Photo by: Anthony Garro
On 9/11, BC To Honor, Remember The Fallen
September 08, 2021 | Football, #ForBoston Files
The Eagles will wear their red bandanna uniforms twice this season in tribute to Welles Crowther and all 9/11 victims.
September 11, 2001 is one of those days where everyone remembers exactly where they were.Â
It was, of course, the date when terrorists hijacked aircraft and crashed them into both the World Trade Center in New York City. Others hijacked a third plane and flew it into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while a fourth crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers rose up against their terrorist captors.
The events instantly defined an entire generation of Americans as "our Pearl Harbor," and the day consumed the world around everyone who watched it unfold on live television. Two decades later, it still surrounds us, and the contrasting stories of heroism and sadness from the tragedy and unity left in its wake, impact us on complex levels felt throughout modern society.
"Twenty years doesn't seem like it was that long ago," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "I remember exactly where I was. It was my first job in coaching. I was in Massachusetts at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I was at my desk getting ready for a game, and all of a sudden, it came across the television."
The events hit closer to home for Hafley because he had family working in New York City. He was from northern New Jersey, and after he saw the attacks, he called his family to check on their safety. He recalled that anxiety as he described the details even 20 years later.
"I called my dad, who was working in New York City," he said, "and he had no idea that a plane hit the (Twin Towers). Obviously, he got out of there, but my brother was in the city, and I couldn't get in touch with him all day. My cousins have family in New York City. A lot of guys I went to school with (were in NYC), and I can remember the day vividly. I can remember what I was eating. So yeah, I remember it."
The attacks have been described as the longest day in American life because they stretched for months and years, but the improbable, catastrophic loss of life forever altered how we viewed first responders, soldiers and our ordinary, everyday, fellow citizens who woke up with the intention of working on an average day.
Welles Crowther was one of those ordinary people, but he transformed from equities trader to firefighter after the Twin Towers were hit. He saved almost two dozen people and perished while working to save countless others. As a child in New York, he dreamed of becoming a firefighter, but working at the World Trade Center sidetracked that fulfillment.
Crowther was a Boston College graduate and a former lacrosse player, and his story is now memorialized in a 10-minute documentary produced by ESPN entitled, "The Man in the Red Bandana." It tells his story through his lifelong possession of a red bandana and how the cloth ultimately helped his parents identify his courage, his actions and his loss.
The story made him a legend memorialized by Boston College's annual Red Bandanna Game, an annual staple started in 2014 with origins dating back to a game at Central Florida. It's a time when BC would don accented, special edition uniforms, helmets and equipment as the university told Welles' story to the greater fan base and population.
It's a game normally reserved for a Friday night or nationally-televised game, but BC will unveil red bandanna uniforms this week for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and Saturday's game against UMass.Â
"We are going to wear our red bandana jerseys for the (UMass) game," Hafley said. "That will not technically be our Red Bandanna Game, which will come out at another time. We just talk about Welles and about that game, and how could we not wear those jerseys, on 9/11, on the 20th anniversary? To me, it's a no brainer, and we'll do it in honor of every single person affected by 9/11."
The 9/11 memory impacted anyone and remains seared into the brains of people who lived it or watched it. I know I remember exactly where I was, right down to the seat, in home room at Malden Catholic High School. I still hear Brother Robert Green, our headmaster, announcing the events, and I remember thinking his initial announcement was about a member of the school community because he almost never addressed the school through the loudspeaker. I also remember the prayers we said immediately following the announcement.
I remember going home under clear skies, and I stared up into the sky from the curb outside the entrance, right next to Brother Gilbert Stadium, because there were no planes or helicopters overhead. That night, my parents and I settled on watching the first X-Men movie on HBO. It somewhat ironically climaxes in a battle at the Statue of Liberty.
Those are memories for someone in his mid-30s, and it's not lost on our generation how current students are either too young to remember 9/11 or were born after it. There's also the rarest occasion of someone like Shitta Sillah, who was born on September 11, 2001. He will celebrate his 20th birthday on Saturday on the date most of the country is remembering.
"It's crazy because 9/11 is such a tragic day in American history," Sillah said, "but it's also my birthday. So it's a special day for me, and it's a special day to wear the red bandana uniforms because Welles Crowther, a former BC lacrosse player, sacrificed his life for so many people. It's very important (to remember) and very special for us (as a team)."
September 11 completely altered the American landscape. It changed how we approached our daily lives by shaking society at its very core. It was and is the deadliest attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for first responders. It's still difficult to watch the images from the day, and the videos still possess the appropriate shock value.
But the heroism from that day also lives on and is maybe more impossible to silence than the sadness. This Saturday, BC will don red bandanna uniforms for the first time this season in remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice of one of its own. It won't be the annual Red Bandanna Game, but it will be a tribute to the enduring blend of tears and pride shown by and for the people who lost their lives in New York, in Washington and in Pennsylvania.
