For First Time, BC Readies To Honor Welles For A Second Time
November 02, 2021 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Friday marks the return of the red bandana uniform for the second time this season.
The most important game of the Boston College football season doesn't hinge on an outcome. It's not played for a trophy or against a particular opponent, and the game itself is irrespective of its impact on the ACC, the Atlantic Division or any kind of bowl eligibility or positioning. What happens on the field matters to the grand scheme of the season, but the context and circumstances surrounding kickoff transcend every play, snap and cheer.
On Friday night, Boston College will play the most important game of its football season when it shelves its typical interlocking logo for a white uniform trimmed with a red motif. The traditional helmets will go back into the equipment room in favor of a red stripe down the middle, and gloves usually hued with the school colors will transform into the easily-recognizable paisley pattern.
On Friday night, Boston College will once again honor Welles Remy Crowther at Alumni Stadium when it plays Virginia Tech in the Red Bandana Game.
"I think this will be great for our players," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "I think the red bandana is an awesome tradition because, in my opinion, Welles represents so much about what's right in the world. What's about Boston College is that there are great people who are resilient, there are people who sacrifice for each other. It's 'men and women for others,' which is what BC is all about."
The Red Bandana Game is BC's annual event honoring the memory of Crowther, a 1999 graduate who died as part of the events of September 11, 2001. He was an equities trader in the South Tower and was at his desk when the first hijacked aircraft struck the North Tower next door. He began evacuating and made his way into the sky lobby of the South Tower when that building, too, was struck by a hijacked aircraft just after 9 a.m. The crash killed or severely injured a number of people and froze the survivors who were in the lobby before a man's voice called out to them.Â
It was Crowther, and in that moment, he commanded those who were able to stand and help others to make their way to a staircase. They went from the 78th floor to 61st floor and met firefighters who took them down to working elevators as part of the evacuation. Crowther, though, turned around and returned to the burning sky lobby, where he continued helping and evacuating others.Â
Over the course of the hour, Crowther's trips to and from the sky lobby helped save as many as a dozen people. He died when the South Tower collapsed, at the age of 24.
Crowther's story became well-known thanks to a 10-minute documentary produced by ESPN and fellow Boston College graduate Drew Gallagher. The story is considered one of the finest works ever done by the network, and its narration by actor Eddie Burns tells how Crowther grew up with both a desire to become a firefighter and of how he always wore a signature red bandana.
It debuted on the network for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and one day before the official anniversary, Boston College's football team played a game at Central Florida for which the Golden Knights' student section created a push to wear red bandanas. It resonated with the BC students and what was already a viral story at the university helped form the Welles Crowther Red Bandana 5K to benefit the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust established by Welles' parents, Jefferson and Alison.
Three years later, BC opted to honor Welles with its game against ninth-ranked Southern California, two days after the 9/11 anniversary. For the first time, the football team wore accented helmets, gloves and cleats, and the coaches wore sweatshirts with the bandana motif. Boston College handed out thousands of red bandanas at the stadium's entry gates, and the game itself, an instant classic won by the Eagles on national television, offered the image of Jefferson and Alison Crowther imploring a raucous crowd to get louder and louder.
It was an immediate hit, and a decade after Welles' story became public, BC wore its red bandana uniforms on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 for its game at UMass. It was not the Red Bandana Game, but it was important enough for that date for Hafley, a North Jersey native who had family and friends in New York City on September 11, to have his team wear its uniforms for a game against the Minutemen.Â
"The Red Bandana Game is a big tradition here," defensive lineman Marcus Valdez said. "I've been here five years, so this is my fifth game, and it just means a lot. We want to play to honor Welles for everything he did. We wore the uniforms earlier this year, which was very nice to wear on 9/11, and now we get to honor him again in our home stadium. It's going to be electric, and it's a night game, which always adds a little bit. More people will come, and we'll have the fireworks and the fire coming into the stadium."
The UMass game was on the road, so it was a no-brainer for the Eagles to seek an important enough game to maximize the exposure of the story. The story is an emotional talking point for anyone, but the connection to Boston College is undeniable given the university's overall connection to service for others. In that moment, Crowther chose to remove his equities hat in favor of a firefighter helmet, as his father said in the documentary, and he gave his life for others in the ultimate sacrifice.
It's been 20 years since September 11, and a whole generation of college students no longer remember where they were when the planes hit the World Trade Center. By next year, the average college student will have been born after the attacks took place. The number of firefighters and first responders who served at Ground Zero and who perished or suffered from health effects caused by the attacks and their aftermath rival the number of people who died on that day.
Time can't stop those stories from pushing into the past, but that's why it's important to remember and to continually tell the stories of people like Welles Crowther. There were countless, immeasurable acts of heroism on 9/11, and honoring the memory of people like him goes beyond the anniversary of the event.
On Friday, Boston College will play Virginia Tech in a football game, but the game itself will transcend any pass, run or tackle. It will call both teams to play each other with greater purpose in order to honor a former athlete. It will be a game for all of those who protect and keep people safe, and, most importantly, it will be the one game that, every year, is played #ForWelles.
"When I first got here in 2019, I heard a lot about the story of the red bandana and Welles Crowther," offensive lineman Zion Johnson said. "What he did on 9/11, who he saved, and him being a hero, we want to go out and play with the ferocity that mimics what he showed on that day. It means a lot to us."
"This is our Red Bandana Game," Hafley said. "It's to honor Welles, [so] I'd ask [people] to hang in there with us and show us that support. Be loud...and I think the students at BC have the same mindset that our players do. I'm very hopeful to see them early in that game."
Boston College and Virginia Tech will kick off on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The game will be broadcast on national television via ESPN2 with online streaming available from ESPN.com.
