BEAUMONT — 50 years ago today (4/28), tragedy struck the city of Beaumont. A plane carrying five members of the Lamar University track team, and their coach crashed, killing all seven people on board.
"For me it was something that was very fresh,” said Trey Clark, Head Track Coach for Lamar University.
Clark keeps a portrait of those members in his office, and uses it to teach his athletes, and even new recruits the history of Lamar’s past. That 1968 team was returning from a track meet at Drake University when their plane crashed just miles away from Beaumont municipal airport killing everyone on board.
"It is something that I talk about,” said Clark. “I continue to let people know where our history began and who we are and where we come from.”
Brian Obonna is a senior on Lamar’s track team, and says almost 50 years later, the presence of those who died that day can still be felt.
"We here at Lamar, all of us athletes, appreciate what those guys did for us, for the team, for the school,” said Obonna
Brian is thankful for the contributions Ty Terrell, and his athletes made toward the Lamar track team, and hopes to edge his name into the history books here one day as well
"I feel like we have a duty to live on that legacy, and to continue to produce here at Lamar,” said Obonna.