| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1940-01-06)January 6, 1940 Havaco, West Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | November 14, 1970(1970-11-14) (aged 30) Kenova, West Virginia, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1958–1961 | Virginia Tech |
| Position(s) | Center,linebacker |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1965–1966 | Ferrum (assistant) |
| 1968 | Wake Forest (DL) |
| 1969–1970 | Marshall |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 6–13 |
Rickey Dale Tolley (January 6, 1940 – November 14, 1970) was anAmerican football coach. He served as the head football coach atMarshall University during the 1969 and 1970 seasons. He died in the1970 plane crash that killed all of the crew and passengers, including most of the Marshall football team and coaching staff and several team boosters.
Tolley playedbasketball, baseball and football atMullens High School inMullens, West Virginia. He playedcollege football as acenter andlinebacker atVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Tolley started his coaching career during the years in 1962 atJohn S. Battle High School inBristol, Virginia, as an assistant football coach for two years and then as an assistantbaseball coach at theUniversity of Virginia for another year.[1] He then joined the football coaching staff atFerrum Junior College for three years, one of which they won theNational Junior College Championship. He then left to become thedefensive line coach atWake Forest University in 1968.
He joined Perry Moss's Marshall football staff as defensive line coach in early 1969 replacing Ken Cooper who resigned to coach in Florida[2] He was interior line coach at the time of Moss's removal from the head coaching duties.[3]
Tolley became the interim head coach of Marshall just four days before the start of fall practice for the 1969 season. He started the season with over 40 players but through attrition, the number of players dropped to just 32 after the team lost the first six games. The team was on its way to a collegiate record losing streak. Tolley was able to turn things around and managed to win three straight games againstBowling Green (21–16),Kent State (31–20) andEast Carolina (38–7). The final game of the 1969 season was a loss againstOhio (38–35) with the Bobcats scoring their winning touchdown with five seconds left.
During the entire season Tolley was considered the "acting" head football coach. Tolley had expressed his desire to be the permanent head coach, but the university had not appointed a permanent athletic director and would name a head coach after the season was complete. Twenty-eight Marshall players had signed a petition and presented it to GovernorArch Moore asking that suspended head coachPerry Moss be named to the top spot. Newly appointed Athletic Director Charles Krautz announced Tolley's selection appointment to the permanent head coaching position on December 1, 1969. His appointment was a unanimous recommendation by a special selection committee submitted toDonald Dedmon, executive vice president of the university, who made the final decision, in an absence of Roland Nelson, Marshall University president who was on vacation.[4]
Tolley was killed in the Marshall football plane crash on November 14, 1970, along with members of his coaching staff and 37 of his football players.
Tolley is depicted in the movieWe Are Marshall by actorRobert Patrick (uncredited).[5] Patrick was 18 years older (when the movie was made) than Tolley (at death), causing Tolley to be portrayed in the film as middle-aged.
Tolley was married to the former Mary Jane Edmundson of Charlottesville, Virginia from 1963 to his death. The couple had no children. Mary Jane Tolley later moved back to Virginia, where she taught English and creative writing for high school students. She never remarried, and is now retired and living an active life in Richmond. She can be seen in a final scene in the movieWe Are Marshall with many people gathered around the university Memorial Water Fountain honoring and remembering the crash victims.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marshall Thundering Herd(NCAA University Division independent)(1969–1970) | |||||||||
| 1969 | Marshall | 3–7 | |||||||
| 1970 | Marshall | 3–6 | |||||||
| Marshall: | 6–13 | ||||||||
| Total: | 6–13 | ||||||||