HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The quarterback for the Young Thundering Herd, the Marshall University football team fielded after the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 players, coaches and supporters nearly 50 years ago, is now memorialized in Huntington.
A city block, located at the intersection of Huntington’s 14th Street and Charleston Avenue, has been designated Honorary Reggie Oliver Square.
It’s named for a beloved figure in Huntington who died in 2018 at the age of 66.
Huntington Mayor Steve Williams said the site was chosen for a reason.
“The one significant place for Reggie in his time here in Huntington was at Fairfield Stadium and this entire area is where Fairfield Stadium was,” Mayor Williams said.
Fairfield Stadium was Marshall University’s football home from 1927 to 1990 which brought a move to Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
“Why right here? For those of us who played ball here, this was the entrance into Fairfield Stadium for the athletes,” Williams explained.
Oliver was originally from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
He was a freshman in 1970 and did not travel to East Carolina that season because, at the time, freshmen were ineligible for varsity competition under NCAA rules.
The plane crash happened on Nov. 14, 1970 on the return trip home near Tri-State Airport.
For the next three seasons, Oliver was Marshall’s starting quarterback.
“When you talk about the fabric of Huntington, when you talk about the essence of the greatest comeback story in the history of sports, you talk about Reggie Oliver,” said Mike Hamrick, Marshall University athletic director.
“I grew up watching Reggie play quarterback at Marshall. I grew up idolizing Reggie Oliver.”
After graduation, Oliver played for the Jacksonville Sharks in the World Football League before returning to Huntington to teach and coach at Huntington High School.
He went on to become an assistant coach at Marshall, a head coach at Alabama A&M University and a head coach at Eastmoor Academy in Columbus, Ohio.
Oliver was inducted into the Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984.
This past Friday, friends and family of Oliver were part of an unveiling of the Honorary Reggie Oliver Square sign during what was Marshall’s Homecoming Week.
“Reggie Oliver meant everything to those of us who came to know him and love him,” Mayor Williams said. “He loved Marshall University and he loved Huntington, West Virginia and we’re here to pay him honor.”
Hamrick agreed.
“I’ve never been around a person who loved and cared about this University and this community more than Reggie Oliver,” he said.