| Name |
Eric Samuel GESSLER |
| Birth |
6 Feb 1953 |
Ohio  [1] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Military |
Merchant Marines [2] |
| Education |
Calhoun Engineering School in Baltimore MD [2] |
| Education |
Doddridge County High School (1971, football, basketball, track) [2] |
| Education |
Marshall University (1975, marketing degree, football center) [2] |
- Eric Gessler came to Marshall University in 1971. That year, in which the Marshall football team was known as the Young Thundering Herd, the NCAA allowed the school to play freshmen to help fill out the roster that had been decimated a year earlier by a tragic plane crash. The chartered jet bringing the Thundering Herd back from a 17-14 loss to East Carolina on Nov. 14, 1970, crashed short of the runway at Tri-State Airport in Kenova. All 75 aboard died.
Gessler, 6-foot-3, 241 pounds, started at center his final three seasons. In the 1974 Herd media guide, Gessler was called the keystone to the offensive line.
He graduated with a degree in marketing and was recruited to play for the Cleveland Browns. He then attended Calhoun Engineering School in Baltimore, Md. Upon graduation he joined the Merchant Marines. He was later employed at Constellation Energy as a plant operator for more than 25 years.
https://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/marshall_plane_crash/the_young_herd/young-thundering-herd-player-dies/article_e687029d-64f0-550a-9606-8732630cf031.html
|
| Occupation |
plant operator for Constellation Energy (25 years) [2] |
| Residence |
Big Flint, Doddridge Co, WV [2] |
| Death |
9 Nov 2009 |
Big Flint, Doddridge Co, WV [3] |
| Cause: cancer |
| Person ID |
I141065 |
Doddridge County Roots |
| Last Modified |
28 Aug 2026 |
1953 - 2009 (56 years)
