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FLASHBACK By: Morgan Jenna Architect Of His Own Marshall Plan Valley resident Jack Lengyel rebuilt the Marshall football program after an unbelievable tragedy. His other claim to fame is having Matthew McConaughey portray him in We Are Marshall. |
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Phoenix area resident Jack Lengyel was watching television on November 14, 1970, like a lot of people around the country, when he learned about a horrific news story that would ultimately change his life forever. The crawl came across his TV screen, announcing the crash of a chartered jet into a mountainside roughly one mile west of Huntington West Virginia’s Tri-State Airport, about 10 seconds before it would have landed. Everyone on board the plane was killed instantly, including 41 members of the Marshall University football team and coaching staff. "I was shocked, and said to myself, 'There by the grace of God go I and my football team.’" What set Jack apart from other people watching the horrific news unfurl was, he was in a position to actually do something. He was the head football coach at the College of Wooster in Ohio at the time, but felt drawn to what was transpiring at Marshall. "I watched it with great interest, and when they decided they would move forward with the football program, they offered the job to a Penn State coach, who turned it down. A Georgia Tech coach did end up taking the job, but quit after a couple of days for personal reasons. There’s an old Chinese proverb that says if you are ever given anything of value, you have a moral responsibility to pass it on to others. I thought this was my opportunity to give back to the sport of football that gave me so much. I called Marshall University, applied for the job, was accepted, and within 30 days I had to be ready for spring football," Lengyel told POST. Little did Jack — or anyone else — know that 36 years later, his story would be told on movie theaters all around the world, and playing him in the movie We Are Marshall is an actor considered one of the Sexiest People on the Planet. Matthew McConaughey had a passion for college football, and even though his going rate was $12 million per movie, he took on the role of portraying Jack in the film for just a $1 million fee because he believed so much in the story. Things changed when, out of the blue, representatives for both Warner Bros. and Universal showed up on the campus of Marshall University, and the president of the university asked Jack to fly to Huntington, West Virginia, to discuss a possible movie with them. He took the trip, and after a lot of careful thought and evaluation, agreed that Warner Bros. was the best studio to tell the story of an event in history that Jack helped shape. "The thing we were most concerned with was that they didn’t desecrate the memory of the 75 people who were killed in the crash, and that they don’t do a Beverly Hillbillies movie about Marshall. We talked about all these issues and they agreed. Now, in all our dealings with them, there was no doubt the producers talked the talk; the big question would be would they walk the walk. Of course I would say unequivocally Warner Bros. and Matthew McConaughey and all the actors did a great job of telling the Marshall story." If you haven’t seen the movie yet, you should rent it, because as Jack will tell you, it is not a football story, it’s an inspirational story about a university and a town that faced a major tragedy together. It’s why Jack is now sought out for speaking engagements all around the country, and does about two or three every month. The story, of which Jack was the centerpiece, is how a community and university would not let their 75 people die in vain. In Jack’s long and illustrious career in athletics, he’s been at 16 universities in various capacities, none of which can replicate the emotional impact he experienced during some of the most trying circumstances any coach has ever had to deal with. "The special thing about Marshall, and the Big Green, is that on this campus and in the community, their heart beats as one. Within 24 hours of the tragedy, the interim president made the decision to keep the football program going. When I got there, I thought I was rebuilding a football team, but I quickly found out there were 24 boosters on the plane. There were four doctors and their wives, along with State Senators, city councilmen, the Director of Athletics and Dean of Admissions, leaving 70 children without one parent, and 18 without both parents. There was a wide swath of the community that was wiped out. It’s a story about one of the greatest lessons in sports — where a community and a university come together in the face of adversity, and showing how to get back up off the ground and achieve continued success." And it’s a story that will never be forgotten because of the way Warner Bros., and McConaughey, handled the issue with respect, and although Hollywood took their fair share of liberties with the interpretation, Jack feels the movie was for the most part realistic. "I thought Matthew McConaughey was very sensitive to the story and did an excellent job telling it. Now, he was a little quirkier than I was as an individual, but that was his interpretation, and in my opinion he did a masterful job." There’s no doubt having a universal sex symbol portray you on-screen will leave you susceptible to a little good-natured abuse. "Oh, yes, I have never taken so much ribbing," Jack confirmed. "And when I walk up to see my friends, they don’t say 'hello’ or 'goodbye,’ they just want me to get McConaughey’s autograph for their wives." |
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