For the 50th anniversary of Memorial '70, Wichita State Athletics will be republishing two stories from our archives by former SID Conrad Downing. Downing was on the Black plane and experienced the aftermath first-hand. He lost friends and colleagues, and these two stories reflect the events and the feelings of personal grief he felt.
When Grantland Rice penned the lines, "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky…" one could hardly have imagined those words would be conjuring thoughts for many Wichita State University football fans that wouldn't pertain to the legendary Four Horsemen in the football sense.