For Welles

September 11, 2001 was the day that never ended.

It was the day that terrorists hijacked three aircraft and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, two symbols of American freedom and society. A fourth aircraft was likely bound for Washington, D.C. and the United States Capitol building but instead crashed in a field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania to complete the day's overall destruction.

The course of the day saw nearly 3,000 fatalities, and as the immediate number of injured casualties stretched well beyond those who perished, the fallout never stopped impacting life in America and around the world. It was an inflection point that splintered reality onto a divergent timeline measuring days before and days after 9/11.

Daily reminders keep the memories of the day's death and destruction in the public conscience, but the events of what occurred evolved beyond just the stories of sadness and anguish to involve heroism, sacrifice, and unity. It was ever-present that day when firefighters and police officers rushed to the scene, and it was there among people who decided their sacrifices would be spent in servitude to fellow humans.

That was the decision made on the 78th floor when Welles Crowther chose to help people who were actively injured. Moments earlier, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center, and Crowther, an equities trader at work on September 11, had managed to make his way into the burning lobby's fire and smoke. With a calm determination, he ordered people around him to stand, and he led them to a working stairway, where they eventually escaped to safety. Then, in an instant, he turned around and went back to the lobby, making three trips in total before the South Tower collapsed.

Crowther's identity wasn't immediately discovered until survivors shared their memories over the passing months, and his mother, Allison Crowther, identified the constant presence of the red bandanna correlated across the descriptions of the man who helped. Having hunted down the trail, she found that it was, indeed, Welles who helped save more than a dozen lives.

A former Boston College lacrosse player, Crowther's overall story became the subject of a 10-minute ESPN segment released as part of the 10-year anniversary of the attacks. Often cited as one of the network's finest works, it was produced by Boston College graduate Drew Gallagher, and it told Welles' overall story and how he planned on quitting his equities job to follow his true passion as a firefighter.

It focused attention on his signature bandanna, and on September 10, 2011, the University of Central Florida's students used a viral push to wear red bandannas for the Golden Knights' game against BC. Back home in Chestnut Hill, the symbolism tugged at Eagles' heartstrings, and a movement honored Welles with the creation of the Welles Crowther Red Bandanna 5K to benefit the Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust.

Almost immediately, the red bandanna took on a life of its own, and its overall representation offered an allegory to the university's overall mission of "men and women for others." Three years after the UCF football game, BC donned red bandanna accents on its football uniform and honored Crowther during its nationally-televised game against No. 9-ranked Southern California, to which the image of Jefferson Crowther waving a bandanna for the crowd injected immediate adrenaline to 44,000-plus fans willing to celebrate his son's life and memory.

The Red Bandanna game grew into an annual event, but its importance was never understated by a BC program that sought to remember Welles' sacrifice as a critical piece of its link to 9/11. The game itself was a special occasion, but as time marched forward, current college students weren't alive or were too young to remember the events of the day, making it even more critical to recall and more importantly retell the stories embedded in the fabric of the university and the country.

The world changed on September 11. Life as everyone knew it ended in an instant and was replaced by the society that continues to evolve through the lens of the stories that grew out of the tragedy. Tales of loss and sadness contrasted and blended with the determination of the first responders and the ordinary people who put down their equities hat and put on their fire helmets. That day was the single greatest loss of life in American history, but the memories that rose through the ashes are the obligation of the living.

On Saturday night, Boston College plays Clemson under the lights in a football game at Alumni Stadium. The Eagles will cloak themselves in their red bandanna uniform and compete in a football game as a tribute to a former lacrosse player who once wore the maroon and gold. They will tell the story and remember a man none of them met because it's most important to do that.

For us, for our children, for our friends, for our families, and for the generations past, present and future of Americans and Eagles alike, BC plays Saturday night, simply, for Welles.

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