ISUr asst. Torrey Ward (and others) killed in Plane Crash

[sixth ace]

Thoughts and prayers for all who are affected

[TheShock]

Simply devastating news; my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this tragedy.

[musiccitybulldog]

Thoughts and prayers for all family and friends, sincere sadness for all the Illinois State fans and coaches.

[Birdfan10]

It's tough.

Here are some video clips from the press conference. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... story.html

[Rollbird5]

Not sure if anybody said it yet but Redbird Nation really appreciates all the support from everyone during these tough times it really means a lot to everyone

[ilstubirds250]

Not sure if anybody said it yet but Redbird Nation really appreciates all the support from everyone during these tough times it really means a lot to everyone

The Valley has some of the best and most supportive fans around. It doesn't go unnoticed

[AcesLegacy]

Weeping Basketball always running at UE Memorial Plaza, this week also for our friends at Illinois State

Weeping Bball Memorial.JPG (27.48 KiB) Viewed 4511 times

[uniftw]

I can't even begin to imagine something like this happening at UNI. The impact those coaches/staff had off the court, more than on, often goes unnoticed. The bond that was had with players, community members, other university staff, etc...

This is terribly tragic.

I probably don't have much good karma built up with whatever higher power may exist, but I'm hoping whatever I have can go towards helping the ISU community recover from something like this.

[UABlazin]

The memorial service for Torrey Ward will be Sunday, 1:30 pm at UAB's Bartow Arena.

[Aargh]

Because of my close association with the athletes from WSU who went down 40+ years ago, these stories always bring back memories I'd rather not have. Every time something like this happens, it takes some healing time before I can bring myself to express my feelings.

I'm just going to copy and paste my response on the RedBird Forum

It's taken me a long time to be able to express my sympathy for the families and friends of those who went down. It's not just the families and friends who are feeling the pain. It's the academic community - and the entire community.

From my Fr year to my Jr year, I lived in the dorms with the Wichita State football players who went down.

That was over 40 years ago, and I still have trouble responding to tragedies like the one RedBird fans suffered.

If you were friends of any who went down, your memory of the last encounter you had with them will be both a beautiful and a haunting memory. Beautiful because of the joy they brought to you and haunting because that was your last chance to share that joy with them. Those feelings aren't going to leave you the rest of your life.

Let's celebrate how those who have gone enriched our lives, and how our lives were made better by them. Let's feel the pain that they can no longer do the things that made them the great people they were.

Then let's go and continue the good works they started on this Earth but didn't have a chance to finish.