Former MU coach visits actor in Hawaii

[Sydney]

Red Dawson is spending much of this week getting "Lost" in the almost surreal beauty of Hawaii.

An added bonus, he said, was discovering that Matthew Fox, star of the hit ABC television series, is a refreshingly nice guy. Fox, who will portray Dawson in the Warner Bros. Pictures' movie "We Are Marshall," invited Dawson to Oahu, where Fox is wrapping up production of this season's "Lost."

"I spent most of the day yesterday with him," Dawson said Monday by cell phone. "He just seems like a regular guy. He's not eaten up with himself."



Dawson, 63, of Huntington, was an assistant Marshall University football coach when the Nov. 14, 1970, Marshall plane crash occurred, killing all 75 aboard a chartered DC-9 jet. Dawson, who had been recruiting players, drove back to Huntington rather than fly. He last saw colleagues, players and dear friends in Greenville, N.C., where the plane had taken off to return to Huntington. It crashed just short of Tri-State Airport.

The following football season, Dawson was instrumental in helping head coach Jack Lengyel rebuild the Young Thundering Herd. "We Are Marshall" largely will tell the story of the rebirth of Marshall's football program and will star Matthew Mc-Conaughey as Lengyel.

"We've been talking a little bit about everything -- a lot about the role and what happened, what I remember and my impressions of what I remember," Dawson said of his conversations with Fox.

Dawson said he shared a wonderful dinner Sunday with the actor.

"His wife cooked a meal for us," Dawson said. "He has a very nice family."

During the phone conversation with The Herald-Dispatch, Dawson said he was walking on the beach and enjoying the warm sunshine, the first clear day after several days of rain throughout the Hawaiian islands. He added that it was his first trip to Hawaii, and that he was scheduled to meet again Monday afternoon with Fox.

Dawson, who arrived in the Honolulu area on Saturday, said meeting Fox has been another positive step in his collaboration with the Hollywood movie-makers.

"If they do the movie with as much quality as they're proving to me, they're going to do a great job," he said. "Everything they've told me has come to pass. I have no doubt they'll do a good, positive job for Marshall, and I think people will be happy."

Production is scheduled to begin Monday, April 3, in Huntington.

Source: The Herald-Dispatch