"We will talk about (9/11) with our players," Hafley said. "We usually talk about (Welles) as we get ready for our red bandana game. We talk about it in the offseason, and we'll continue to do that."
It was, of course, the date when terrorists hijacked aircraft and crashed them into both the World Trade Center in New York City. Others hijacked a third plane and flew it into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while a fourth crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers rose up against their terrorist captors.
The events instantly defined an entire generation of Americans as "our Pearl Harbor," and the day consumed the world around everyone who watched it unfold on live television. Two decades later, it still surrounds us, and the contrasting stories of heroism and sadness from the tragedy and unity left in its wake, impact us on complex levels felt throughout modern society.
"Twenty years doesn't seem like it was that long ago," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "I remember exactly where I was. It was my first job in coaching. I was in Massachusetts at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I was at my desk getting ready for a game, and all of a sudden, it came across the television."
The events hit closer to home for Hafley because he had family working in New York City. He was from northern New Jersey, and after he saw the attacks, he called his family to check on their safety. He recalled that anxiety as he described the details even 20 years later.
"I called my dad, who was working in New York City," he said, "and he had no idea that a plane hit the (Twin Towers). Obviously, he got out of there, but my brother was in the city, and I couldn't get in touch with him all day. My cousins have family in New York City. A lot of guys I went to school with (were in NYC), and I can remember the day vividly. I can remember what I was eating. So yeah, I remember it."
The attacks have been described as the longest day in American life because they stretched for months and years, but the improbable, catastrophic loss of life forever altered how we viewed first responders, soldiers and our ordinary, everyday, fellow citizens who woke up with the intention of working on an average day.
Welles Crowther was one of those ordinary people, but he transformed from equities trader to firefighter after the Twin Towers were hit. He saved almost two dozen people and perished while working to save countless others. As a child in New York, he dreamed of becoming a firefighter, but working at the World Trade Center sidetracked that fulfillment.
Crowther was a Boston College graduate and a former lacrosse player, and his story is now memorialized in a 10-minute documentary produced by ESPN entitled, "The Man in the Red Bandana." It tells his story through his lifelong possession of a red bandana and how the cloth ultimately helped his parents identify his courage, his actions and his loss.
The story made him a legend memorialized by Boston College's annual Red Bandanna Game, an annual staple started in 2014 with origins dating back to a game at Central Florida. It's a time when BC would don accented, special edition uniforms, helmets and equipment as the university told Welles' story to the greater fan base and population.
It's a game normally reserved for a Friday night or nationally-televised game, but BC will unveil red bandanna uniforms this week for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and Saturday's game against UMass.Â
"We are going to wear our red bandana jerseys for the (UMass) game," Hafley said. "That will not technically be our Red Bandanna Game, which will come out at another time. We just talk about Welles and about that game, and how could we not wear those jerseys, on 9/11, on the 20th anniversary? To me, it's a no brainer, and we'll do it in honor of every single person affected by 9/11."
The 9/11 memory impacted anyone and remains seared into the brains of people who lived it or watched it. I know I remember exactly where I was, right down to the seat, in home room at Malden Catholic High School. I still hear Brother Robert Green, our headmaster, announcing the events, and I remember thinking his initial announcement was about a member of the school community because he almost never addressed the school through the loudspeaker. I also remember the prayers we said immediately following the announcement.
I remember going home under clear skies, and I stared up into the sky from the curb outside the entrance, right next to Brother Gilbert Stadium, because there were no planes or helicopters overhead. That night, my parents and I settled on watching the first X-Men movie on HBO. It somewhat ironically climaxes in a battle at the Statue of Liberty.
Those are memories for someone in his mid-30s, and it's not lost on our generation how current students are either too young to remember 9/11 or were born after it. There's also the rarest occasion of someone like Shitta Sillah, who was born on September 11, 2001. He will celebrate his 20th birthday on Saturday on the date most of the country is remembering.
"It's crazy because 9/11 is such a tragic day in American history," Sillah said, "but it's also my birthday. So it's a special day for me, and it's a special day to wear the red bandana uniforms because Welles Crowther, a former BC lacrosse player, sacrificed his life for so many people. It's very important (to remember) and very special for us (as a team)."
September 11 completely altered the American landscape. It changed how we approached our daily lives by shaking society at its very core. It was and is the deadliest attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for first responders. It's still difficult to watch the images from the day, and the videos still possess the appropriate shock value.
But the heroism from that day also lives on and is maybe more impossible to silence than the sadness. This Saturday, BC will don red bandanna uniforms for the first time this season in remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice of one of its own. It won't be the annual Red Bandanna Game, but it will be a tribute to the enduring blend of tears and pride shown by and for the people who lost their lives in New York, in Washington and in Pennsylvania.
"We will talk about (9/11) with our players," Hafley said. "We usually talk about (Welles) as we get ready for our red bandana game. We talk about it in the offseason, and we'll continue to do that."
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