[Fredslist] Daily News Xmas Day story on Crowthers

Thu Dec 25 11:03:13 EST 2014

Very nice article I just found in my morning print edition of today's's Daily News.  Full page plus.  Please share it.

RED BANDANNA DAY
BC to honor Crowther at 9/11 Museum ahead of Pinstripe Bowl
24 December 2014 10:52 PM
BY KEVIN ARMSTRONG

FRED KFOURY III/AP
BC upset USC that night while students and coach Steve Addazio wore red bandanna-inspired outfits.
Jefferson Crowther, a life insurance salesman for MassMutual, lives around the corner from Christmas trees being sold in the yard adjacent to Empire Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 and three houses up a hill from Broadway in Upper Nyack, N.Y. Holiday lights glow in the shape of a peace sign on a neighbor’s house, and each day, upon returning to the red-brick home where he raised three kids, he passes the American flag he affixed to the front, as well as a red bandanna. The fabric is tied to a post topped by a metal eagle. He recalls the son he lost on 9/11. His name was Welles. He wore a red bandanna — his hint of flair — the day he died, rescuing others in the World Trade Center’s South Tower after making his way out of his office on the 104th floor. In his final moments, he carried a wounded woman on his back, escorting others downstairs. He went up for more.
“I get pretty choked up about it,” Jefferson says.
He pauses, then pivots, talking about the night Welles’ alma mater, Boston College, honored his boy, a former BC lacrosse player. It was Sept. 13, a night football game at Alumni Stadium. Poncho sales kept pace with clam chowder purchases as a hard rain fell on The Heights. He details his on-field experience, standing by his wife, looking up in the stands, students wrapping red bandannas around their necks and over their mouths as Welles had in saving others after Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower 13 years ago. A string of students painted their chests “W-E-L-L-E-S-!” Chants of “U-S-A-!” broke out in the crowd. Crowther’s wife, Alison, wore a red blazer on the sideline.
“The camera dolly was moving quick,” Jefferson says. “We had to watch out.”
Vegas favored No. 9 USC by 20 points. Boston College, still rebuilding from a 2-10 season two years earlier, fell behind, 10-0, in the first quarter, 17-6 in the second. The tide turned then, though. Tailback Sherman Alston broke off a 54-yard run for a touchdown. Quarterback Tyler Murphy sidestepped two tacklers for a 66-yard touchdown with 3:30 left. The Crowthers, having shook hands with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and been honored on the field during an intermission, watched the final strokes of the upset from a luxury suite above the field in the fourth quarter. They were introduced to several former USC players who sat on the other side of a glass partition. As BC pulled away in the fourth quarter, outrushing the Trojans 452 yards to 20, the former players departed.
“Left some nice food behind,” Jefferson says. “We were helping ourselves to it.”
It was one of the biggest upsets of the college football season, executed by a BC team that fell to Pitt, 30-20, a week earlier. It was also one more strand to the story of Crowther’s bandanna, a memento that traces to a childhood spent carrying the red handkerchief around Nyack, whether washing cats at the veterinarian’s office or piecing together sections of the Sunday newspapers at Hartell’s Wines & Liquors before dawn.
The bandanna has been recognized in a variety of arenas over the years since 2001. Welles Crowther’s college friend, Tyler Jewell, a snowboarder, wore one at the Olympics. At the 9/11 Museum’s dedication in May, President Obama said he embodied “the true spirit of 9/11 — love, compassion, sacrifice.” Now in town for the Pinstripe Bowl against Penn State, BC was scheduled to pay tribute to Crowther on Christmas, set to tour the museum at 8:15 a.m. Players have kept red cleats and gloves designed with Crowther’s pattern from the game, lining the inside of their lockers with strips from their helmets.

STEPHAN SAVOIA/AP
BC coach Steve Addazio.
“My elementary school didn’t tell us what happened that day. They just told us we were getting out early, put us on buses,” wideout Josh Bordner says. “I have a vivid memory of just watching TV and seeing people jump from the buildings. It was just like, ‘How is this real?’”
Crowther’s flame is carried on both in Boston and New York. Alison and her daughter, Honor, molded his life’s lesson in a teaching curriculum for schools recently, and Alison works with teachers across the country, hearing back from educators in Utah, Iowa and elsewhere closer to home. Honor, searching for a way to explain 9/11 to her kids, authored a children’s book. The book, entitled, “The Man in the Red Bandanna,” is on display in the BC bookstore, next to a replica of Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie’s bronze statue. It is also for sale among the emergency responder mementoes in the 9/11 Museum. Welles Crowther’s name is etched into stone in the labyrinth outside BC’s Burns Library, alongside the names of the other 21 alumni lost at Ground Zero. Father Jack Butler, a Jesuit priest stationed at BC, refers to what Crowther did as “summa cum laude to me.”
Long feted for their son’s final efforts, the parents received a game ball from BC coach Steve Addazio, wearing a red bandanna affixed to his belt, in the locker room following the USC win. Before giving it to the Crowthers, Addazio fiddled with the football in his hands, searching for words to relate his program’s renewed hopes and Crowther’s courage.
“In our society today, we don’t have enough of this,” Addazio said. “We spend too much time caring about garbage, not enough time caring about real men. I’m so thrilled to have you with us today. I want you to know we’re honored to honor Welles.”
Jefferson Crowther accepted the ball, telling the team about Welles’ football career with the Valley Cottage Indians, a Pop Warner outfit. His son was a strong safety, controlling the airspace in the secondary. Welles and his buddies were so small coaches called them “The Mosquito Defense.” They went undefeated and unscored upon one fall.
“He always seemed to get his arm in there to knock the ball out,” he said.
Jefferson stands in the finished basement at his house, just up from the Hudson River, 25 miles north of where BC will play Penn State on Saturday. He walks toward the far corner, past photos of Welles, a bandanna and keepsakes collected over the years. He lifts the game ball given to him by Addazio. He spins the ball in his hands.
“They honored us greatly,” he says. “Truly greatly.”

Corey B. Bearak, Esq.
Government & Public Affairs Counsel
Bearak at me.com
StrategicPublicPolicy.com
(718) 343-6779
Author, The Public Ought To Know http:/:tiny.cc/fv2tpx
Sent from my iPhone
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