On September 11, 1971, a school bus carrying the Gunnison High School Jr. Varsity Football team lost its brakes and crashed on the east side of Monarch Pass near the small town of Garfield, Colorado.

The accident, the most devastating in the history of the town of Gunnison, claimed the lives of eight players, their coach and severely injured scores of others. The tragedy stunned the small mountain community, the state, and the nation.