HUNTINGTON, W. Va. -- In the center of the Marshall Memorial Student center, amidst the chaos of freshman orientation day, Ed Carter stood in his own world. He took a visitor by the main entrance and stared at the fuzzy team photo of 30 years ago. At that point, the stories started to flow.

"This guy here is Felix Jordan," Carter said, pointing to a shorter man with a fierce football face. "He was my roommate that year. He wasn't on the plane because he was hurt that week. He actually tried to get on the bus headed to the airport 'cause he wanted to play so bad, but the trainer made him wait."

Those who died

Players: Adams, James Michael - G Andrews, Mark Raeburn - G Blake, Michael Francis - LB Blevins, Dennis Michael - WR Bluford, Willie Jr. - LB Brown, Larry - NG Brown, Thomas Wayne - NG Childers, Roger Keith - DB Cottrell, Stuart Spence - DB Dardinger, Richard Lee - C DeBord, David Grant - T Gilmore, Kevin Francis - HB Griffith, David Dearing Jr. - DE Harris, Arthur W. Jr. - HB Harris, Robert Anthony - QB Hill, Bobby Wayne - DB Hood, Joe Lee - HB Howard, James Thomas Jr. - G Latjerman, Marcello H. - K Lech, Richard Adam - DB Nash, Barry Winston - B Norrell, Patrick Jay - G Patterson, James Robert - T Reese, Scottie Lee - DE Repasy, John Anton Jr. - WR Sanders, Larry - WR Saylor, Charles Ann - DE Shannon, Arthur Kirk - LB Shoebridge, Lionel Ted - QB Skeens, Allen Gene - OL Stainback, Jerry Dodson - LB VanHorn, Robert Amie - TE Vanover, Rogie Amie - TE Wilson, Freddie Clay - TE Young, John Patton - TE Zborill, Thomas Jonathon - NG Coaches: Brackett, Herbert B. "Zeke" Carelli, Albert C. Jr. Loria, Frank Moss, James M. "Shorty" Tolley, Rickey D. "Rick" Administration and Staff: Booth, Donald Chambers, Dr. Joseph Chambers, Mrs. Peggy George, Gary Hagley, Dr. Ray Hagley, Mrs. Shirley Jones, Ken Kautz, Charles "Charlie" Morehouse, Gene Nathan, Jeff O'Connor, Dr. Brian Prestera, Michael Preston, Dr. Glenn Preston, Mrs. Phyllis Proctor, Dr. H.D. Proctor, Mrs. Courtney Schroer, James "Jim" Tackett, Donald Weichmann, Norman Thundering Herd Supporters: Arnold, Charles "Red" Arnold, Mrs. Rachel Harris, Arthur Sr. - Father/Art Harris Heath, E. O. "Happy" Heath, Mrs. Elaine Jarrell, James Jarrell, Mrs. Cynbthia Ralsten, Murril - City Councilman Ralsten, Mrs. Helen Ward, Parker Sr. Southern Airways Personnel: Abbott, Captain Frank - Pilot Deese, Danny - Charter Coordinator Poat, Charlene - Stewardess Smith, Jerry - First Officer Vaught, Patricia - Stewardess

Carter's thick black finger then moved a few inches to the left.

"This guy here, I don't remember his name, but he quit the team the week before the crash. He couldn't stand the workouts, was always complaining, so he quit. He was real bitter afterwards."

All around Carter, students continued to shuffle by, picking up tips on class schedules and finding their dorm assignments. Most of them walked right past the illuminated photo, not knowing of its importance. Carter didn't care. He raised his suit-covered arm and pointed to the young, skinny coach in the front row.

"That's Red. He traded seats on the plane with this guy in order to go on a recruiting trip. And these four," he said, gently touching four black heads in the picture, "were the boys from Tuscaloosa, who all grew up together and came here as a group. It was quite a loss for that town."

These are the memories Carter has of his first college football team, the one that was ripped away from him when that Southern Airways jet slammed into the side of the Appalachians 30 years ago. Sure he has recollections of two-a-days, touchdown plays and locker room bonding, but the memories that stand out are those about the crash. Who died, who didn't, and the stories behind it.

It's how most of the remaining 1970 Herd football players think. Carter, now a preacher in Tennessee, travels the country telling his story, one of avoiding the biggest disaster in U.S. sports history. He keeps in close touch with his small group of living teammates, as they are each an asterisk of sorts, a testament to the importance of divine intervention and a little luck.

"To me, it was like God wanted me here, he has a purpose for me," Carter said. "So that's why I wasn't on the plane. God gave this as a gift to me."

Many of those who missed the flight speak of now having a higher purpose in life. The way Carter avoided the flight would cause many to agree.

Two weeks before the East Carolina game, the last contest on the Marshall schedule, Carter's father died. So he made plans to attend the funeral services and spend a few days at home, but return to Marshall in time for the flight to East Carolina.

But the Wednesday before that game, as Carter was packing his bag for his return, his mom walked in his bedroom and pleaded for him to stay.

