
UPDATE: Unveiling of Statues of Tuscaloosa Men Killed in Marshall Plane Crash Postponed
The city of Tuscaloosa will soon unveil a statue honoring the four local sons who were killed in the 1970 Marshall University plane crash, one of the worst disasters in US collegiate sports history.
Four of the victims, Freddy Wilson, Larry Sanders, Joe Hood and Robert VanHorn, were graduates of Tuscaloosa's old Druid High School and among the city's first Black athletes to attend a major university on scholarships.

As the Thread has extensively reported, those Tuscaloosa natives who will be honored with a new statue from Caleb O'Connor, the sculptor responsible for other local attractions including the statues of Deontay Wilder and the goddess Minerva on the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk.
The new statues will stand in front of the Benjamin Barnes YMCA on Martin Luther King Boulevard in the west end, an Elevate Tuscaloosa project that was finished and opened in December.
UPDATE: The unveiling, originally scheduled for February 6th, has been indefinitely postponed.
"The unveiling for the “Marshall Four” statues at the Benjamin Barnes YMCA, originally scheduled for February 6, 2025, has been postponed due to material quality concerns with the statues," the city said Friday.
"The statues were on track to be installed the week of February 3 until quality issues were discovered when the statues were delivered from the foundry on January 30. The City of Tuscaloosa and the artist, Caleb O’Connor, are striving to deliver the highest possible quality to honor the legacies of the players. The rescheduled date will be determined as soon as possible."
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Gallery Credit: (Stephen Dethrage | Tuscaloosa Thread)
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