Nick Saban comments on the 1970 Kent State Shootings

Alabama football head coach Nick Saban discusses the 1970 Kent State shootings at his Monday press conference Sept. 19, 2016. Saban was a student on the Kent State campus when four students were shot and killed by national guardsman during a Vietnam war protest. Nine other students were injured that day.

[@DELTABOY04]

its crazy not one person was indicted for killing those kids

[@TempeSoldier123]

DELTABOY04 cops have always gotten away with killing people. Are you really shocked?

[@DELTABOY04]

@@TempeSoldier123 true. i was in the military for 8 yrs and we was taught to never shoot into a crowd...

[@TempeSoldier123]

@@DELTABOY04 I'm a vet too and yeah, that's something you simply don't do.

[@pizzaman5169]

@@TempeSoldier123 They weren't cops, the were National Guardsmen. Most were our age & one of them was a KSU student who got called up. The truly evil men were then Gov. Jim Rhodes, Gen. Sylvester Del Corso. They saw us as criminals, but what we did was exercising our Constitutional Rights of free speech, the right to assemble & protesting against the mistakes of the government of that time.

[@jasonvicens4920]

Buckeye fan here, but respect the hell out of coach Saban and what he's done at Alabama!

[@Dylan_The_Car_Dealer]

Jason Vicens true dan

[@mekaanyanetu6579]

This has nothing to do with football

[@davidjaspers86]

I've been an Ohio Sate fan from way, way back, but I'm also a Kent State alum (1981). Coach Saban said much of how I feel about the tragedy. It's hard to put into words. I gained a lot of respect for Coach Saban watching this.

[@pizzaman5169]

He doesn't really know what happened, however. He was on campus, but he wasn't there where the shootings, the massacre, took place. I was !! What he spoke to, about that day, is just second hand knowledge. There wasn't "Martial Law" as he stated. We did have the university permission for that "meeting" for that day. There was still a problem on who had the say-so for campus gatherings. KSU is a state university. The Guard was called into the city of Kent, but not to the university because it is state property. They needed a reason to be allowed on campus, thus... , the ROTC building was burned. However, no one knew or recognized any of the arsonists & they came & left in the opposite direction of where we all were. The burning supplied their reason to come onto campus.

[@jdailey19811]

A friend of mine, that passed a few years ago, grew up just outside of Kent, Ohio. His dad worked for the highway department, and he was in high school when the shooting happened. He said it was the first time in history, that he recalled schools ever being locked down, but they allowed his dad to let him leave, and took him home and told him to stay home, as it was the safest place he could be.

[@enekervis]

I appreciate his candor

[@pizzaman5169]

I was there, in the middle of it all that day. Yes, Saban & I are the same age. He's right that it never should have happened. He's wrong about the "meeting" as he called it. We had permission from the Pres. of the Univ. to be there that day ! If some dumbass in a Jeep with a bullhorn hadn't tried to break it up, nothing bad ever would have happened. No one was going to go crazy & RIOT & destroy stuff or anything else bad. All they had to do was sit back, be ready & watch !!

[@johnhurd6243]

I have to correct you... I grew up in Kent, lived 3 blocks off campus. I firmly believe the guard had no business there on any level. Rhoades incited the crowd. Instead of calling for peace he said he will use every law enforcement power against the students. Satrom the mayor of Kent at the time along with President White(1963-1971) pled with students to stay off campus. This is a direct quote from the book "May Fourth, Kent State." Friday, May 1, student protest leaders had called for another rally to be held on the Commons at noon on Monday, May 4. Although University officials had attempted on the morning of May 4 to inform the campus that the rally was prohibited, a crowd began to gather beginning as early as 11 a.m. By noon, the entire Commons area contained approximately 3,000 people. you are incorrect with the fact that White was okay with the protest.

[@pizzaman5169]

@@johnhurd6243 1. What are trying to correct? You lived three blocks off campus ? I lived right there. It all took place outside our dorm. 2. Why would they even think about pleading with students to stay OFF campus? Nearly 15,000 students lived ON campus? 3. You weren't there. Up until the morning of May 4th, the students were under the impression that the gathering was still ok. You say that officials "attempted" to inform the campus that the gathering was prohibited? Well, their 'attempt" didn't work & we thought we still had permission to be there ! Very poor communication !!

