Former Wichita State University President Clark Ahlberg accepts funds and
a sympathy card from Ingalls Elementary School student Carl Tucker after the Oct. 2, 1970 airplane crash in Colorado that killed 31 Shocker football players, coaches, supporters, administrators and airline employees. The money was collected to help the Football ’70 Memorial Fund.
Under the coins and bills is a card made of construction paper with the words “WSU” and “Shockers” on it and the image of a wheatshock between them. The card was signed by 208 students and 23 teachers, including physical education teacher Barbara Grayson and principal Paul E. Pritchard.
Ingalls was dedicated and renamed Spaght Accelerated Magnet Academy
in 2002. The school, at 2316 E. 10th, is only a short distance from the WSU campus.
The original card is among the many sympathy cards and letters received
by the university after the plane crash and which are now held by Special Collections and University Archives, WSU Libraries, says library assistant
Mary Nelson.
The original photograph, taken by David F. Henry, also is in Special Collections. President Ahlberg’s office in Morrison Hall is the setting for the photo.
