On October 2, 1970, the first plane carrying players and staff of the WSU football team took off from a Colorado airport after refueling. It was supposed to go to Logan, Utah for a game against Utah State University. It flew into a mountain valley too narrow to allow it to turn back. It crashed into a mountainside. This killed 31 of the 40 players, administrators and fans near a ski resort away from Denver. President Richard Nixon sent the president of the university a note which read, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to you in this time of sorrow."