[@jdailey19811]

This happened 11 years before I was born, but I appreciate your words and wisdom as someone who was there. It is from people like yourself, that we must learn, so these things cannot happen again.

[@pizzaman5169]

@@jdailey19811 I thank you for your understanding of these horrible events. One of the biggest problems is that this is not taught in schools. Since this past May, I had an opportunity to be around a lot of young people. I made it a point to ask as many young people what they thought about the tragedy at Kent State in 1970 & they had no idea what I was talking about. One young lady asked me if they ever caught the two guys that did the shooting !! We must not let this get lost in history !

[@furncemanjim]

Full respect for this man,no reason in the world why four young people lost their lives.

[@DamnAwesome]

Damn him talking about it really gives me chills

[@mrshhh7841]

My parents were professors there.i was a hardly a rug rat . I grew up next to the chi omega sorority house on summit St . Dubois book store owners bought my parents home after there divorce . So I practically grew up on the campus . I am super impressed that coach remembers the name of that young lady . Super impressed .

[@j.p.kempkes5103]

I've often wondered who fired their rifle. It was a low point in this country's history.

[@TheBobbymcd]

me too.i hope they have a conscience and regret it.

[@jamespietruch8741]

That is what should have been done to the low lifespan on the sixties when the burning,rioting, and looting started. The era of liberalism and permissiveness.

[@joeybigler9413]

@@jamespietruch8741 what?

[@kurtjustin7918]

@@jamespietruch8741 Delusional, revisionist history and denial that persists to this day. Q-anon, MAGA, Jan. 6, etc. etc. . . . all cut from the same cloth that created Nixon and so many others before and after him, steeped in lies and hatred, devoid of compassion and a conscience.

[@huskg0dgaming]

You ever play risk? Sometimes it's not always the person wielding the gun. What's the guardsmen gonna do, disobey orders from their superiors and put themselves in jail? Typical blame the person pointing the gun at you while they have a gun into their back. Fuck the US government

[@williampaulbeaugruendler7901]

God have mercy on us all.

[@patrickmoran687]

People shouldn’t fear the government. Governments should fear the people. I was 17 that day. Now I am 71 and hold the same belief.

[@n.w.c.29ah]

Your so right nick

[@buddychump]

Amazing! I couldn't care less about Alabama ball, but they have a coach with a good head on his shoulders--his thoughts were a breath of fresh air from a sport known for "warlike" metaphor. Go Nick! I was just reading an old Life magazine (May 1970) with Kent State on the cover. Several of the victims were not really part of the demonstrations--just looking, not looking for trouble. A few yah-hoos were tossing back tear gas, and ...you know the rest..

[@RayManzarekRocks]

Would be nice if rich KSU alums like Saban, Julian Edelman, Antonio Gates, James Harrison, Jack Lambert, etc., ponied up for a memorial that did 5/4/70 justice . . .

[@johnhurd6243]

What about Lou Holtz? Arsenio Hall, Michael Keaton, Drew Carey, Steve Harvey... what would you like. I assume you did not go to or live in Kent. It did two things to our city. 1. That day and the days to follow time stopped. 2. It divided our town. It nearly destroyed us. Now 50 years later those who were there on campus that day are fewer, those that remember the day are dwindling. 25 years from now... it will be stories, truth will be skewed. 50 years from now all but forgotten. The markers were the students lay dead... overgrown, or removed to nake way for progress. 1/2 the city wants to forget. The other half still divided... 1/4 still side with the guards, 1/4 with the students. Every year the May 4th rememberence is meet with strong opposition, leaving many with trepidation and anguish

[@RayManzarekRocks]

@@johnhurd6243 As a famous philosopher named Elvis Presley once put it so well, "Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away."

