As we approach the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, the story of Welles Crowther has been all over the news lately. In case you are unaware, Crowther a member of the Class of '99, who died saving 22 people from the South Tower of the World Trade Center. As we mentioned earlier this week, UCF fans already are planning on wearing red Crowther's trademark red bandannas to Saturday night's game against the Eagles. Over 5,000 fans have vowed to wear them already, and I'm sure there will be countless more.
BC has now decided to honor the great alumni during the Knights game by wearing a sticker on their helmet as a tribute to the late Welles Crowther. Gene DeFilippo is also flying down the parents of the hero down to UCF to travel with the team and watch the game with the BC Athletic Director.
But the biggest news is that Boston College will be honoring Crowther at next week's home game against Duke:
"Boston College will honor Crowther's memory at next weekend's home game vs. Duke University. The Crowther family has been invited to attend to participate in a recognition ceremony and BC will distribute approximately 6,000 red bandanas to the student section at the game."
That is a fantastic idea and I think I speak for all us when I say there probably won't be a lot of dry eyes at Alumni Stadium when his parents are introduced. If you watched the ESPN Outside the Lines episode, you saw how proud they are of their son, but also how much they miss him. A long standing ovation is definitely in order.
I'm glad that BC is passing these bandanas out just to the students this year and not undertaking the huge burden of distributing 40,000 bandannas to the whole stadium. Maybe next year BC can tackle the whole stadium on Welles Remy Crowther Day. But BC got the ball rolling this year -- which is great! So at least this year, all the attending alumni should get to our local Target or Walmart and buy multi packs of red bandannas. Wear one, give them out at your tailgate and pass them around to your neighbors in your seats. Let's flood Alumni Stadium in red, and pay tribute to one of the most inspirational alumni to ever graduate from our school.