‘Part of our family’ 50 years later, rescuer observes crash anniversary in Wichita
The small crowd assembled at Cessna Stadium Friday morning turned its attention to the man standing among them.
John Putt was not on the 1970 Wichita State football team, nor did he have any ties to Wichita or the university before October 2, 1970, when a plane carrying members of the WSU football team, coaches, administrators and boosters crashed into the side of Colorado’s Mount Trelease.
Putt, who was 12 years old at the time in Evergreen, Colo. He was a junior volunteer on the Alpine Rescue Team who was at the site mere hours after the crash.
“They told him to go around the perimeter and he comes across a wallet and he picks it up and opens it and there’s a picture of a family,” John Yeros, a member of the 1970 WSU football team, told the crowd Friday. “At that minute, his life changed. At that minute, he became part of our family.”
Fifty years have passed and Putt still lives in Evergreen. Still works for the Alpine Rescue Team. He says he has since been on two more rescue missions involving plane crashes. Neither was nearly as deadly as the WSU crash that claimed 31 lives.
He said he has always felt a connection to the tragedy that befell the Shockers family that day. That’s why he traveled to Wichita to be there in person for Friday’s ceremony on the 50th anniversary of the disaster.
It was the second time he has been in Wichita. He also came for the 40th anniversary.
“The sense of community here is just incredible,” Putt said. “I think the people don’t feel as vulnerable when they’re here together in this crowd. They feel like they can open up and share.”
Since Putt has remained near where the crash occurred for all of these years, he has formed connections with the players and their families, some of whom who trek to Silver Plume looking to visit the site.
It’s on those journeys that Putt feels the strongest connection — especially as the players and family members reach the site of the crash. There is still debris in the area, along with WSU trinkets left over the years as a tribute.
He and the players and their families share a powerful moment when they reach the site and stand in silence.
“On a personal level, I always think about just how frightening it was,” Putt said. “And then you hear these guys talk about their friends who were still conscious and alive, but they knew they couldn’t be saved. They wanted those guys to live.
“Honestly, I was 12 at the time and seeing all of the carnage on the side of the hill, I didn’t realize anyone had survived.”
Putt was in seventh grade then. His science teacher was the training director for the Alpine Rescue Team. Putt was a Boy Scout who had been recruited by the teacher to join the rescue team.
He wasn’t ready for what he saw that day.
“I don’t think any of us were,” Putt said. “That wasn’t in our training manual. We were doing rock climbing and searching and things like that. Not plane crashes.”
He also never imagined he would have a connection to WSU all these years later. But after reconnecting with the players and families at the 40th anniversary, Putt knew he wanted to return for the half-century observance.
He’s part of the Shockers’ family now, and that bond keeps him active as the years pass.
“Well, it’s a guaranteed 10 hikes a year up to the crash site,” Putt said, laughing, when asked what the connection meant to him. “I’ve got to stay in shape so I can still crawl up the mountain and help people up there.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 2:56 PM.
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