Victims of 1984 bus tragedy 'not forgotten'

Scot Ferda keeps a thick scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings, photos and articles written about the 1984 Whitefish High School wrestling bus crash that claimed nine lives and shook this community to its core.

The book serves as a mini archive of what happened that tragic day — not that Ferda could ever forget the moment he heard the news 30 years ago. He was three rows up in the north bleachers at the high school gym watching the boys basketball team play Deer Lodge. Winter Carnival events were going on and Frey and Freya had just been crowned.

“Everyone can tell you where they were when they heard about the crash,” Ferda said last week from his office at Whitefish Middle School where he teaches physical education.

It’s been three decades, but the tragedy still stings for Ferda and many in the community who remember that day so vividly.

Last week, Ferda organized a moment of silence held before Whitefish’s wrestling dual with Columbia Falls to honor the nine who perished. He told the few hundred in attendance about the accident, its aftermath and how it dropped this community to its knees.

It was Jan. 21, 1984 when the wrestling team was returning from a dual at Browning.

Their bus collided head-on with the pup trailer of a jackknifed fuel-tanker in the eastbound lane of an icy Highway 2 near Essex. The collision led to an explosion and a fire.

Of the 30 on the bus, nine in the front three rows died. Others were injured, but were able to escape out of the rear emergency door.

“There were a lot of heroes that night,” Ferda said. “There were a lot of student athletes who grabbed their friends.”

Among those killed were wrestling coach Jim Withrow; volunteer coach Wayde Davis, his wife, Jana, and their 3-year-old son Casey; bus driver Jim Byrd of Columbia Falls; cheerleaders Stefanie Daily, Kim Dowaliby and Tracy Maddux, and statistician Pamela Fredenberg.

Today there are nine white crosses marking the accident site on Highway 2.

Ferda recalled how the news hit those in attendance at the basketball game that night.

“There were no cell phones or texting back then, so there were a lot of rumors about what happened and who was on the bus,” he said.

An operator connected a phone line from an inn near the crash site to a phone at the high school.

“When the news finally came, you just saw people running out of the gym,” Ferda described.

National media flooded the city following the accident and letters of condolence came in from across the country — even one from President Reagan.

Four days after the crash, a memorial service was held that drew nearly 4,000 to the high school gym.

At Thursday’s remembrance, Ferda spoke of each victim and told a little bit about their place in the community and school.

He spoke of the four girls, each just 16 years old, who had “unbelievably close ties to the community.”

Bus driver Jim Byrd had 59 nieces and nephews extending into the Columbia Falls community, including Whitefish High School soccer coach O’Brien Byrd.

Volunteer coach Wayde Davis was known to travel everywhere with his family. Ferda says it was no surprise they were all on the bus that night.

“Where ever Wayde was, his family was with him,” Ferda said.

His daughter Breann, 5 at the time, had moved a few rows back on the bus just before the wreck and survived.

Jim Withrow was one of the most liked coaches and teachers in the school.

“The kids loved him and he loved them,” Ferda said. “It was easy for him to recruit kids to come out for wrestling because of his personality and his love for life in general.”

Ferda said Thursday’s wrestling dual with Columbia Falls was a perfect venue to honor and remember those who died.

“If Jim was here tonight, whether you’re wearing green and gold or blue and white, he was passionate about competing and passionate about living life to the fullest,” Ferda said. “The best thing we can do tonight to honor them is to battle on the mat.”