"She begged and begged for me not to go back. She said she had a funny feeling and didn't want me on that flight," Carter recalls, "But I told her, 'Mom, I'm a first-teamer. I have to be there for my teammates. It's my job. Everything will be fine.' "

Carter's mom began to cry uncontrollably, so just to settle her town, to keep her from becoming a complete wreck, he decided to stay home, miss the game and take a bus back to Huntington early the next week.

Three days later, a phone conversation with a friend brought news of the crash.

"I never got a hold of my coaches to tell them I wasn't going to make the trip, so the next day, the phone was ringing non-stop, with people offering condolences to my mother. She had to tell them all that I didn't go and I was all right."

When Carter returned to Huntington, he boarded another bus as a student and team representative at funerals in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia. He remembers speaking at each of them, but doesn't remember what he said, referring to those weeks as "a blur."

He does remember bumping into a friend on campus and watching her almost faint when she saw him, not knowing he wasn't on the plane.

"I had to grab her and tackle her she was so hysterical," Carter said. "She thought I was a ghost."

Teammate Nate Ruffin, who missed the trip because of injury, also has scattered memories about the weeks after the crash. What he does remember is carrying around the East Carolina game ball and not letting anyone touch it. He now calls it a form of denial.

"I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe it happened, so I took that ball everywhere," he said.

Unlike Carter, who was out of town at the time of the crash, Ruffin had the unenviable task of helping area coroners and forensics experts identify the badly burned bodies of his teammates.

Today, he works in human resources in Virginia, but has maintained his close ties with the Marshall football program and teaches the newest Herd players the story behind the crash.

	A fountain at Marshall honors the victims of the 1970 plane crash.

"You were just sort of shocked into doing it, there wasn't much of a choice," he said. "So I looked at it as a job. It didn't really settle in until it was over -- after the funerals."

While Ruffin and Carter remained fairly visible after the crash, both staying at Marshall to play on the rebuilt 1971 squad, Eugene Jones couldn't bear to be that close to the program.

Jones, a student manager in 1970, begged fellow manager Jerry Sieber to let him fly to the East Carolina game, since he had never been on a plane before. Sieber eventually agreed and subsequently made plans himself to head home that weekend. The next day, Jones' grandmother died and he missed the flight. So did Sieber.

"I felt guilty and questioned why I wasn't there," he said. "The biggest problem I had with it was that they were good athletes, good guys and why did they have to go? Why was I spared?"

After a couple of weeks at home with his family, Jones eventually returned to Marshall, with plans on helping the new team. But it was too much.

"I remember the equipment manager asking me to help unpack some of the player's bags," said Jones, now a West Virginia real estate agent and a Marshall season ticket holder. "So I opened the first bag and there was this jersey staring at me with blood on it. I just stood up and said, 'I can't do this.' "

Stories such as this aren't uncommon with the Marshall disaster. It seems like everyone in this tightly knit community either knew someone on the plane or was directly affected. And the hundreds of odd coincidences are enough to give the strongest of heart a case of the chills.

Take the case of Kevin Heath, who lost both of his parents in the crash. The anniversary date used to be troubling for Heath and his family until a few years ago, when his daughter Molly was born on Nov. 14.

Keith Morehouse was nine years old when his father Gene, then the play-by-play man for the Herd, died in the crash. Today, Keith has followed Dad's lead and is the voice of Marshall football. His wife, Debbie, a woman he met on a Senior Trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., coincidentally lost both of her parents in the crash. Ray Hagley, her father, was the team's doctor.

"When we first met, her name stuck out," Morehouse said. "You've seen those names so many times in the paper and on memorials and I was just drawn to it. I was like, 'Were those your parents?' Six years later, we were married."

Bob and Betty Harris drove to the game that week to see their son Bobby play. After the game, they asked him to ride back with them, but he said no, insisting it was important to be with the team after the 17-14 loss. The Harris family heard about the crash at a gas station along their drive back home.

	“	I felt guilty and questioned why I wasn't there. The biggest problem I had with it was that they were good athletes, good guys and why did they have to go? Why was I spared?  ”
		—  Eugene Jones

Then there's the case of Jack Hardin, a local police reporter at the time, who turned down a seat on the plane because he had to work that weekend. As it turned out, Hardin's work was covering the crash of a plane he was supposed to be on.

"I remember walking along by myself at the crash site, keeping my notes and just crying," Hardin said. "And I'm not embarrassed to say that."

While still staring at the team photo, Carter recalls Hardin's story. At that point, he returns from that other world he's been in. He notices the chaos around him, the shuffling of freshmen from booth to booth. It brings a smile to his face.

Later that night, Carter finds himself running up and down the Marshall sidelines in a 51-31 stomping over Miami of Ohio. As each Herd touchdown is scored, he'll pat guys on the back, slap them on the helmet and best of all, shake their hand.

"Connecting with the past means something to these kids," Carter said. "I always have some of them coming up to me asking questions, wanting to know what happened. These stories tie us all together."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com.