WASHINGTON D.C. -- First, there were the phone calls.
Out in the expanse of a windswept open field, John Beilein told his players to call their parents immediately. Trembling hands reached for phones. Not too far away, the engine of the downed McDonnell Douglas MD-83 Aircraft smoldered. It was hard to hear. Zak Irvin tried to explain to his mother what happened. Gusts distorted the call.
The Michigan basketball team spent the following three hours Wednesday in an airline hangar at Willow Run Airport. Eventually, a bus took the 109-person travel party back to campus.
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That's where this story begins.