Bo Rein – Promising Start Ended Tragically

NC State’s Football program has been re-energized with Coach Tom O’Brien’s injection of hope for a nice steady climb back to respectability. The dream of this kind of future can’t help but harken names of Wolfpack-past like Edwards, Holtz, Sheridan and Rein.

I don’t hesitate to say that there are multiple generations of NC State fans who are not familiar with Rein and they should be. So, we have been saving this article about Bo Rein for a generally slow time of year like right now.

By the looks of the first sentence of the article old Bo wouldn’t have fit very well into NC State’s landscape during this new millenium.

Bo Rein always aimed higher, never settling for the status quo. It’s fitting then, that the former Ohio State football player and short-time Louisiana State coach met his end going above and beyond.

Something horrible happened up there, high above the Louisiana landscape, where a veteran pilot and his tired passenger sailed in silence. Nearly 30 years later and still no one is certain why the plane depressurized and went cold. It could have been a crack in the fuselage. Or maybe a broken seal. We’ll never know, because the men and the plane were never found…

Rein joined Lou Holtz at William & Mary, then at North Carolina State, where at age 30 he became the nation’s youngest coach in 1976 when Holtz left for the New York Jets. After compiling a 27-18-1 record in four seasons at North Carolina State, Rein left for LSU to replace retiring Charlie McClendon.

On Jan. 10, 1980, exhausted from a full day of recruiting in Shreveport, La., Rein climbed into the Cessna Conquest and joined pilot Louis Benscotter for the 40-minute return flight to Baton Rouge. Along the way, the plane diverted east to avoid a storm.

“They requested a higher altitude because they were in heavy turbulence, and called back to ask to climb from 20,000 to 22,000 feet,” said Dietzel, a former World War II pilot. “That was their last radio signal. At about 20,000 feet, without enough oxygen you pass out and don’t know it. You drift off. Something went wrong with the pressurization in what was a brand new airplane.”

The plane climbed to 40,000 feet and was picked up and escorted by military aircraft as it flew east over North Carolina, 1,000 miles off course. The plane continued over the Atlantic Ocean, finally crashing 100 miles out to sea after running out of fuel. The military pilots spotted debris, but no wreckage was ever recovered. Rein was dead at age 34.

“The weird thing is the plane’s path took it right over the North Carolina State campus, where down below Bo’s wife and children were sleeping,” Dietzel said.

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58 Responses to Bo Rein – Promising Start Ended Tragically

  1. BoKnowsNCS71 05/14/2008 at 9:16 PM #

    This was a good discussion — open and frank – accepting our warts and acknowledging our beauty. NC State is an Institution that has a very unique, beautiful past in football. And we have taken our lumps. Dwelling on the past is nice — it’s the future that we must all shape.

  2. SMD 05/15/2008 at 2:16 PM #

    WolfDog – I try not not get into personal responses, the lack of those is what elevates this board above the “other” one. BUT – I must respond here.

    I started going to all the State games in both football and basketball when I was 5, in 1974. Most of my childhood memories are of State games. So when I say that I heard these things, it means I heard them in the stands, at the games. Further, Avery played the bulk of his career under Kiffin, so I that would have been when I was 11-13. Either way, I was hardly “in diapers.”

    Let’s take internet statements at face value shall we? There’s no need to make assumptions about veracity or parse words. Thanks!

  3. Wolf Dog 05/16/2008 at 8:05 PM #

    “I try not to get into personal reponses” SMD

    You didn’t try very hard now did you.

    “if I say I heard then I heard it”

    Excuse me, so you were not in 5th grade, you were in 6th grade. Did you really have to efend that you were not in diapers? Did you draw a line in the sand while you typed that?

    Sure you have an excellent recollection of everything that went on at state games from age five to 11. Sure you remember every sermon, every Sunday school lesson, every teachers name, etc. Sure your recollection of every word yelled at State games is pure as gold. Sure you remember every play, every cheer, what you had to eat, who the refs were, every assistant coaches name. Sure you remember undressing your GI Joe doll instead of watching the game.

    Give us a break, you probably heard one racial slur from some drunk at the game and blew it out of proportion like a typical 11 year old would do. One thing hasn’t changed you still act like a 6th grader.

  4. Wise Old Wolf 05/16/2008 at 8:16 PM #

    Amen Wolf Dog. I been watching this site for quite sometime and never posted till now, I was quite taken back and shocked that some people that were just kids at the time would claim we were in the stands yelling that kind of stuff.

    Why would people that did everything they could to get those kids to come to State and play be yelling that kind of crap. Had to be only a select few idiots. Sorry if anyone heard that stuff but it certainly was an isolated few at best in my recollection which isn’t always the best. I can’t even tell you three professors names anymore.

    But Bo Rein was a class act, God Bless his soul and good will to his family.

  5. Wolf Dog 05/16/2008 at 8:34 PM #

    Noah “Thank you for telling me what I remember and what I think”

    I didn’t tell you what you think or remember. I just flat out don’t believe you and those of us really at the games watching while you were getting your diaper changed can only question your motives for trying to downgrade and put a black eye on Wolfpack Sports. I mean what sane reason would you post that crap unless you were trying to run off recruits that might be checking out this site. How stupid can you be for posting your perception that State fans are racist. Explain yourself? I mean this was a topic about Bo Rein and “YOU NOAH” turned it into a racial issue. At times I have to think you a Carolina Fan. If it were my site, I would kick your Carlina Blue Ass off of it!!! A true State Fan would be Boasting that NCSU was one of the first proactive football teams in the country for recruiting, landing, and starting a Black QB. Why don’t you see it that way?? All major sports teams have their share of idiots in the stands and all major blogging sites I an sure have their share of Noahs.

  6. Wise Old Wolf 05/16/2008 at 8:59 PM #

    Ya got me wondering somebody mentioned that Avery’s kid play and then I believe that Noah kid started talking about the color of his skin. That was not good. Seem like that Noah kid pretty hard on our coach Lowe too, wonder if cause the color of his skin. Us Wolfpackers always been more open to minorities than the rest of the big four, lets keep it that way.

  7. Pick a Packer 05/17/2008 at 11:47 AM #

    “I was getting my tickets from a bigot at the time” Noah

    All I can say is it appears the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

  8. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 05/19/2008 at 10:00 AM #

    “I don’t want to give it too much play, because you have to remember the times, we were only a few years past the civil rights movement.”

    I love this comment from people as if there was ever a right time to be a small-minded, hate filled prejudice bigot.

    There have been people from all times that know hatred towards people based on skin color is wrong and vile. Using the excuse of ‘the times’ is making an attempt to excuse the inexcusable.

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