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Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano remembers not just where he was when the ‘Twin Towers’ were hit on September 11, 2001. In fact, Schiano can recall exactly what he was doing when he first got the news.
It is that memory, and playing to honor the 37 alumni from Rutgers who died that day, that spurs Schiano when the Scarlet Knights play at Syracuse on Saturday. The day marks the twentieth anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks in United States history.
“I remember it like yesterday. I was on the board drawing, game planning a third down [against] Cal,” Schiano told reporters this week.
“And it was one of the assistants outside came in and said a small commuter plane just flew into one of the towers and I said ‘Oh man, what a day.’
“Whatever it was minutes later, he came back in and said ‘It was no computer plane’ and then, everybody was scrambling. We had coaches who had family members and wives that were working in the city. We had some players, we actually had two players whose moms were supposed to be in the towers that day and thank God they weren’t.”
On Saturday, Rutgers will wear special uniforms to honor the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Decals bearing the names of the Rutgers alumni who died in the attacks along with gloves emblazoned with the slogan ‘Never Forget’ are part of the team’s tribute.
Schiano said that football helped his team, located just minutes away from New York City, to deal with the emotions of the day. Sports played a role in the healing of America in the days and weeks that followed the terrorist attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.
For Rutgers, it was football that helped them get through a day of nerves and wondering, especially given the high number of players from the tristate area who knew people living or working in New York City.
“But it was really surreal and the only thing I knew to do – I was a very young head coach was my first year was rally the guys in here. So we met, got all the players together and just told them this is what’s happening. ‘I can’t tell you, I don’t know any more than you do.’ But we just going stick together here. They wanted to be together. That was a good thing,” Schiano said.
“And I knew we weren’t going to play, so there was no reason to but they wanted to go out and just run around and get the ants out of their pants. I will never forget that from our practice field you could see the smoke on the horizon.
“And then everything that ensued afterward obviously but, you know, so many people that we all lost their lives. So, certainly 20 years later, we don’t forget them. And we’re going be doing something to remember 9/11. As a team, going up to this I think it’s appropriate to play a New York team. New Jersey and New York right? The people that were around this the most.”