The red bandana

College pays homage to 9/11 hero

One of the great but little-known traditions in all of college sports was renewed recently. That is, if you can assign the word “tradition” (not to mention tack on the adjective “great”) to an event that just began seven years ago. Many reading this likely have never heard of it.

Beginning in 2014, Boston College has designated one home football contest each season as the “Red Bandana Game,” with the vast majority of those in attendance sporting that particular item of apparel to honor a most distinguished alumnus.

The game was played last year, but to an empty stadium.

On Nov. 5, to the delight of the home crowd, the Eagles defeated conference rival Virginia Tech, 17-3. However, no matter what impact it might have had on league standings, or even national rankings, each year’s game and its outcome will always be overshadowed by the reason for holding it.

Welles Crowther was a star on the Boston College lacrosse team in the late 1990s. By all accounts, he was one of those outstanding student-athletes who excelled not just in the classroom and on the field, but also in life. He was an eternal optimist, and his infectious enthusiasm spread to his fellow students and teammates, and beyond.

He was always lending a hand to those around him, whether helping a classmate understand some difficult course work, coaching younger lacrosse players on proper techniques, or volunteering for various projects to benefit the school or the surrounding community.

Part of his outgoing personality was his penchant for often wearing a red bandana tied around his head or neck. His father, a volunteer firefighter in Nyack, NY., where Welles grew up, had given him his first one at age 6, and he proudly wore it under his uniform when competing in various sports. Over the years, he acquired quite a collection of bandanas. When he turned 16, Welles joined his father as a volunteer firefighter at Nyack.

After graduation from Boston College, Welles took a job as an equities trader in New York City. He was in his office in the World Trade Center South Building the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers were attacked.

He left a voice-mail message on his mother’s phone that he was all right. Then he started making his way, not down—to safety—but up, to the floors above him that had been struck by one of the hijacked commercial airplanes.

He started gathering survivors together and leading them to the only stairway in that part of the building that was not blocked. He would also grab a fire extinguisher when he found one, and try to put out fires along the way. He was wearing a red bandana covering his nose and mouth to help filter the thick smoke permeating the building.

No one knows how many people he led to safety that day. Estimates range between 12 and 20. And in the chaos, it’s unclear how many times he went back for more survivors after helping one group escape.

One woman he found was unable to walk. He carried her across his back down 17 floors until he turned her over to others who could assist her the rest of the way out of the building. Then he went back up the stairs again. When the New York City firefighters and other emergency personnel arrived, Welles joined them in attempting to save more people still trapped inside the building.

His body was recovered the following March, among a group of FDNY members and other emergency workers in the rubble of the South Tower Lobby, which had been established as a command post when the first responders arrived.

After his death, a mostly completed FDNY employment application was found in Welles’ apartment. He was posthumously named an honorary member of the department by the New York City fire commissioner.

His family had no idea what happened to him after the message he left for his mother until news media accounts starting emerging from survivors crediting a civilian wearing a red bandana with saving their lives. Some of them later were able to identify Welles after seeing his photo.

At the dedication of the 9/11 Memorial Museum—where one of Welles’ bandanas is now on display—President Barack Obama used part of his speech to pay tribute to him: “They didn’t know his name. They didn’t know where he came from. But they knew their lives had been saved by the man in the red bandana. He called for fire extinguishers to fight back the flames. He tended to the wounded. He led those survivors down the stairs to safety, and carried a woman on his shoulders down 17 flights. Then he went back.

“Back up all those flights. Then back down again, bringing more wounded to safety. Until that moment when the tower fell.”

Observances don’t necessarily have to be old in order to qualify as great traditions.