwide Friday.

“We are Marshall” tells the story of a 1970 plane crash that killed nearly the entire Marshall University football team and the subsequent inspiring effort to rebuild the program from the ashes of that crash.

At first glance, some might believe this is simply a movie about football. Not Carl Kokor, who was an assistant football coach at the Huntington, W.Va., school that year and the next.

“It’s about a family, school, community and state that have to recover and build a future on hope,” Kokor said Friday from the Brookfield home where he has lived with his wife Rose Mary since 1972.

And, he added, Warner Bros., which released the movie, perfectly captured them all as they, as well as the football program, somehow found the strength to move on in spite of the tragedy.

Kokor was one of three coaches and several players not on the plane on Nov. 14, 1970, when it clipped some treetops during bad weather on its approach to Huntington’s Tri-State Airport during a return trip from a game against East Carolina. All 75 people on board were killed.

Marshall was slated to finish the season the following week with a game against Ohio University. Kokor and assistant coach Mickey Jackson weren’t on the plane because they were scouting the Bobcats’ game at Penn State University. The pair learned about the crash as they drove back to Huntington from State College.

Thirty-six years later, that horrific story is gaining international attention for perhaps the first time with the release of the movie. You couldn’t watch an NFL game in recent weeks or a television talk show without seeing clips of the movie or its stars, Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox, talking about it.

The Kokors were among several hundred guests two weeks ago in Huntington for an invitation-only Hollywood-style premier of the movie that included appearances by McConaughey and Fox, as well as the movie’s director McG.

Kokor had never been to a premier like this one before, but was heartened to see so many people there were into the movie emotionally.

“There were times during the Xavier game scenes when they were going crazy,” he said. “And when it talked about the crash, you could hear a pin drop.”

Kokor, 74, had an opportunity to see the movie twice on Dec. 12 in Huntington. A matinee was held for the team and coaches while the main premier with the actors and other guests occurred several hours later. It wasn’t easy either time for Kokor.

“The first time it really grabbed me hard,” he said. “The second time I was ready and it still grabbed me hard.”

While there are almost always parts of movies that some like less than others, Kokor said it would be hard for him to find anything he didn’t like about it. Part of that, he admitted, is probably a result of his involvement.

Kokor said moviegoers will sense a little bit of embellishment at times, but quickly added, “Tell me a movie that hasn’t. And I think they even handled the embellishment very well.”