Michael Prestera was born in Bradford, went to college in
Alabama and moved to Huntington, W.Va.

He never attended Marshall University, but was as much a part of
the team as the coach and the quarterback. And when the team’s
plane went down on Nov. 14, 1970, he was on board.

The story of the plane crash and the rebuilding of the Marshall
football team is the subject of the “We Are Marshall” film by
Warner Brothers that was released last week.

“I really thought they did a marvelous job of telling the story
of Marshall and telling the story of the commitment of the fans and
the town and the university to the memory of those people,” Michael
Prestera Jr. told The Era Thursday afternoon from his home in
Huntington. “That’s the microstory of Marshall.

“Persistence, pursuit of a passion supported by a university and
town really lived out by the young Thundering Herd against all
odds.”

The older Prestera was born in Bradford on Nov. 18, 1909. He was
a son of Mr. and Mrs. Dominic Prestera, who at one time lived on
Elm Street. They later moved to California.

His son remembers coming to Bradford as a young child, but has
not been back in several years.

“I remember going to Bradford and visiting people there with dad
when I was younger,” he said. “He would tell stories of places
where he got razor cuts, places where he played, the neighborhood
he grew up.”

His father left Bradford when he went to college. He graduated
from St. Bernard High School. While in Bradford, he was affiliated
with the Norbert Johnson Pharmacy at 7 Main St., The Era reported
at the time of the crash.

He graduated from the University of Alabama and University of
Pennsylvania.

He went on to become involved in a multitude of things. He was
president of the Whitten Transfer Co., which specialized in
carrying explosives, something he learned through contacts he had
in the military.

He was also interested in politics and the community.

He had just been elected to the House of Delegates in West
Virginia two weeks earlier. He was to take office in January.

“Dad was involved in the community. Period. Paragraph.

“He had a presence when he came into a room,” Prestera remembers
his father. “He had a very strong personality, a positive
personality.”

His father was also involved with the university.

“Education was very a important thing to him.”

And while he was the former Big Green Club president, he didn’t
travel with the team much, his son said. In fact, he had just
returned from a trip to Washington and called the house from the
airport.

He said, “I got back and managed to get a ticket. Can you bring
me some clean clothes?”

Prestera and his younger sister took a suitcase of clean clothes
to him at the airport and grabbed the suitcase of dirty
clothes.

“He gave us a hug, to on the plane and that was the last time
she or I saw him.”

This was also the time he learned of his mother’s strength.

After the crash, the then-20-year-old went to the hospital with
his mother and sister and waited – with dozens of other fathers,
husbands, wives – to learn the fate of their loved ones. Then the
doctor came out and said there were no survivors.

“Mother turned and said, ‘there’s nothing more for us to do
here.’ We stood up and left.”

“She proved herself to be a true lady … a tremendous amount of
strength.”

Prestera left behind a wife, two daughters, Michele Prestera
Craig and Mary Ann “Kitty” Prestera Cline, and two sons, Robert
Prestera and Michael Prestera.

Cline and Robert Prestera live in Texas; Craig and Michael
Prestera still live in Huntington.

Michael Prestera and his wife were a part of the fountain scene
at the end of the movie.

He reports the family was pleased with how the movie turned
out.

“I am very pleased for a lot of reasons,” he said. In
particular, he mentioned Matthew McConaughey’s portrayal of Coach
Jack Lengyel.

“I was also pleased to see the level of the interaction and
emotion between Matthew Fox and Anthony Mackie.”

Fox played Red Dawson, one of the assistant coaches; Mackie
played Nate Ruffin, a player who was not on the plane.

“That’s so powerful. You have to understand how deeply affected
Red was.”

Dawson’s approval of the movie was important to him. Prestera
spoke with Dawson after a memorial service in November.

“Red said they really did a good job. That was the credit I
needed,” Prestera said. “Here was a guy who was on the front line
involved in that experience in a way not many people were.”

Prestera pointed out the fans on the plane that night were
important in their own right. The many facets of the university as
well as the community were affected.

“They weren’t people who enjoyed life on the sidelines. They
were people who were something. It meant something to them … they
were leaders in the community.”

Referring to the movie, Prestera said the picture “told the
story and respected the memory” of those who died, adding “they
were remarkably adherent to what actually did happen.”

“It’s a story that’s worth telling.”