[@zippyzipster46]

@@johnhurd6243I honestly don’t know enough about it. But you could tell it was something Nick didn’t want to keep going on about. I think we appreciate everyday the more our days become limited. We look back and see young people who passed while young and it hurts more as we age. My best buddy died in a car accident when I was in college. It hurts more now thinking of what he missed. That stuff eats old dudes like me. And it looks like something that bothered Nick a lot.

[@lorihartsog4753]

Law and order so important! Peaceful protest lawful. Key word peaceful.

[@johnhurd6243]

The students were peaceful, until Rhoades overstepped. Outside agitators were the issue. Yes students did begin to riot towards the end.

[@pizzaman5169]

@@johnhurd6243 You are right about Rhodes, however, the talk about "outside agitators" is not correct. Having been involved in the whole situation, it wasn't that way. We were peaceful & we had permission from Univ. Pres. White to hold a rally on the Commons. It was because of Rhodes & Gen. Sylvester Del Corso of the National Guard & some others that it reached the point of killing American students on American soil !! True, there were students from some other schools, but they only joined with us. We didn't need help from any outsiders to be outraged about the war !!

[@mrderp1292]

@@johnhurd6243 Yeah they were so "peaceful" the burned down the ROTC building and then cut the fireman's hoses when they tried to put the fire out. Keep trying to re-write history it didn't work then and it's not working today with your fiery "mostly peaceful protests".

[@markwhitman72]

The MOST TRAGIC DAY in Ohio history and the most unjust day despite that entire week end events. America was sullied by such senseless killing as Dorothy Fuldheim said afterwards.

[@dinolarson6917]

Well....another commenter who knows NOTHING about what happened that day....

[@johnhurd6243]

@@dinolarson6917 worst day in Kent's History. Not sure about your comment though.

[@vorpalbite4745]

Obedience training at the point of a bayonet - I 100% approve

[@pizzaman5169]

One person was bayoneted on Sunday night, May 3. I've seen, talked with & debated many people with that same attitude as you have promoted. Sorry, but you are 100% wrong, incorrect & evidently a person of extremely limited intelligence. Sucks to be you !! I'm sure you weren't there, but I wish you had been right there in the middle of it all !!

[@dinolarson6917]

Let's set things straight: I was a student at Kent in those days....had lived in Johnson Hall...next to the architecture building where the incident occurred. There was NO bona fide "peace protest" going on. The rabble was comparable to what 'Antifa' [correctly: Profa] is today. May 3: they had marched enmasse into the town and trashed the downtown, breaking out numerous storefront windows [townspeople were terrified]....decided to set fire to the ROTC buildings on campus....lit-up the Army building....fire dept arrived and were attacked with rocks and bottles....hoses were cut. Now there was a new "war".... The next morning the Gov. Rhodes had sent in some local Guardsmen. Bear in mind: these are sparsely trained barbers and insurance men and mechanics and storekeepers....no crowd-control training....no rubber or wooden bullets---they were given live rounds, carbines and told to go break up the mob. In other words....people like YOU....thrown into a situation where rocks and bottles and even bricks were being thrown at them....people in their faces cussing at them....taunting them.... They pushed the mob back over the hill whereupon the crowd charged them. They found themselves with their backs against an 8' chain-link fence getting rocked and bricked [addition to gymnasium...pallets of bricks]. No escape. A company of active-duty Marines would, surely, have charged them and kicked some asses. But that wasn't the case. These were 18-25 year old kids. They were getting hacked up....serious injuries. In pure self-defense they opened fire. Many shot over the "protesters"' heads to scare them....but the bullets ended up hitting people hundreds of yards away. THESE were the victims of forced self-defense. Also victims: the guardsmen many of whom have lived decades in guilt. The "protesters" show up at KSU every May 4th....give speeches proclaiming themselves "martyrs"....put up yet more memorials to honor their seditious activities that day. And the young, uninformed, easily-duped students swoon in awe.

[@michaelcarlson7575]

So what was it. One corpse Monday for each window on Saturday? And what is a 'bona fide' protest?

[@ohioexpax1592]

You obviously didn't learn a goddamned thing when at Kent. You're a disgrace.

[@johnhurd6243]

He is a troll.

[@rm-ih1ns]

@@johnhurd6243 who dip stick comments have no relevance see?