On Friday night, Boston College will play the most important game of its football season when it shelves its typical interlocking logo for a white uniform trimmed with a red motif. The traditional helmets will go back into the equipment room in favor of a red stripe down the middle, and gloves usually hued with the school colors will transform into the easily-recognizable paisley pattern.
On Friday night, Boston College will once again honor Welles Remy Crowther at Alumni Stadium when it plays Virginia Tech in the Red Bandana Game.
"I think this will be great for our players," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "I think the red bandana is an awesome tradition because, in my opinion, Welles represents so much about what's right in the world. What's about Boston College is that there are great people who are resilient, there are people who sacrifice for each other. It's 'men and women for others,' which is what BC is all about."
The Red Bandana Game is BC's annual event honoring the memory of Crowther, a 1999 graduate who died as part of the events of September 11, 2001. He was an equities trader in the South Tower and was at his desk when the first hijacked aircraft struck the North Tower next door. He began evacuating and made his way into the sky lobby of the South Tower when that building, too, was struck by a hijacked aircraft just after 9 a.m. The crash killed or severely injured a number of people and froze the survivors who were in the lobby before a man's voice called out to them.Â
It was Crowther, and in that moment, he commanded those who were able to stand and help others to make their way to a staircase. They went from the 78th floor to 61st floor and met firefighters who took them down to working elevators as part of the evacuation. Crowther, though, turned around and returned to the burning sky lobby, where he continued helping and evacuating others.Â
Over the course of the hour, Crowther's trips to and from the sky lobby helped save as many as a dozen people. He died when the South Tower collapsed, at the age of 24.
Crowther's story became well-known thanks to a 10-minute documentary produced by ESPN and fellow Boston College graduate Drew Gallagher. The story is considered one of the finest works ever done by the network, and its narration by actor Eddie Burns tells how Crowther grew up with both a desire to become a firefighter and of how he always wore a signature red bandana.
It debuted on the network for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and one day before the official anniversary, Boston College's football team played a game at Central Florida for which the Golden Knights' student section created a push to wear red bandanas. It resonated with the BC students and what was already a viral story at the university helped form the Welles Crowther Red Bandana 5K to benefit the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust established by Welles' parents, Jefferson and Alison.
Three years later, BC opted to honor Welles with its game against ninth-ranked Southern California, two days after the 9/11 anniversary. For the first time, the football team wore accented helmets, gloves and cleats, and the coaches wore sweatshirts with the bandana motif. Boston College handed out thousands of red bandanas at the stadium's entry gates, and the game itself, an instant classic won by the Eagles on national television, offered the image of Jefferson and Alison Crowther imploring a raucous crowd to get louder and louder.
It was an immediate hit, and a decade after Welles' story became public, BC wore its red bandana uniforms on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 for its game at UMass. It was not the Red Bandana Game, but it was important enough for that date for Hafley, a North Jersey native who had family and friends in New York City on September 11, to have his team wear its uniforms for a game against the Minutemen.Â
"The Red Bandana Game is a big tradition here," defensive lineman Marcus Valdez said. "I've been here five years, so this is my fifth game, and it just means a lot. We want to play to honor Welles for everything he did. We wore the uniforms earlier this year, which was very nice to wear on 9/11, and now we get to honor him again in our home stadium. It's going to be electric, and it's a night game, which always adds a little bit. More people will come, and we'll have the fireworks and the fire coming into the stadium."
The UMass game was on the road, so it was a no-brainer for the Eagles to seek an important enough game to maximize the exposure of the story. The story is an emotional talking point for anyone, but the connection to Boston College is undeniable given the university's overall connection to service for others. In that moment, Crowther chose to remove his equities hat in favor of a firefighter helmet, as his father said in the documentary, and he gave his life for others in the ultimate sacrifice.
It's been 20 years since September 11, and a whole generation of college students no longer remember where they were when the planes hit the World Trade Center. By next year, the average college student will have been born after the attacks took place. The number of firefighters and first responders who served at Ground Zero and who perished or suffered from health effects caused by the attacks and their aftermath rival the number of people who died on that day.
Time can't stop those stories from pushing into the past, but that's why it's important to remember and to continually tell the stories of people like Welles Crowther. There were countless, immeasurable acts of heroism on 9/11, and honoring the memory of people like him goes beyond the anniversary of the event.
On Friday, Boston College will play Virginia Tech in a football game, but the game itself will transcend any pass, run or tackle. It will call both teams to play each other with greater purpose in order to honor a former athlete. It will be a game for all of those who protect and keep people safe, and, most importantly, it will be the one game that, every year, is played #ForWelles.
"When I first got here in 2019, I heard a lot about the story of the red bandana and Welles Crowther," offensive lineman Zion Johnson said. "What he did on 9/11, who he saved, and him being a hero, we want to go out and play with the ferocity that mimics what he showed on that day. It means a lot to us."
"This is our Red Bandana Game," Hafley said. "It's to honor Welles, [so] I'd ask [people] to hang in there with us and show us that support. Be loud...and I think the students at BC have the same mindset that our players do. I'm very hopeful to see them early in that game."
Boston College and Virginia Tech will kick off on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The game will be broadcast on national television via ESPN2 with online streaming available from ESPN.com.
Players Mentioned
OL
/ Football
DE
/ FootballWomen's Basketball: New Hampshire Postgame Press Conference (Nov. 6, 2025)
Thursday, November 06
Football: Head Coach Bill O'Brien Media Availability (November 6, 2025)
Thursday, November 06
Football: Grayson James Media Availability (November 6, 2025)
Thursday, November 06
Football: KP Price Media Availability (November 6, 2025)
Thursday, November 06
