Ex-Marshall coach Kokor: Film goes far beyond football

By Jeff Greenburg
Herald Staff Writer

BROOKFIELD December 23, 2006 12:51 am

— 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.”
As Kokor left the premier in Huntington that night, he was approached by McG, born Joseph McGinty Nichol. McG said he heard opinions about the movie from many people not connected to it, but was interested in hearing the opinion of someone from the inside.
“This movie was difficult to produce because to do it well you have to grasp the spirit and feeling that occurred on the campus at that time,” Kokor said. “And in my opinion I think he did it.”
Actor Michael Moretti portrays the bespectacled Kokor in the movie, although Kokor said you’re going to have to look pretty closely to see him. A much younger Kokor gets a moment on screen, however, just before the credits when a picture of the 1970 team is shown.
The movie primarily focuses on new head coach Jack Lengyl and assistant coach Red Dawson, played by McConaughey and Fox, respectively, and their efforts to rebuild the program in the aftermath of the crash. Dawson was also on the 1970 staff, but was spared when he agreed to go on a recruiting trip at the last minute after the East Carolina game.
In conjunction with the movie, Warner Bros. recently released a DVD, “Return of the Thundering Herd,” that features an extensive interview the company did with Kokor earlier this year.
All of this attention has provided some unexpected benefits for Kokor, who said he’s getting Christmas cards from some players he hasn’t heard from in many years. He also recently received an e-mail from a woman in California whose brother was killed on the plane.
Kokor, who coached football at Westminster College in New Wilmington for 24 years and taught science at Brookfield High School for 27 years before retiring from both in 2000, feels fortunate just to be able to tell the story.
“I just want to enlighten people about what other people have gone through in life,” he said.

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