The actions taken by one of its alumni on one of America’s most painful days are still honored by Boston College.
They resonate at Clemson, too.
When the Eagles host Clemson on Saturday at Alumni Field, they will do so as part of the football’s program Red Bandana game. It’s something Boston College has done annually since 2014 in memory of Welles Crowther, a former Boston College lacrosse player turned equities trader who helped save lives before losing his own inside the World Trade Center following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Crowther wore a red bandana as a protective face covering that day, which was used to help identify him following his death.
“It’s an amazing tribute that they do to him,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet his family.”
Boston College will wear special uniforms that feature the design of a red bandana filling the players’ jersey numbers. It won’t be the first time the Eagles have broken them out against Clemson.
The Eagles picked the 2016 game to first play for “the man in the red bandana” against Clemson, which, ranked third at the time, handled Boston College 56-10 that October in Chestnut Hill. But Swinney said he’s kept a red bandana among his personal belongings ever since.
“It’s in my briefcase right now,” Swinney said earlier this week. “It’s been in my briefcase for years. It’s just one of those things that I stuck down in there, and every time I go to find my (phone) charger, I see the red bandana. It’s just something I’ve just always held on to.
“I have a lot of admiration for who he was but also just his family. And how Boston College has just shown that light on that sacrifice year in and year out.”
So when you see Boston College wearing those bandana-patterned jerseys come Saturday night, now you know why.
Photo credit: John Meore/Westchester Journal News via Imagn Content Services, LLC
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